It's time for the final battle. Ozorne's back and he wants revenge. Daine and Numair are sucked into the Divine Realm at the worst possible time: right before Ozorne's forces strike Tortall. Will Daine and Numair be able to make it back in time to help King Jonathan drive off Ozorne and his Stormwing legion or will all of Tortall be destroyed in the upcoming battle?

As for being the "final battle" of this quartet, The Realms of the Gods was a bit of a letdown. The book, like the other three, follows Daine and in this final volume, Daine spends about four-fifths of the book trying to get back to the mortal realm. That means four-fifths of the book is her and Numair walking. They come across a trap every now and then and you get little insights into the battle that's occurring in Tortall while they're trapped, but it's still a lot of walking. Not exactly what I expected to find in what should be the most powerful and intense book of the series. The final fight between Daine and Ozorne was exciting, but it took a lot of work to get there.

I also didn't believe the romance between Daine and Numair. Age difference aside, there weren't any hints in the previous books (minus I think one statement where Numair called her pretty when she put on a dress) that their student-teacher relationship would progress further. For me, it felt kind of like she realized she hadn't paired Daine up with anyone and since she was trapped all alone with Numair, the two might as well be a couple.

The Immortals Quartet was a bumpy ride. It started off strong, got weak, got strong, ended weak. I must say that I prefer the Song of the Lioness Quartet. The quality of the books was much more stable, the romance more believable, and the ending was insanely good. The Immortals, while strong as a whole, just didn't hold up to that quality of writing. Still, it's a good read and I do recommend it.

3 stars! ( )

Reviewed by Candace Cunard for TeensReadToo.com

It's been a year since wild mage Daine, now sixteen, helped topple Emperor Orzone of Carthak, but at that time his consciousness was trapped within the body of an immortal flesh-eating bird known as a stormwing, and therefore his presence is still integral to the story. In fact, Orzone has teamed up with Uusoae, the goddess of chaos, and together their power threatens to destroy everything Daine knows and loves.

Daine may be young, but she and those around her all accept that she has an important part to play in this fight, defending the kingdom of Tortall that became her home four years ago.

This final book in Tamora Pierce's THE IMMORTALS series is literally out of this world, with Daine and Numair spending the majority of the narrative in the titular realms of the gods. They are taken there by benevolent forces who seek their safety and remove them from their world when they are on the brink of death.

Although many of the mysteries of Daine's past begin to unravel due to the information she gathers, both she and Numair wish to return home to their own world to do their part in the battles that are raging between Tortall and the forces of chaos. To do this, they'll have to journey through the immortal realms to the land of the dragons, since Daine's friendship with the dragon Kitten makes them the only immortals who might be able to send Daine back to her world.

Though it isn't my favorite volume in the series (that would be EMPEROR MAGE, the third book), this book does a good job of concluding the quartet. Many of the major questions that have been left open by the earlier books are answered, and the development of Daine's character continues to present her as a solid human being with strengths and weaknesses, both of which she must learn to harness to her advantage.

In this series, Pierce introduces another strong young woman whose life and adventures will make for an exciting read and a real inspiration at any age. ( )

Daine and Numair go up against a group of magical creatures of a kind they've never seen before and when it turns out that neither Daine's wild magic nor Numair's Gift can effect them, rescue comes from a surprising direction. But now they're stuck in another realm while war threatens Tortall.

There are a lot of new and interesting characters introduced in this last book in the Immortals series, including various gods, dragons, and other immortals and magical creatures, and Daine's prejudices against Stormwings are tested. The realm of the gods itself is an intriguing place to read about, with different rules from the moral realm and wonders and dangers all its own. It's a fitting end to the series. ( )

This is my favorite immortals book, other than the first one. In this one, more immortals are unleashed on Tortall, one being the 'skinners'-monsters that can rip anything of its skin with a touch. Daine and Numair are sent to see if they can figure out how to kill them, but they find that they are no match for these new monsters. Right before they would have died, the two of them are suddenly ripped into the Realm of the Gods by Daine's father. While they are grateful to be alive, they are anxious to get back to Tortall where a war is raging. This is a great book, where we finally meet Daine's parents and many other gods, and Daine finally gets a bit of romance in her life! This is a good finale to a great series. ( )

The final book in the series – although we do see rather a lot of both Numair and Daine in Protector of the Small, thankfully – and it’s a rather satisfying conclusion. My fave thing is that the issue of the Immortals isn’t neatly tied up – some are forced to go, some remain, and I absolutely adore the Stormwings (yes, I realise that is weird) so glad that Daine was their advocate. ( )