If good science fiction can be an escape from the world we live in, great science fiction can make you think differently about the world we live in while also being an escape from it. The Graven Trilogy anchored by the third book Ethera Grave is great science fiction.
Nophek Gloss, Azura Ghost, and Ethera Grave make up The Graven Trilogy by Essa Hansen. While I am always going to say it is worth your time and energies to start trilogies at the beginning, Ethera Grave is one of the few trilogy ending books I have read that stands so completely on its own that it defies logic.
Author Essa Hansen
Sure, the stakes are lower if you haven’t been in on the story from the first two books, but the stakes are still pretty high. Yet, that isn’t my takeaway from the trilogy or this third book of it.
There is a metaphysical nature to this book that makes it philosophical in a way that I haven’t felt or thought about since reading Clive Barker’s The Great and Secret Show. There is a blending of beliefs and metaphysics contained within the trilogy that opens your eyes to what could be.
The book’s description of itself is, “Caiden has finally been reunited with his sister Leta after ten years on the run with his unique starship and managed to convince his longtime enemy–Threi–to join his side. But the multiverse isn’t safe yet. Threi’s sister is still the most powerful being in existence. And she still wants to collapse their beautiful, diverse, constellation of multiverses down to one.”
This doesn’t give too much away, but I will say that I don’t want to give you any more. I’ve read and reviewed the previous two books in this trilogy and I made attempts to sell these books in the reviews without spoiling anything because they books are full of such adventure and action that deserves as pristine and unspoiled a view of the text as possible.
I’m two books removed from calling Nophek Gloss a “well-crafted world” with “creative characters, and a poignant dialog” which has not changed throughout the trilogy. I called the second book Azura Ghost “high stakes.” All of it is dwarfed in comparison to this monumental final chapter.
This is science fiction as it is meant to be. This is the science fiction that allows you to escape from your daily life and return to it with a fresh perspective.
This is what the original Star Trek series was attempting to do to varying degrees of success. So if you are a fan of Star Trek, Star Wars, or even any piece of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, perhaps it’s time to run out and pick up the entire Graven Trilogy.
And if you’ve been following along and have already read Nophek Gloss, and Azura Ghost, I can’t wait to hear what you think of the final Graven installment.
Quite simply, it blew me away.
Get your set of The Graven Trilogy today, I want more people to discuss this with. (Photo courtesy of Orbits and author Essa Hansen.)
Read the Secret File of technical information and quotes from Ethera Grave.