Title: The Weaver’s Lament
Author: Elizabeth Haydon
Series: Symphony of Ages
Sexual Content: Minimal
Objectional Content: Violence
Synopsis (from Goodreads): Acclaimed author Elizabeth Haydon returns with a heartbreaking tale of love and valor in The Weaver’s Lament, the ninth and final installment of her USA Today bestselling Symphony of Ages series that began with Rhapsody.
For a thousand years, the lands ruled by the Cymrian Alliance have been at peace. When the brutal death of a dear friend catapults the kingdom to the brink of civil war, Rhapsody finds herself in an impossible forced to choose between her beloved husband, Ashe, and her two oldest friends, Grunthor and Achmed. Choosing her husband will mean the death of thousands of innocents. Siding against him will cost Rhapsody the other half of her soul, both in this life and the next.
In The Weaver’s Lament, the lines between the past and future are irrevocably blurred, and the strength of true love is tested in unthinkable ways. Bestselling author Elizabeth Haydon has delivered a spectacular conclusion to the Symphony of Ages.
“A full-scale tale of warfare and political intrigue that high-fantasy fans will enjoy. Fans of the series will be satisfied, and newcomers will find themselves welcome.” —Booklist on The Hollow Queen
My Review
My initial thought regarding this book was “Why does this even exist?” The Hollow Queen, in my opinion, wrapped up the series very nicely. The war was over, Ashe and Rhapsody reunited with their child, everything seemed at peace. Apparently I forgot about some things.
The Weaver’s Lament takes place 1000 years after the events of the last book. Rhapsody continues to thrive, having no aged a day since arriving on the Middle Continent. Ashe, on the other hand, is growing old, beginning to deteriorate. Their family has expanded significantly, with several generations of their progeny. Honestly, I felt like a needed a list of characters to keep all these people straight. They were introduced pretty quickly and then didn’t really come back.
The synopsis for this book says “a dear friend is murdered.” I could not in a million years have guessed who that would be and i was utterly shocked when it happened. Due to the misunderstanding that caused this death, the continent is nearly plunged into war once again.
There is a lot of reminiscing in this book. Characters constantly thinking back to events that happened in the first book or so. Particularly the time the Three spent on the root. We also learn what the future would have been had Meridion not originally changed the timeline, which I found very interesting and really liked.
I could not have predicted how any of this book would go. In the beginning I wasn’t really expecting much from it, but as the story progressed I was absolutely hooked. I certainly didn’t expect to cry while reading this either.
My rating for The Weaver’s Lament is 4 out of 5 stars. I don’t know that I would necessarily recommend it if you read the rest of the series. I’d say that you could be completely satisfied with how The Hollow Queen ended. However, this book does wrap up a few loose ends that hadn’t occurred to me and the story is truly at an end.
Thanks for reading!