The last book, Fae and Fare, focused on what happened after the disastrous attempt at the dungeon of Liscor, that lead to Skinner being unleashed and the death of so many. It was an interesting look at life going on, while still setting up a lot more plotlines that would be developed along with the world going forth. And then it ends with Erin stranded in Celum, far from home but safe and flourishing as only Erin can.

With that in mind, for the first time we’ve got a book that doesn’t actually focus on Erin or Ryoka. Not that they’re not in it, they are and their storylines are decent fun, but the majority of the book is focusing on other characters. Most of which the girls know and have personally affected. So while the second book was about the effects of the dungeon disaster, in a very real way the third book is about the effects of Erin changing the world around her and then suddenly being gone.

And it’s so much fun! From small changes to big ones it’s nice to see just what a change Erin has brought to the world. In a lot of ways this book could be considered more a collection of different stories than a cohesive narrative but, having read more in the series, seeing how they will all come together is amazing.

Although the books do tend to have short looks into different people who have come to the world, two chapters set in a different continent that just gives context. The last one was of a man who became a [Clown]. And this one is about a Doctor in a world filled with warfare and magic healing potions. It’s honestly an incredible and heart-wrenching story and worth reading if nothing else in the book is.

But everything in the book is worth reading, with more segments that I go back to and read over again and again. It’s also worth noting that the whole of volume three of the story that was posted online isn’t contained in this book. It’s only the first part of it. But despite that the book managed to have a really good ending. I know I keep mentioning this every time I review one of these books but good endings are my jam and they’re hard to do properly. To hit a natural stopping point, having everything in a satisfactory state and yet leave the reader wanting to read what happens next is tricky to pull off and yet again and again this series manages to pull it off. It’s honestly amazing.

In short, Flowers of Esthelm is a fantastic continuation to the series, enlarging the cast of characters in a way that is natural and adds to the roaring river that this narrative contains.