Light of Requiem

Song of Dragons #3

by Daniel Arenson

Song of Dragons -- the bestselling fantasy series beginning with Blood of Requiem -- continues with a new tale of blood, steel, and dragonfire.


BOOK LIGHT OF REQUIEM


War has ravaged the world. Cities lie crumbled. Forests smolder. The crows feast.


In the ruins, Requiem's last dragons lick their wounds and mourn a death among them. But they will not have long to grieve. From the ashes, a new enemy arises, one more horrible than any before.


His soldiers dead, the tyrant Dies Irae collects severed limbs, heads, and torsos. He sews them into rotting, maggoty mimics of life. With dark magic, he animates his creations... and sends them hunting.


The mimics live to kill. They do not sleep. They feel no pain. They never stop hunting. Worst of all, they undo all magic around them. When mimics are near, Requiem's survivors cannot become dragons... and must fight as humans.


Without their greatest gift, how can Requiem's children survive?

Genres: Fantasy, Dragons, Fiction, Magic, Ebooks, Epic Fantasy, Young Adult

256 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 15, 2011

About the author

Daniel Arenson is a bookworm, proud geek, and USA Today bestselling author of fantasy and science fiction. His novels have sold over a million copies. The Huffington Post has called his writing "full of soul." He's written over forty novels, most of them in five series:

EARTHRISE — They came from deep space. They came to destroy us. Against the alien onslaught, Earth stands alone. But we will fight. We will rise. We will win. Start reading with Earth Alone, the first novel in this military science fiction series.

REQUIEM — Welcome to Requiem, an ancient kingdom whose people can grow wings and scales, breathe fire, and take flight as dragons. Requiem is explored in six trilogies, which can be read in any order. If you're new to Requiem, you can start reading with Requiem's Song (you can download it for free). For fans of dark, gritty fantasy like A Game of Thrones.

MOTH — Discover Moth, a world torn between day and night—its one half drenched in eternal daylight, the other cloaked in endless darkness. For fans of classic fantasy worlds such as Middle Earth and Narnia. Start reading with Moth, the first novel in this epic fantasy saga.

ALIEN HUNTERS — Got trouble with aliens? Call the Alien Hunters. A group of scruffy mercenaries, they'll remove the pest for you. Low rates. No questions asked. Start reading with Alien Hunters, the first book in this space opera series. For fans of Star Wars, Firefly, and Guardians of the Galaxy.

KINGDOMS OF SAND — Enter a world of sand and splendor, a world where gladiators battle in the arena, where legionaries and barbarians fight for glory, and where empires rise and fall.

Reviews

[Cindy · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you want to lose weight, read this book. The author was afraid you'd forget how gross the bad guys were, so he made sure to include it every page or two. That made the book hard to read. If it weren't the last of a trilogy, I probably wouldn't have finished it.

[Juli Rahel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the first two books and especially the challenges that were thrown in the way of the characters. Unfortunately, one of my favourite characters died at the end of the 2nd book but therefore we get some great new characters. I especially loved Umbra, who simply kicks ass. Here I would like to allow myself to make a point about Daniel Arenson: he creates great characters. In all of his books I have read so far there have been great female characters. Gloriae is very interesting, especially in this book as she finally tries o come to term with her actions in the past and her new found identity as Vir Requies princess. Talking about characters, Lacrimosa greatly improved in my opinion. In the previous two books I felt that at times she didn’t live up to the other characters, but in ‘Light of Requiem’ she became stronger and memorable.

This is a darker book than the previous two. The previous two were dark at times, yet there was always an element of hope. Here, as in all good finales, all hope seemed lost, completely vanished, towards the end. There was no way tat the Vir Requies could defeat Dies Irae one more time. Especially now tat he has gone mental and created mimics. Those mimics are terrifying. Arenson has a talent for creating creatures and he went for it in this book. But he still manages to make the reader feel sorry for these horrible creatures, making the story so much better by it.

