In the final installment of the Calling of the Light series, Sirscha is up against insurmountable odds. Her allyships are tenuous, her friends are at risk, and she is more lost than ever.

This book includes:
- elemental magic
- strong ties of sisterhood
- corrupt royals
- morally gray villains
- drakes and wyverns

Fans of the series will love this conclusion to the story. Sirscha is continuing her journey towards self-discovery and triumph against the Soulless. The story is well-written and decently paced, with realistic and fillable protagonists. I also appreciated the honest portrayals of insecurity in friendship, guilt, and regret.
Unfortunately, I had to DNF around 60% because I could not reconcile the central plot of the story. I don't think the Soulless is evil. I don't think he is a villain. I don't think he deserves to be hunted. I don't think the Empire deserves any redemption. My natural inclination is to fight against the colonizers, corrupt ruling class, and oppressors. And this story pushes the opposite narrative.
I also find Sirscha's naivete and rashness so frustrating. I think her refusal to accept help or ever work as a team with her allies is absolutely in line with her characterization and makes a lot of sense with her upbringing as an orphan and training as a shadow, HOWEVER, it caused so many unnecessary issues that I couldn't go on. I am still mad about book 2 when she just decided the queen's talisman was the Soulless' familiar with 0 evidence and 0 corroborations of her theory and just destroyed it without knowing if it would help or hurt her cause. Insane behavior. That sort of decision-making continued in book 3.

I received this audiobook as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, and Lori M. Lee for the opportunity to review this book. This review is also available on my GoodReads - check out my profile https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/62314863

"Calling of Light" by Lori M. Lee, narrated by Cindy Kay, delivers a stunning finale to the Shamanborn Trilogy that left me highly entertained. As someone who hadn't read the previous books, I was initially apprehensive about jumping into the series at its conclusion. However, Lori Lee's masterful storytelling and Kay's captivating narration quickly drew me into Sirscha's world of magic and intrigue.

I found myself quickly immersed in Sirscha's journey, thanks to Lee's great character development and world-building. Kay's expressive narration added an extra layer of depth to the story, bringing the characters and their struggles to life with remarkable skill. While the dynamic between Sirscha and the Soulless was obviously built off of other character relationships in fantasy literature, it was the genuine sense of camaraderie and loyalty among the characters that truly stood out to me.

Overall, "Calling of Light" is a must-listen for fans of YA fantasy, offering a satisfying conclusion to a captivating trilogy. Whether you're a longtime fan of the series or a newcomer like myself, this audiobook is sure to leave you spellbound.

Thank you to netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Calling of light was the perfect ending to this amazing saga.

The final instalment in the Shamanborn series follow Sirscha from her point of view. It was clear as I was listening that the author’s goal was to wrap up loose ends.

Overall the pace was medium but it ebbed and flowed with some sections being extremely slow moving and others very fast.

Sirscha’s friendship with Seango was a major driver of Sirscha’s choices in the book. Her personal conflict between her magic, the soulless, and her duties led her to make some interesting choices which led her to the most daring decision to save the kingdom.

The sacrifices of all the major characters in the series made this book emotionally strong and even devastating at times for the reader or in my case, listener.

This book was filled with magic, inner conflict, tough choices, strong friendships, and political intrigue. The strength that Sirscha gains throughout the book and the series makes for a wonderful read.

A wonderful conclusion to the trilogy. I felt connected to the characters on a whole new level! The conclusion was satisfactory.
The narration is absolutely wonderful, I enjoyed it so much! I highly recommend trying on audiobook for anyone who wants to start their audio journey. For me, this was one of the first books I listened to and I could not be happier.

A big thank you to @hearourvoicestours and Page Street YA for this arc, and another thank you @dreamscapemedia and NetGalley for the audiobook arc of this book in exchange for my honest review!

This is the third and final book to Lori M. Lee’s Shamanborn series which is a YA fantasy series. I love how fierce and loyal Sirscha is. She is an amazing FMC that will do anything for those she cares about. Through learning to accept her magic, unveiling more about her past and where she comes from, to finally defeating the Soulless; I really enjoyed her character development throughout the series.

