Master of Heathcrest Hall

Title: The Master of Heathcrest Hall

Author: Galen Beckett

Series: The Magicians and Mrs. Quent, book 3

Genre: Fantasy

Published: 2012

Recommendation: An enjoyable conclusion to the series.

Rating: 7.5/10

Summary: The war with the Ashen is coming closer and closer as the red planet draws into alignment. At the same time, the political situation in Invariel is heating up with the new powers at play that Mrs. Quent and Mr. Rafferdy have to face.

Reactions: I've been looking forward to the conclusion of the series and haven't been disappointed. It turned out to be a fairly hefty novel that took me quite a bit of time to get through, but it was enjoyable throughout.

The novel returns to the same characters of the first two books: Mr & Mrs Quent, Lord Rafferdy, his magician friends, Garrit, and various magicians associates of Mr. Lockwell. Together they try to fight the upcoming long night and prevent Ashen from taking over the world. Lots of mysteries started in the first volume finally get revealed and the ending is complete and satisfactory.

Even though it was clear that this is the type of novel to have a happy ending, I did enjoy watching all the different threads of the plot come together and resolve themselves. The author does a pretty good job with the pacing and gets everything resolved in the nick of time. There are some small details of the plot resolution that I find a bit strange (e.g. Lily's fate) and I felt the happy ending was a bit too happy given the circumstances, but overall it's a well written conclusion.

All-in-all, I would definitely recommend this series to anyone who likes Victorian fiction or character-driven fantasy. It's fun, it's easy to read, it has interesting world-building and a likable main heroine.