Many of Arenson’s books, I feel, are about the coming together of people who are trying to overcome an evil. For example in ‘The Gods of Dream’, still one of my favourite books by him. He executes this perfectly in this book, showing how diversity can benefit everyone. I especially liked the Earthen, who believe in an Earth god, because I have a weakness for those kind of groups. It links in perfectly with the theme of sacrifice that runs strong through the book. In the face of certain death, sometimes it is still better to fight than run, even if it might cost you your life

[Earlene]

I am enjoying reading stories about Requiem

[Lana · Rating 5 out of 5]

The final book in what for me was one of the best fantasy dragon series which I ever read and this last book definitely does not disappoint! Dies Irea has really gone crazy, his evil knows no bounds and the mimics he was creating to fight the Vir Requis were beyond belief, monstrosities which reflected his crazed evil mind. And only fire killed the mimics however in their presence the dragons lost their magic and shifted back to humans hence losing their one weapon fire! However we get to meet Kyrie's long lost brother and sister living far away with the Icelings and they bring back to the final war which was to be fought in Requiem two hands of a dead sorceress which allowed them to retain their dragon forms and hence kill by fire. The last battle was unbelievable, one of the greatest battle ever fought and the dragons fought side by side with all other races who joined them who wanted to live in freedom and to repel the evil of Dies Irea ie. Griffins, true dragons, earth people. Everyone fought to the best of their ability and more and none other than Lacrimosa who fought for her dead king and husband, the future of her beloved daughters and the future of a free Requiem but the evil monster would not allow her to live and in return Gloriae would not allow him to live. The five remaining warriors of Requiem would defend their land with sword, claw, fang and fire as they started to rebuild their land for Benedictus and Lacrimosa and all the other dragons who had died over the years to the evil of the envious Dies Irea, impotent cause he owned no dragon magic! And from the fire a new queen was crowned, one who had done her best to destroy Requiem was now the chosen one to rebuild it - Gloriae of Requiem of starlight and fire, vowed to do this and prayed to the stars 'May our wings forever find your sky' as she was surrounded by her loved ones.

[Michael kelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short to the point and just a bit flat, introduction of new characters seemed very out of the blue, it seemed like half the story was just missing, the action was often and kept me reading but some of the scenes seemed to be rehashes of earlier fight scenes in the series. Loved the Concept of the series but just did not make them really come alive.

[Chad Stewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was kind of scary. The enemies were very disgusting, and difficult to read about. Gloriea surprised me in the end which made me glad I finished it. In the middle of the book, I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue reading. I am glad this series is over.

[Amberlori · Rating 2 out of 5]

All three of the Song of Dragons books were pretty easy reads. They kept my attention but I felt they were pretty mild books. They wouldn't be the first fantasy books I would recommend.

[Carroline · Rating 1 out of 5]

All i can say is, thanks god that series is over!
I don't think i will read another of his books.

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ending was weak sauce. I don't care how you look at it. The enemy just what, walked away? Right.

[Heidi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Series was action packed but 2dimensional, shallow characters. Lots of dragons:)

[Karen Frayne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nope. It had a lot of promise but too much gratuitous, graphic violence. Repetition, predictable...I finished it but was sorely tempted to just abandon it.

[Mrs. Brim · Rating 3 out of 5]

The series took a bit of a morbid turn, but I still enjoyed it.

[J · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought this book as part of an omnibus, and I only finished it because it was part of a trilogy. The world and the plot of the first book had the potential, but I didn't feel like the author had completely formed the world in his mind before starting to write, and the same plot was recycled for the second and third books. The characters themselves were impressively flat and their dialogue was painfully juvenile, while the writing style was repetitive and clumsy and it detracted from the overall story. The trilogy had a lot of potential to be interesting, but the writing seemed rushed and that in turn made me want to rush to simply be done with the books. I will not be recommending this series to anyone else.

