Days of Shattered Faith is a fantastic conclusion to the Tyrant Philosophers trilogy.  The story takes us to Alkhalend, a city coded primarily as 'foreign', with hot climate, fratricidal succession and a host of warrior-monk orders. Our main viewpoints are Gil (Sage-Investigator Angilly) and her aide Loret, representing Pallaseen Outreach, a department of diplomats and spies that uses imperfect means to advance perfection.

Things are bad in Alkhalend, with the old Alkhand Oparan blind, dying, and listening most to the trapped ghost of his murdered brother. His designated heir, Dekamram, is pro-Pallaseen and considered too soft to be an effective ruler. The elder son, Gorbudan, has been exiled to a fortress and is gathering raiders for a new war against local enemies and the Pals.  But if things are bad in Alkhalend, they're worse back home, where the cults from the previous book have caused the government to open concentration camps and root out heresy by any means necessary.

The fulcrum of the story is the love between Gil and Dekamram, two people who have to choose between their love of each other, and their love of their people. They're mutual outcasts who have found themselves at the precipice of greatness, and who know that the last step requires a great sacrifice. Other standouts are the return of the hospital from book two, and Helgrim and his wife from the first book (Helgrim and Yasnic are the founding members of the Difficult Wives Club).

But where the story really shines are the battles, with Pallaseen firepower against local heavy cavalry mounted on dinosaurs and some kind of terrestrial mantis-shrimp thing. There's plenty of meat in the action, and plenty of originality.