<p>The trilogy that began with <i>The Emperor's Blades</i> and continued in <i>The Providence of Fire </i>reaches its epic conclusion, as war engulfs the Annurian Empire in Brian Staveley's <i>The Last Mortal Bond </i></p><p>The ancient csestriim are back to finish their purge of humanity; armies march against the capital; leaches, solitary beings who draw power from the natural world to fuel their extraordinary abilities, maneuver on all sides to affect the outcome of the war; and capricious gods walk the earth in human guise with agendas of their own. </p><p>But the three imperial siblings at the heart of it all--Valyn, Adare, and Kaden--come to understand that even if they survive the holocaust unleashed on their world, there may be no reconciling their conflicting visions of the future.</p>