[Corinna Reid · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just ok

The first two books were great. I was looking forward to reading this one. Unfortunately, it seems there isn’t really much of a story in this one. The first couple of chapters are retold over and over just changing the place and perspective. Going to try the next trilogy, hoping it turns out as good as the first two in this one.

[Keeley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a toss up between four and three stars. I honestly felt like this series dragged on a lot when the main issue could’ve been solved many many times before it was. Besides this I enjoyed reading this series, it was well written and had great characters but with some iffy character development. This series made me laugh and made me cry.
Overall I’d rate the whole trilogy a 3.6/5

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great series with plenty of action and it’s very engaging. My problem with this third instalment is that it’s got such a gory monster. The pus and blood and maggots and rotting flesh the author describes in detail for most of the book becomes rather nauseating and makes me feel like the gore was what the author was focused on. The first two were definitely better but I was still impressed.

[Joseph J Freeze · Rating 5 out of 5]

Requiem

I would recommend this series to anyone who likes to read. Great storyline. And we'll written, was a joy to read. I will continue with Daniels next series. Thank you Daniel for a wonderful story.

[Heather Mcewan-Nugent · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one seemed to drag for me. Still good and a good conclusion to the series but it seemed to take so long to get there.

[Bee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little too much gore for my taste. But still an entertaining read

[Alta Schwenk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome

A world far beyond our imagination, comes alive with pain, wars, deceipt , loss and love. Book 1-3 was amazing. I can't wait to read more.

[Christian Beresford · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed all three books. All the characters had great stories. Can't wait to read more of Daniel's books..

[Yvonne · Rating 2 out of 5]

just to vivid nonstop horrific violence

[Giselle Rocha · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read the first book, and I really liked it. I read the second book, and I had a very hard time finishing it. I picked up the third book clinging onto the hope that it would get better, but of course, it didn't. In fact, I had the LOWEST expectations, and I was still disappointed. The consistent rape, the unnecessarily graphic depictions of violence, and the seriously screwed-up villain made this book especially hard to stomach.

Oh, and let's not forget the worst part of all: Kyrie, the lucky little scamp, sleeps with both twins (Agnus Dei and Gloriae) and gets them both pregnant! Screw you, Kyrie. Oh, and don't even get me started on Gloriae.

Gloriae, Gloriae, Gloriae. You know, if Gloriae is supposed to be the depiction of what a "strong female character" is supposed to look like, I'm going to jump off a cliff. First of all, she's killed as many innocent people as I've eaten tacos in my lifetime. And then she tries to make up for it by "saving the species" with her sister's boyfriend? There are a number of things wrong with that plan, with the first being that Kyrie has already slept with her sister on numerous occasions (so, gross!), and the second being that, hello! Since when is the middle of a war a good time to get pregnant, you idiot?

So the author tries to tidy it all up with a bow at the end, giving us a picture of this jacked-up family living happily ever after. Okay, cool. Not. Two sisters sharing one guy is not sweet. It's disgusting. And when confronted on how little Ben and Luna will continue their family's species, Gloriae brushes it off with a simple, "They can just 'share their magic with humans'."

...WHAT?

I really wish there was a zero stars option, because if there was, I would definitely choose it. This series had the potential to be a great one, but the nasty twists and turns starting in the second book and probably continuing after the end of the third cancelled out the good dialogue and world building. I won't be picking up anything by this author again, as some of the stupid might rub off on me.

[Raed Bilbessi · Rating 1 out of 5]

I actually stopped reading after the first few chapters. It's just too disgusting and definitely nightmare material. Nightshades I can live with. But these creatures? Definitely no.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review is hidden only for people who have not read the first two books. There are no actual spoilers.

Premise: As the last book in the trilogy, Dies Irae is STILL not dead...and he is as evil as ever. Seriously how hard is it to kill this bastard? In my opinion he should have died long ago. Anyway our heroes are now facing a new and even more vile threat: Mimics. This book was filled with action. It was nonstop, so nonstop it was pretty unrealistic. The amount of injuries these characters sustain is ridiculous. I have no idea how they survived at all. But regardless the plot was engaging and kept me reading.

