The final outing of brooding hero Chadda Darkmane and his rock-like jawline sees our hero, in reflective mode after the great victory against Rivel, thrown rapidly into another battle. This time his companions are super-wizard Yaztromo, who finds that without his powers he is just an old man in a big dress; the weasely con-artist Weasel (and don't we all know a Weasel, good character writing there by MG); and the sexy elf Star, who has a damn good excuse for being the pastiche of a sexy minor character. This all flows along nicely, has some nice battle set pieces, a trio of fine villains with some decent characterisation and plot-twists, lots of weird gory monsters that don't get used as much as they should; and builds to an excellent pair of final chapters and an almost perfect finale. Lacks any sort of depth and is a bit of a sausage fest, but you can't have everything. ( )