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From Publishers Weekly

In the haunting conclusion of Hobb's Soldier Son trilogy (after 2006's Forest Mage), Gernian soldier Nevare Burvelle escapes from prison with some help from his lover, Lisana, who divided his soul so that he could become a Speck mage called Soldier's Boy. The two personalities now awkwardly time-share Nevare's body. Using Soldier's Boy's powers, Nevare tries to destroy the Gernian road that threatens to ravage the Specks' forest home, and almost dies from exhaustion. Nursed back to health by Olikea, the Speck woman whose sole duty is to feed him enough to power his magic, Nevare must find a way to keep Gernia from destroying the forest, prevent the Specks from further spreading the plague that has decimated the Gernians and reunite the severed halves of his soul. Hobb's dreamy prose is sometimes weighed down by a confusing magical system and glacial pacing, but she provides a stunning resolution to this epic fantasy about the importance of environmental and social balance. (Feb.)
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From

Starred Review Young soldier Nevare Burvelle’s career and life seem to be drawing to a close, for he has been sentenced to death for crimes allegedly committed under the influence of Speck magic. Desperate, he flees into the wilderness and close to Speck territory, where the Speck curse turns him into a renegade against his own people. He uses all his skill and his previous experience to devise a plan to slaughter his old comrades wholesale and return to the Speck the territory they claim. Yet he doesn’t lose his memories of other loyalties and friendships, and in the last two-thirds of the book, a terrifying ethical conflict takes place within him as he battles to resist the very real temptation to become an all-destroying demonic force. Hobb has a positive genius for using fantasy themes to set up ethical conflicts, exhibited to great advantage in the Liveship Traders (Ship of Magic, 1998; Mad Ship, 1999; Ship of Destiny, 2000) and with equal or greater power here in Soldier Son (Shaman’s Crossing,  2005; Forest Mage, 2006; Renegade’s Magic). There are no easy victories, no all-conquering forces on either side in Hobb’s work, and both sides are sufficiently well characterized in their vivid settings that there are very few straw men in evidence. Absolutely essential for high-fantasy collections. --Roland Green

The stirring conclusion to The Soldier Son Trilogy—the acclaimed epic tale of duty, destiny, and magic by New York Times bestselling master fantasist Robin Hobb

Loyal, privileged, and brave, Nevare Burvelle proudly embraced his preordained role as soldier in the service of the King of Gernia—unaware of the strange turns his life would ultimately take. Exposed to a plague of enemy sorcery that felled many of his compatriots, he prevailed, but at a terrible cost to his soul, body, and heart. Now he stands wrongly accused of unspeakable crimes—including murder, the most heinous of them all.

Condemned by his brother soldiers and sentenced to death, Nevare has no option but to escape. Suddenly he is an outcast and a fugitive—a hostage to the Speck magic that shackles him to a savage alter ego who would destroy everything Nevare holds dear. With nowhere to turn—except, perhaps, to the Speck woman Lisana, the enemy whom he loves—he is mired in soul...