A Draw of Kings is the third and final book in The Staff & The Sword trilogy by Patrick W. Carr. It continues the story of Errol Stone as he returns to Erinon and has to come to terms with his potential fate, having to die to save his fellow countrymen. As Martin and Luis continue being puzzled by the lack of a definitive cast as to who is destined to be the next king, Errol works on figuring out how to save the kingdom. In part, by restoring faith in the church and by ensuring there are enough forces to combat the Merakhi when they attack. Alongside, this Adora works on renewing or creating ties with potential allies and finding other sources that could identify the next king.
The series has drawn to a close with this book which ultimately lived up to its predecessors as a great Christian fantasy. I continued being drawn in by the complexity of character presented in Errol, but also presented in Adora and Martin as each one has to come to terms with their role in the coming conflict but also their potential role afterwards. Errol is faced with the idea that he must be the one to die in order to protect his countrymen from the malus by recreating the protective barrier. At the same time he shows a new lease on life by exhibiting faith, in himself and in others. Something that is rather uncharacteristic for Errol who tends more towards the pessimistic side of things. Martin has to continue navigating the tricky politics of the church as he tries to bridge the divide between what the church had believed and what the church has recently discovered. At the same time he has to support Luis as he works to find out why the lots refuse to give a concrete answer as to who will be the next king. It was this last thing that I found rather fascinating as well. A continuing theme in the series is how the lots can be used to divine the truth or to divine the future in order to discover what would be the best path or choice to make. Tying into this is a continued uncertainty as to the identity of the next king because the lots refuse to identify only one person. It keeps showing a tie between Errol and Liam, a fellow young man from the same village as Errol. This dichotomy and incompatibility between these two concepts was a driving force for much of the plot line for the series, especially in regards to the actions taken by Errol, Liam, Martin, Luis and various other characters. Towards the very end of this book they finally revealed what was causing this uncertainty in the lots, but Martin and Luis figured it out too late to help. I am not going to reveal what this reason or cause was but I will say that when they revealed it I definitely was confused and surprised. At the same time I was also thinking, “Seriously, they overlooked that of all things.” It was a good surprise though in that it finally revealed the answer and eliminated numerous incompatibilities that were present in the predictions and divinations about the future. Overall, I enjoyed the twists and turns as it wound its way to the conclusion. A conclusion that was both somewhat sad and somewhat joyful. I think this book is a four out of five stars.
Much like with the previous two books I would ultimately recommend this book to others. Though I would recommend that you read the first two books before trying to read this one or you will be very confused about what is happening. If you happen to be a fan of fantasy, especially Christian fantasy, than you will probably enjoy this work. At the very least you would have a high chance of enjoying this work. I don’t know if you would enjoy this work if you are not a fan of the fantasy genre but I think there is a chance you still would. When it comes to Christian fantasy I am not typically a fan myself but I did enjoy this series, even if I found them by accident at the local library. I think I am going to go ahead and leave this series here for now though I may return to this author in the future. Don’t know for sure just yet. If you happen to be familiar with this series feel free to share your thoughts in the comments as I look forward to hearing what you think. Better yet, if you know of any similar series that are pretty good go ahead and share your recommendations as well. Who knows, I may find my next series that way.