Thank you Random House Children’s and Esme Symes-Smith for providing an early copy of this book for review consideration via NetGalley.

Sir Callie and the Final Stand is the culmination of our heroes' journeys - Callie, Willow, Edwyn, and Elowen finally go head to head with King Peran in their fight for the right to be themselves (and for the right of everyone else in Wyndebrel to be themselves, too). The ending to this series is nerve-wracking at times, but the conclusion is so well-earned and heartwarming.

It was such a joy to see these characters overcome the final obstacle standing between them and a world that celebrates who they are. Willow especially had some incredible lines, but I always love seeing hard emotions through the eyes of the rest of the group, too. It never felt preachy - in fact, I think this book only got better as I read further in. Symes-Smith's writing style is always a joy to read - the middle-grade target audience of this series belies their wonderful way with words!

That said, I did find the beginning a little slow-paced and it was hard to remember who everyone was at times - I'd written a summary and who's-who reference after finishing the last book, but there were simply too many characters to keep track of that I didn't expect to show up so often in this book. I think this series would really benefit from a character glossary, especially for book 2 onwards, given the large cast the gang meets in the Dragon's Roost.

Additionally, while I am not the target audience for this series, I felt at times like the characters (particularly Callie) would oscillate between extra-childish and extra-mature versions of themselves. I'm not sure a younger audience would pick up on this, let alone care, but it felt jarring at times, to say the least. There were also a few grammatical errors, but nothing major!

All in all, I would highly recommend this entire series (including this final book) to any budding reader - it does a fantastic job portraying big emotions and complex conflicts in a way that even younger audiences can understand and relate to (without ever being condescending), as well as giving valuable voice to the feelings of anyone who has ever felt pressure to conform at the expense of their own happiness.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an arc of this book.
I wanted to read it immediately but was also so scared and sad to let go of these characters that I have cherished for years. This middle grade series is probably the best fantasy series I’ve read because it DEALS with the consequences and the trauma it presents. These characters felt so real and saying goodbye to them was so hard. But I loved every second of this series.
Read it all right now!!

The book was excellent, though the pacing slowed in the final few chapters. I felt the ending chapters could have been condensed more, or even more left to the reader. As it stands, the novel is excellent, I just thought not every single detail needed to be wrapped up.

We’ve reached the culmination of Sir Callie’s story, and they are racing to save Helston. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like these kids are tweens/teens. The situations are so grown up and their actions can seem wise beyond their years. I did love seeing each character make mistakes, grow, and learn to trust throughout the four books.

This book was very satisfying ending to this four book series. Our family has enjoyed them all.

Perfect for kids who love Middle Ages, dragons, quests.

Absolutely appreciate the authors trigger warnings at the beginnings of each book. There are some very tough topics and situations that could be triggering.

4.5 ⭐️ stars


Publication date: Oct 18, 2025

** Thank you Random House Children’s for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.**

The long awaited finale to Sir Callie’s story! Or is it just the beginning? The characters and plot throughout this quartet are so compelling and I was rooting for each of the kids at every turn. This book makes me hopeful for the future in our real world as well.

Thanks to NetGalley & Random House Children's for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.

A stunning conclusion to an epic series! It wrapped up so beautifully and full of hope--I'm just very happy that it doesn't go for a grimdark ending. Not that I thought Symes-Smith would go for that, but you never know. Sir Callie and friends struggle with trials and tribulations but come out of it stronger than ever.

Great series that I'll be recommending in the future.

I received an ARC from Netgalley. HOO. This series does not quit. The stakes stay high and the tension is ramped up to about 11 out of 10 for just about the whole book. As with some final volumes of genre fiction series, there is a little bit of the feeling that the final conflict starts almost as soon as the book opens instead of having the kind of plot structure one might expect/want from a typical novel, but I do think the negative effects of that are mitigated in this novel by the fact that the plot does move--there are a series of conflicts that escalate over the course of the novel. It is definitely more action and less talking than the previous volumes, but we still get plenty of of rich character content and lots of great prose. Symes-Smith delivers some devastating lines of narration. I was not expecting this volume to feel quite as dark as the last one, given that our kiddos reunite early on, but it does, as the author promised, have a happy ending, and the epilogue gave me warm fuzzies.

In the final book of the Sir Callie series, we see everything come together exactly (and often tragically) as expected. This gutwerenching finish brought tears of joy to my eye. I'm not ready to say goodbye just yet, but at least we see our heroes making better decisions than the adults who came before them.

I really good end to the series. Sir Callie with family and friends manage to start the change for a better world for hopefully everyone. I especially enjoyed the realistic ending that kids have to grow up in order to finish the change.