Before I dive into my review, can I just say how much I like the new covers for this series? They're beautiful and feel so much more reflective of what the story is about.
Now that that's out of the way, let's talk about this book. The Guardian is the third installment of Dawson's Lost Empire trilogy and sees Anissa, Carson, and the others thrust into a fight where the fate of multiple worlds is at stake. The risks involved are higher than ever, and the characters must dig deep down to resolve not only the outer conflict, but to fight their internal conflicts as well.
There are a lot of moving pieces and characters here, and I sometimes had a hard time keeping track of who was doing what and why they were doing it. By the end, however, everything came together in a way that provided a heartfelt and bittersweet resolution to the story. I especially loved seeing how Carson, Anissa, and Mani's roles in the story shifted and grew as they grew closer to each other and became a family. Dawson pulls no punches in the things her characters must endure in pursuit of their goal, but I love an emotional, bittersweet ending, so I appreciated that. And on a somewhat unrelated note, I also really loved learning more about SHARR, Anissa's passive-aggressive, AI house. I've always loved SHARR and it was cool to finally understand how and why it came to be what it is.
This series is a unique brand of fantasy that isn't quite like anything I've read before. It raises interesting questions with no easy answers that will leave you thinking about your own place in the world.