Review: The Daemon Prism by Carol Berg

 

4 out of 5

The Daemon Prism is the final installment in Carol Berg’s Collegia Magica series. This novel gives the reader a deeper account of the Mage Dante’s life, thoughts and abilities. As the concluding novel the story line pulls in all of major characters and adds several more. Starting two years after the end of the last novel, Dante has been teaching Anne how to control her magic while Portier has head to parts unknown to learn more of the Veil between the living and the dead. Dante gets pulled into a series of events that lead to answers about what has happened to the souls of the dead since the end of the Blood Wars and the creation of Ixtador, and even further into just how humans received the gift of magic. It is very interesting to watch how the original events were twisted into beliefs held centuries later. One small thread that has run throughout all of the novels is the difference between Dante’s magic and that of the Collegia. This becomes a much bigger theme by the end of this novel. The conclusion is satisfying if a little awkward feeling. My only complaint is that again the cover is misleading and doesn’t represent the image the book gives us of Dante. All in all I definitely recommend this series.