As for the audiobook, the narrator was a great pick to be the voice of Sirscha. I thought she did a great job of narrating this story.

Calling of Light: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I have been waiting for this conclusion for a while! I am happy that I was finally able to finish the series.

The book is told from one point-of-view and it comes from Sirscha. She has a lot of responsibility as the king’s Shadow and with people believing that she killed the queen stakes are high when it comes to trust. Not many are willing to risk it because of her power. They would rather see her gone. I thought that she was still a great character as she was in book 1 and 2. She had more development and learned that sometimes you have to let go even if it hurts and its not exactly what you want.

I was happy to see that her friendship with Saengo remained strong throughout. It was one of my favorite plotlines. It’s one of the only relationships that sticks out because there was never any romance in the book. I don’t think that was a bad thing because the plot didn’t need it and friendships are just as important!

Although I liked this book I wasn’t as intrigued by it. There were some lulls and I found myself not feeling as connected to the story as I had hoped.

Overall, this was a decent conclusion and I am happy I finally know how it all ended! Maybe the lapse in time is why I didn’t love it as much. Who knows!

I waited for this book for years by this point and i was not disappointed! The third book keeps the same themes about family and platonic love and does it so good. It’s hard to find a book that keeps such focus on friendships and found family and I adore that Lori M lee decided to stick with it until the very end. The different interactions and relationships all feel unique and realistic.

I also think the book left us a very satisfying ending for all the characters and their arcs. Sirscha follows a pretty typical journey but I think her development was really nice and it’s nice to see pretty jaded characters bloom out more instead of the reversed. The last chapters ties everything up but still leaves some hints to what may happen in the future which i always find fun!

In the end im really glad I picked the first book up to follow this journey and I will definitely pick future Lori books up!

Well, I wasn't expecting the third book in a trilogy (NetGalley could do a lot better with marking series ...) but that's what I got. This is a solid epic fantasy with a lot of lore and gratefully not too many characters. The plot was clear, despite me stepping in at the end, and the narration excellent. At the same time, it's rather standard fare, and overlong. A bland kid who's in denial about how cool she is. Ho-hum. I was also puzzled when two characters who appear romantically interested in each other (specifically, the lead's "soulmate" on the mountain who "smells of moonlight and moss" and wants to "plan a future" with her) don't go there. At the same time, it was refreshing to read a YA without a single drop of romance.

I really enjoyed this series! the narration of the audio book was done really well. I found the story easy to follow and very fun to listen to.

9 / 10 ✪

https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2024/04/13/calling-of-light-by-lori-m-lee-review/

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Calling of Light marks conclusion to the Shamanborn trilogy, a series where each successive entry delivered more than the one before it. As such, I thoroughly enjoyed this one, especially that the lack of romance doesn’t seem forced or absent, nor does it detract from becoming immersed in the tale or enjoying its conclusion. Now, I personally really enjoyed the lack of discernible romance in this series, but I’ve found a lot of readers and a lot of reviews struggling with it, as it’s not exactly typical of YA. Still, people can read between the lines. Through the first two books, there has been much debate over who Sirscha will end up with. And, following the conclusion of this one, I’ve read several reviews that think they have it pegged, despite there again being no clear romance at any point (again, at least half the early reviews I read referenced the lack of romance, but also what exactly the implied romance WAS, lol). One of the characters even addresses it at one point and Sirscha pretty much ignores it.

So, if the lack of romance is a problem for you, I guess maybe you should skip this one. Personally, I really enjoyed the series: the character building especially—relationships, friendships, how they’re forged and tested throughout, again, even without any sexual hints of any kind. While I really enjoyed the setting and the magic, I think both could’ve been established a bit more, to really help the immersion. But then again, since I read Book #3 in a day, maybe it came together well enough at the close.

Do read this if you like fantasy and character development told through deep and tested ties. Something a bit darker than the norm, where the lines of good and evil blur a bit at the edges, and politics have a clear undercurrent that hints at a much greater complexity. I’d say it’s a great jumping-off point for something like V.E. Schwab, Joe Abercrombie, or N.K. Jemisin. Something slightly dark to start with, but with a deep dive coming later on.

