Choice (The Dragon Heart Legacy, 3)

What can I say? Nora Roberts’ The Choice is a magnificent conclusion to The Dragon Heart Legacy trilogy. It’s light versus dark, good versus evil. It represents every final battle in fantasy literature. Breen Siobhan Kelly, Daughter of Dragons. “Daughter of the Fey, of Man, of Gods.” Breen is the only one who can defeat her grandfather, a dark god called Odran who has lusted for her power since she was a toddler.

In Roberts’ The Awakening, Breen discovered her parentage, her ancestral home in Ireland, and, just across a tree, the world of Talamh where magicks still existed. She reclaimed her grandmother, her friends from childhood, but discovered the truth about her background and the dark being that craves power and control, her grandfather. And Keegan, the taoiseach, the leader of the people, reluctantly taught Breen to fight and prepare for battle. Because there was a battle coming between all the people of Talamh and Odran’s evil forces.

The Becoming was the moment of calm in between books. Breen’s best friend from Philadelphia, a talented gay man named Marco, latched on to follow her to Talamh, and discovered a world that accepted him. In fact, he discovered people who loved him. The Becoming allowed Breen to grow into her powers, allowing a respite between horrendous battles.

The Choice is the final reckoning. There are moments of beauty and also deep grief. And, I cried over both when I read this book. Breen has a decision to make, but, in actuality, she’s already made her decision to defend Talamh and the people she loves, even if it’s with her life. What more do you expect in an epic fantasy?

There’s really nothing more to say. If you haven’t read the two earlier books, The Choice will mean nothing. If you have, you’ll want to discover all of the triumphs and grief for yourself. Roberts is always a master at wringing out emotions. She succeeds once again.

Each night it was so hard to make the choice to put "The Choice" down and sleep. The story left me breathless in intensity - so much beauty, so much dark, so much action, so much depth to the characters, so many plotlines advancing relentlessly! Breen Siobhan was all you could ask in a heroine. Keegan was her perfect match. Each all but demanded that a reader recognize that we all have the ability to reach for so much more from ourselves for the sake of light and love.

This is the third book in the Dragon Heart Legacy trilogy.

A year ago (lore ways), Breen was in a job she didn't like, living a life she didn't like. The only good spots were her friend Marco and the neighborhood bar Sally's. After she learned of an inheritance her mother kept from her, Breen and Marco go to Ireland for a vacation and so Breen could look for her father that she though abandoned her. Through a series of events, she learns that it's not only an inheritance her mother kept from her, but much, much more.

Keegan has had the duty and the weight of being taoiseach (chieftain) of Talamh for a long while. He started training Breen almost as soon as she arrived in the valley. He watched what was in her Awaken, he watched her Become what she needed to Become. And he watched her make a Choice, one that near tore out his heart, to save Talamh.

This book brought me to tears a couple times. It had all the feels in it. I liked how Breen resolved things with her mother, though I wanted to slap her mother for not being a nurturing and supportive mother. How it was done, closed a chapter in Breen's life.

I would have loved to have had an epilogue of this series. To see Sally & Derek in Talamh, to see not only Marco's wedding, but Breen's as well. Ms. Roberts has a way of making you want just a bit more after the stories are done.

This was a very engaging series, and one that will be on my "to re-read list".

I love Nora Roberts’ writing. She has developed into my favorite author. Her story and character development have matured so it flows and even though you have a sense of the outcome, you are still surprised as the words fit together perfectly.

This story begins with an unhappy woman who takes hold of her life, and concludes not at the end, but in the middle of what is to come. I won’t retell the story because it would spoil the pleasure of the read, but start at the first book and read straight through to the end of the third. You won’t be sorry.