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Sad to say, but my adventures in the Land of Corona are coming to a close. With the finishing of this final part of book 6, I realize there's only one more book left and the story seems to be ready for a huge finale. The Transcendence trilogy focuses on the new leaders in the land of Behren and Honce-the-Bear. In particular, this book covers the land of Behren and how the Behrenese have conquered the To-Gai. But ranger Brynn Dhariell has arrived on the scene to set the To-Gai people free.

In the previous five books, the land of Behren has been mentioned but only in passing. This time around, R.A. Salvatore explores the government and religions of the southern-most lands. The main outline of the land seems to derive from an equivalent of our Middle East and Asian countries. The Behrenese are closely related in many senses to the Muslims and the To-Gai seem to be loosely based on Mongolians of Asia. There are also the Jhesta Tu Mystics that have some resemblance to the Shaolin Monks of China.

This final installment of Transcendence builds to two great battles, one for the leadership of Behren and one for the final stand of the To Gai. The Behrenese are ruled by holy clerics known as Yatols, and the leader of the Yatols is the Chezru Chieftain. It is time for the transcendence of the Chieftain, a period where his body dies but the next Chieftain is born into the body of an infant, much like the idea associated with the Dali Lama. But in this case, the Chieftain has been cheating the system by using the soulstone, one of the magical gems of the Abellican monks from the northlands. The Behrenese religion forbids the use of magic gemstones, but the Chieftain has been using the soulstone to possess the bodies of unborn infants to be reborn for many centuries. He is now getting old and is ready to invade his next body, but with the problems in Honce-the-bear and the rebellious To-Gai, he must wait.

Brynn Dharielle was trained as a Ranger by the Elves so she could return to free the To-Gai. Her campaign has been successful in that she has been constantly making dents in the Behrenese armies -- not enough to conquer, but enough to ruin the day of the Chezru Chieftan. She has been called the Dragon of To-Gai, because, at her side, she has a dangerous ally, Agradelus the dragon. Agradelus has been underground for many years and the taste of battle keeps him hard to control.

Brynn is also assisted by a Jhesta Tu Mystic, Pagonel. Pagonel discovers the secret to Transcendence and returns to the Behren capital city of Jacintha to uncover the truth and ridicule the Chezru Chieftain. This revelation could cause turmoil in the land when it has learned that their ruling party and religion has been deceiving them all these years.

Once again, through the skill of GraphicAudio's superb production, this saga continues with some of the most exciting audiobooks ever produced. GraphicAudio uses great voice talent, sound effects and incidental music that leaves you feeling as though you need to wash the sand off from the desert battles and check yourself for arrow wounds. Their production is simply magical.

Gil T. has spent a quarter of a century working in radio and has lots of spare time on his hands and reading or listening to books takes up all that time. Check out his blog to find out what he's up to at any given moment.