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The Falling Sky: The Talmont Trilogy Book 3
The epic conclusion to the stirring Talmont Trilogy, perfect for fans of James Islington and John Gwynne!
Romara Challys and her Falcons have suffered for the truth, enduring vast journeys across a disintegrating world to uncover the suicidally destructive nature of elobyne, the energy crystals that are both the magical power upholding the Triple Empire, and the reason that same empire is racing toward environmental catastrophe. They have found new allies, other ways to channel magic, and exposed a deadly cabal of puppet-masters - the "angelic" Alephi - who secretly rule the empire.
Those successes will be their destruction.
Alarmed by the Falcons' discoveries, the immortal Alephi are stepping out of the shadows and unleashing their long-held a centuries-old doomsday prophecy that will leave them the undisputed masters of a whole new world, while Talmont and the rest of the empire are left in ash and ruin.
The End isn't just nigh... it's now.
Romara Challys and her Falcons have suffered for the truth, enduring vast journeys across a disintegrating world to uncover the suicidally destructive nature of elobyne, the energy crystals that are both the magical power upholding the Triple Empire, and the reason that same empire is racing toward environmental catastrophe. They have found new allies, other ways to channel magic, and exposed a deadly cabal of puppet-masters - the "angelic" Alephi - who secretly rule the empire.
Those successes will be their destruction.
Alarmed by the Falcons' discoveries, the immortal Alephi are stepping out of the shadows and unleashing their long-held a centuries-old doomsday prophecy that will leave them the undisputed masters of a whole new world, while Talmont and the rest of the empire are left in ash and ruin.
The End isn't just nigh... it's now.
- GenresFantasy
497 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 5, 2026
4 people are currently reading
9 people want to read
About the author
David Hair
47 books536 followersDavid Hair is the author of The Bone Tiki, winner of Best First Novel (Young Adult Fiction section) at the 2010 NZ Post Children's Book Awards. The Bone Tiki and its sequel The Taniwha's Tear are fantasy novels set in New Zealand. David is a New Zealander, who has worked primarily in financial services. He has a degree in History and Classical Studies. He has lived from 2007 to 2010 in New Delhi, India, but usually resides in Wellington, New Zealand. Apart from writing, he is interested in folklore, history, and has a passion for football.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
The Falling Sky was a brilliant final novel in The Talmont Trilogy.
The novel picks up where The Drowning Sea ended up and as before, the author gives the reader a synopsis of events that have gone before. The principal characters are still separated across the world of the triple empire as they desperately try to prevent a catastrophic event that will destroy the world. It’s a scenario that has been seen before in countless fantasy books but David Hair’s characters and world building are brilliant and he builds his story up to an explosive climax.
As in the previous books, I love all of the main characters and their individual character arcs. Each of them has a strong personality that contrasts or complements the others and even though they are a world apart, they are still tied together by bonds of friendship and loyalty. I really liked the development of some of the secondary characters too especially Eindil the Heirophant who I definitely changed my mind about as this book went on. The character that I was least convinced by was Vazi Virago as I just couldn’t see that she would be so easily persuaded to act against her own people.
There are a lot of characters to keep track of and a lot of different POVs and at times the switching between them was a bit jarring. As the different storylines progressed though, this became less noticeable. There are the three main story lines which are focused on the original members of the Falcon but we also get glimpses of other characters and a new major story arc is that of the Alephi or seraphim. This was a major plot twist and also included dragons!!!
I love novels with a good dose of politics and this definitely delivered on that point. The saying about ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ is definitely an apt one in this case as the different sides are forced to come together with nothing in common except a need to destroy the empire. I enjoyed each of the different storylines but my favourite in The Falling Sky was the one that centred on Romana and Gram and involved most of the political manoeuvring.
David Hair brought all of the elements of this story together to a memorable climax involving a lot of bloodshed as well as sacrifice and heroism from a couple of unlikely characters. This was a really good epic fantasy and I’m sorry not to be in the company of Joran, Aula, Romana and the others any more.
The novel picks up where The Drowning Sea ended up and as before, the author gives the reader a synopsis of events that have gone before. The principal characters are still separated across the world of the triple empire as they desperately try to prevent a catastrophic event that will destroy the world. It’s a scenario that has been seen before in countless fantasy books but David Hair’s characters and world building are brilliant and he builds his story up to an explosive climax.
