Drachengott: Water by KJ Taylor

Drachengott: Water by KJ Taylor is the fourth and final book in the Drachengott series. This is very much a series that needs to be read in order and this last book ties everything up and resolves the major conflict of the series (and brings in some of its own conflicts).

The time has come. Rutger, Elynor, Theodor and Syn set out on their final journey - to find the fourth member of their group, the one they need to destroy the Drachengott once and for all. 

But war has come to Wendland, and with three neighbouring countries now intent on destroying its people, it could be that the Drachengott is the only defence Wendland has.

But one final weapon remains to be found, though only its name is known: the Peace Bringer ...

To begin with, Water follows the pattern of the earlier three books by introducing us to the fourth "chosen one" character. It quickly deviates from the formula by throwing disaster into the mix and switching to the points of view of the other three chosen characters. But before we get to that, the reader — or at least, this reader — has enough time to not particularly like Karmain, the new character. Part of it is the situation she's quickly thrust into and part of it is her naïveté. But, since we learnt in the third book (and are reminded at the start of this book) that her weapon is called the Peace Bringer, perhaps naïveté makes sense. But I still wanted to slap her.

When the points of view split up between the four main characters, there was some added tension, especially when we still didn't know what had happened to the others at various points. However, from the readers' point of view it was pretty clear that the chosen four couldn't die, which detracted from some of the tension. The author used this mainly to motivate some of the characters and to add some "where is everyone" mystery for the reader.

It's kind of hard to say more without spoilers because almost this entire book is one drastic conflict or another. But if you've read the first three Drachengott books, I don't see why you wouldn't pick up this last one to find out what happens. I mentioned in my review of book three that it became more complex and less linear in plot than the first two books. The same is true of this concluding volume, even more so. The switching around of points of view alone would mix things up, as would the final confrontation. But there are more obstacles standing in the path of the chosen four and their friends than they may have originally anticipated.

I enjoyed this series, especially the second half of it. Each book is quite short and together they make up a single interesting story. As I've said in my reviews of the earlier books, I really do think this series would work best as an omnibus edition. Each book is a self-contained story but does not really stand alone. Omnibus or not, I recommend this series to fantasy fans, especially those who might be interested in consuming their fantasy in smallish chunks.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: August 2016, Harper Collins Aus
Series: Drachengott, book 4 of 4
Format read: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Challenges: Australian Women Writers Challenge