Writing: Same as the first two books really. The only difference is it got much more graphic...in every sense. The intimate scenes, the gore, everything was kicked up a bit. Again the writing can be very repetitive...very. I feel some of the concepts were ripped off of Game of Thrones and Lord of The Rings. One that really stands out is sometimes characters would say "Winter is Coming" during Inner Monologues.

Humor: I didn't laugh at all in this book...this is one gritty, disturbing, intense ride. Very dark.

Characters: They have pretty much stayed the same except now they are finally starting to show true signs of how the horrors around them are affecting them. But really...do I really have to read the same inner monologue drill every time a character might potentially die? That got old.

Journey: This book was much shorter then the other two, which were already quick reads. The Journey is very intense..and it was kinda exhausting to read, but thats not a bad thing in my opinion. The emotion is there.

[Kyra Dune · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this action packed conclusion to the Song of Dragons Trilogy, the dragon shape shifters of Requiem fight their last desperate battle for survival. If you have a weak stomach, you may want to skip this book. Dies Irae's obsession with destroying the last living members of his own race, coupled with what it cost him to gain control over the Nightshades, has driven him completely insane. The monstrous undead creatures he creates from mutilated body parts (both animal and human) are some of the most gruesome things I have ever encountered in a book. They're vicious and almost impossible to kill and the descriptions of them are enough to give anyone nightmares.

I found this to be a satisfying conclusion to a very good trilogy. I cried, I gasped, I bit my nails, I rode the roller coaster ride with these characters and felt their triumphs and defeats. I hated Dies Irae, even while realizing he was not entirely at fault for the person he became.

This is definitely a trilogy I would recommend to anybody who enjoys a fast paced, action packed, fantasy story that culminates in an ultimate battle of good versus evil.

[Vincent Overby · Rating 1 out of 5]

While I think this author did a fairly good job of world building his characters and dialogue are some of the worst I've ever seen. I, unfortunately, purchased the first three books and read them all. This author does not get any better. Cardboard characters, juvenile dialogue and non-sensical sex. He essentially wrote the same book three times.
The Shades replace the griffins in the second book and reanimated zombies replace the Shades in the third one. What a mess! Worst of all is the infantile Perils of Pualine/TV Batman act in which the main character has several opportunities to kill the villain but each time refuses. What Dreck!! This book could and should have been over in the prologue! Less than one star in my opinion!

[Emmanuelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

O my gosh that was amazing!! I'm glad to finally know the full story, but I'm so sad!! I don't want to leave the stories of Kyrie and Gloriae and Agnus Dei and Memoria and Terra and all the new additions. I'm so grateful the author actually gave more details after the war so we know what really happened and aren't left in the dark, although he did run through it very quickly. I can't wait to start reading the Dragonlore trilogy, but I'm gonna wait till the third one comes out. I know I'm gonna be dying from anxiousness to know what happens when I finish book 2 so I'm saving myself the trauma lol.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was entertained, but how many times do I have to read how much the Vir Requis love their city and what not.

It was a new world and a good read. But it got repetitive after a while. I mean how hard is it to kill a villain in a book?

What was cool was that even though the villains were hard to kill, they got more evil and more violent and depraved as the story line continued on.

I may read more of the other books, but there other series or books in front of this one. I read these three in an omnibus edition and that it made it easier to read all three at once.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably Arensen’s best of the trilogy. Though not without faults it was largely well structured.

The characterization of all of our main group was good. Dies Irae received a fitting end. New characters in Memoria and Terra, though feeling a bit shoehorned in worked well story-wise. And Lacrimosa was easily the most compelling character of the book.

I had some issues with the magic, the last battle in particular, but overall, this was a fine way to end the trilogy.

Favorite Quote- “Tools are rarely evil; the men who wield them often are” -Gloriae of Requiem