As in the previous books, I love all of the main characters and their individual character arcs. Each of them has a strong personality that contrasts or complements the others and even though they are a world apart, they are still tied together by bonds of friendship and loyalty. I really liked the development of some of the secondary characters too especially Eindil the Heirophant who I definitely changed my mind about as this book went on. The character that I was least convinced by was Vazi Virago as I just couldn’t see that she would be so easily persuaded to act against her own people.
There are a lot of characters to keep track of and a lot of different POVs and at times the switching between them was a bit jarring. As the different storylines progressed though, this became less noticeable. There are the three main story lines which are focused on the original members of the Falcon but we also get glimpses of other characters and a new major story arc is that of the Alephi or seraphim. This was a major plot twist and also included dragons!!!
I love novels with a good dose of politics and this definitely delivered on that point. The saying about ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ is definitely an apt one in this case as the different sides are forced to come together with nothing in common except a need to destroy the empire. I enjoyed each of the different storylines but my favourite in The Falling Sky was the one that centred on Romana and Gram and involved most of the political manoeuvring.
David Hair brought all of the elements of this story together to a memorable climax involving a lot of bloodshed as well as sacrifice and heroism from a couple of unlikely characters. This was a really good epic fantasy and I’m sorry not to be in the company of Joran, Aula, Romana and the others any more.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This is a big book with lots of world and many nations within it. It took me 16 days to read, I admit I've slowed down in the last couple of years, so some of that is down to me.
The characters are well fleshed out which is to be expected, as this is after all, the last in a series. But I'm a first timer to this series, so I was really pleased to be able to read a detailed preamble giving the back story from the previous two books.
Point of view switches between groups though and sometimes individuals as well, so the story stops and starts somewhat if that bothers you.
I enjoyed the magic side of things and the refinding of old traditions by the Erhling people. And the finding of a source that could be shared so easily for them was really endearing. If only that would work in our world. (wistful eyes).
I really don't like sexual elements in a book, particularly if they are graphic and unnecessarily so. In instances where this happens in a book I generally only give two stars and if it's really bad I may go even more severe on the score. In this instance some mental images have stayed with me and left me unsettled, so I feel that I should be more stringent, but the majority of the book engaged me so I'll stay with two.
However, other readers may well find the depth and detail of this story mean that the explicit elements can be overlooked. Because if there had been none, I would have given four stars. Sadly a missed opportunity there.
I am thankful to Quercus Books | Arcadia and Netgalley for allowing me to read this book for free.
The characters are well fleshed out which is to be expected, as this is after all, the last in a series. But I'm a first timer to this series, so I was really pleased to be able to read a detailed preamble giving the back story from the previous two books.
Point of view switches between groups though and sometimes individuals as well, so the story stops and starts somewhat if that bothers you.
I enjoyed the magic side of things and the refinding of old traditions by the Erhling people. And the finding of a source that could be shared so easily for them was really endearing. If only that would work in our world. (wistful eyes).
I really don't like sexual elements in a book, particularly if they are graphic and unnecessarily so. In instances where this happens in a book I generally only give two stars and if it's really bad I may go even more severe on the score. In this instance some mental images have stayed with me and left me unsettled, so I feel that I should be more stringent, but the majority of the book engaged me so I'll stay with two.
However, other readers may well find the depth and detail of this story mean that the explicit elements can be overlooked. Because if there had been none, I would have given four stars. Sadly a missed opportunity there.
I am thankful to Quercus Books | Arcadia and Netgalley for allowing me to read this book for free.
December 21, 2025
A fantastic ending to an amazing trilogy. Each of these books are superbly written and this is no exception.
The characters are brilliantly unique, each carrying through their own backgrounds and luggage, ballooning into realisation in this final book.
I’m very grateful as ever to the publisher for allowing me to read all of these books before publication.
This author is incredibly skilled and as always wish him every success with this book and series.
The characters are brilliantly unique, each carrying through their own backgrounds and luggage, ballooning into realisation in this final book.
I’m very grateful as ever to the publisher for allowing me to read all of these books before publication.
This author is incredibly skilled and as always wish him every success with this book and series.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews