CROWN OF SHADOWS

Final volume in Friedman's hybrid Coldfire trilogy (When True Night Falls, 1993, etc.) set on planet Erna with its ambient magic ""fae"" and native ""rakh"" along with human colonists, sorcerers, demons, strong Church, and walking undead. This time, the science-fiction elements have faded almost into invisibility--leaving an ordinary and uninteresting supernatural clash between warrior-priest Damien Vryce, reluctantly allied with the undead sorcerer Garald Tarrant, and the powerful demon Calesta, with the usual falls from grace and last-gasp redemptions thrown in. A ponderous, preachy, and disappointing conclusion.