War of Three Waters: The Watershed Trilogy 3

Watershed #3

by Douglas Niles

Thanks to the power of Aura, the Man and Woman of Three Waters see their destiny and, wielding the legendary sword of their ancestors, set off for the wasteland beyond the Watershed to strike at the heart of evil. Reprint.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Adult, Epic Fantasy, Fiction

432 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Douglas Niles is a fantasy author and game designer. Niles was one of the creators of the Dragonlance world and the author of the first three Forgotten Realms novels, and the Top Secret S/I espionage role-playing game. He currently resides in Delavan, Wisconsin with his wife, Christine, and two Bouviets, Reggie and Stella. He enjoys playing his guitar, cooking, and visiting with family.

Reviews

[Susan Henn · Rating 4 out of 5]

1/2014 Strong concluding book of the Watershed Trilogy. Niles kept me liking the good characters and hating the evil ones. There were more losing battles than victories for the good guys, but lots of opportunities for honor and heroics. The action and suspense continued right up to the last few pages with an exciting conclusion.

[Alexander Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was eagerly waiting to get my hands on the final book of the Watershed triology, and this book lived up to my anticipation. It was a good conclusion, and I didn't feel as though there were many loose ends left, which I am glad for! Douglas Niles is still writing at his best.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5⭐️. I’m glad I finished the story, but not much to say beyond that. Your very basic fantasy story, with a pretty rushed ending. Also glad I finished it because it was stopping me from reading other books because I was putting reading the rest of it.

[Stephen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Not the explosive finale the book markets itself as...

[Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship · Rating 3 out of 5]

For someone who could barely put down the first two books in the trilogy, War of Three Waters was worth reading to finish the series but marginally satisfying on its own merits. Niles had a few fun, original ideas, but overall the plot tends more toward tired cliches and the romance falls flat--the Rudy/Raine, Takian/Bristyn and Danri/Kerri relationships were nearly interchangeable. My biggest problem was the glaring logical mistakes:

1. Rudy and Raine embark on their journey to Agath-Trol with the sword of darkblood, Raine explains to Rudy how to use it to teleport, Rudy comments that this could be useful, and the two proceed to spend the bulk of the book (what amounts to at least a couple of months) trudging around on foot. Coming across a river of lava completely perplexes them. How about actually using the teleporting sword they have in their luggage to speed up the journey before provisions run out? Naaaah...

2. Maybe Niles has never actually seen a dam, but he still should know that they don't stop rivers completely, they just control the flow. Whenever anyone constructs a dam in these books, the sheer force of all the rocks they throw into the river somehow manages to stop the river at its source...or something like that. A real river is going to either start flowing over it or find a new route, not just disappear from the face of the earth as these rivers seem to do. In Niles's world, this plethora of new dams doesn't even seem to create any new lakes.

The fast-paced action and sheer number of scenes Niles manages to include in this book will still please hardcore fans, but this book certainly could have benefited from a more critical editor.

[Paigerosner · Rating 4 out of 5]

good conclusion! I was drawn to the plight of all my favorite characters and it was easy to pick this book up everyday. While there were quite a few battle scenes (that are often lost on me) they seemed to actually enhance both plot and were written in such a way that I could see the battle in my mind's eye. It wrapped up quickly! in some ways that was good, but it would have been nice to have a biiiiit more of a whole world wrap up. I feel like basically the conclusion on this 1000+ page trilogy was done in about 8 pages. I could have handled a whole ass chapter for that, but that said, I don't necessarily feel there are any plot holes that need filling. a great trilogy with no plot or character hangover!

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

nice conclusion to a good story