TL;DR

An improvement in every way over each of the two before it, Calling of Light deepens character development—especially through interactions and (non-sexual) relationships—improves immersion, and completes the story it set out to tell in both an entertaining and impactful manner. I thoroughly enjoyed the ending, sadly more so than the journey to reach it (that is, I enjoyed CoL more than the previous two books put together). I’ll certainly miss the world, though I’m glad I came along (and stayed on) for the ride. While its lack of discernible romance might ruin Calling of Light for some, others can find more than enough beneath the surface if they look hard enough. A good, entertaining series that won’t break the bank, with a good narrator should one choose to go that route.

Audio Note: I loved Cindy Kay’s performance in this, feeling like she finally got enough into the role to capture the essence of all of the key characters. While Sirscha and Saengo have always been strong, up til now any male characters have just sounded brooding no matter the instance. In this book, however, Theyen actually sported a range of emotions, ranging from anger to boredom to spite AND BACK to brooding. Now that might sound like sarcasm, but it’s pretty much Theyen’s character; there is more than just brooding, but it’s mostly all angst-adjacent. But until this third book, all the “adjacent” spheres sounded exactly the same. I’ll have to look out for her in the future, as now I know she can deliver a solid read no matter the circumstances.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the audio ARC!

Calling of Light is the third and final book in the Shamanborn Trilogy. It follows Sirscha who is now the new king’s Shadow. But she’s got more pressing concerns than the rumours that she killed the queen. Namely, the Soulless and the danger Saengo faces from the rot afflicting her.

So I dove into this audiobook without having consumed the previous two. I made sure to get familiar with the main story points of the predecessors of Calling of Light, but it’s not the same as taking the journey alongside the characters. Even so, I was able to comfortably join Sirscha in her battles against conflicting nations, dangerous magic, and seemingly insurmountable foes.

The dynamic between Sirscha and the Soulless is reminiscent of Elspeth and The Nightmare in One Dark Window. He’s an ancient, vengeful being with immense power. She’s connected to the Soulless and struggles to keep his control from overwhelming her.

Sirscha herself reminds me of Fie in The Merciful Crow duology – she’s got a gritty robustness and a fierce loyalty to those she holds in high esteem. Her abilities are almost singular (in that no one else has them), and regarded with suspicion and wariness by most others. But she’s also the key to changing the world. Whether she wants the burden or not.

My favourite aspect of this novel is the way the characters interact with each other. There’s plenty of reference to histories shared and complexities informing their actions, which brings a realness to them. Lee has also done marvellous work with world building. I felt immersed in the landscape from the first minute despite never having stepped foot in the narrative before.

This is the perfect trilogy for those who enjoy fantasy that has undercurrents of politics and dark lore that have kernels of truth in them. Readers of Margaret Owen, Rachel Gillig, and Susan Dennard will all likely find pleasure in the pages of Sirscha’s story.

I wanted to like this book so bad but unfortunately, it just wasn't for me! Sigh!! It had so much potential but it just wasn't for me!!!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great series finale. I really enjoyed how this tied up the series and it was great.

Calling of Light is the most satisfying conclusion to this AMAZING YA fantasy trilogy. The author brings the same dazzling world-building and heartfelt friendships that were present in the previous books. I grew to love Sirscha and the family she made for herself and how she would risk everything to protect those she loves. Although there are no romantic relationships in this series, I believe it works rather well letting the plot shine without the interference of romance. I also really loved that we got a better backstory and understanding of the story's villain in this book. After reading this series, I will see what other books are available from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for providing me with the ARC-audiobook!

This was a solid YA fantasy story with a satisfying conclusion. I would consider reading other works by this author. Also the narrators for this audiobook did an amazing job bring emotions to the characters.

This series is perfect for fans of YA fantasy with a heavy political intrigue plot line and a friendship forward storyline - there is absolutely no romance in this.

I liked the first 2 books in the trilogy but was ultimately bored by this last instalment - I feel like this would’ve been snappier as a duology as this was extremely slow paced.

I’m also just not really a fan of this narrator - I’ve listened to a few books by her before and can confirm I don’t really like the style.