Light Perpetual

Starred review from August 8, 2022
Bestseller Sapkowski (Warriors of God) delivers a knockout blow in the epic conclusion to his dense historical fantasy trilogy about the religious wars of the mid–15th century. Reynevan (aka Reinmar of Bielawa), sometime physician and sorcerer, now full-time heretic, continues to serve the Hussite cause even as the objects of his love, Jutta Apolda, and his vengeance, Birkart Grellenort, keep eluding his grasp. Fatigue is setting in, too, as the Catholic and Hussite, Pole and Czech factions all look for a final strike to end the continuous raids and atrocities. Sapkowski intricately details the grit and grime of war, where even the most sacred relic may be sacrificed in the name of victory. Removing any romanticizing lens on his vast cast’s heroics, he spares neither the guilty nor the innocent—nor fan favorite characters—as all sides compromise to reduce the fires of fanaticism. Readers willing to plunge deep into Bohemian history will be richly rewarded with an appreciation for how bloody crusades look from the bottom up. Agent: Patricia Pasqualini, Patricia Pasqualini Literary.