The Finest Challenge picks up right where Jean Rabe's previous novel, The Finest Choice, lays off, with Kalantha surviving an assassination attempt as she reaches her brother's castle in Galmier's capital. Rue has been wounded—perhaps permanently lamed—and while Meven is coming to see the folly of the war he has unleashed, his will remains weak. He has all but defeated Nasim-Guri; military wisdom and public opinion favor pressing the battle to its conclusion. More disturbingly, he retains some affection for the treacherous Bishop DeNogaret, despite the bishop's attempt on Kalantha's life and evidence that DeNogaret stirred up the war by manipulating the king's mind.

Fortunately, the bishop has been badly hurt by Rue and is recovering in seclusion. His absence leaves a crucial window of opportunity for Kalantha to keep Meven focused on peace ... at least until the old man can recover and once again dominate her brother's mind. But Kalantha is separated from the king's party just as he leaves for the peace talks. She and Rue must catch up with the mission before their enemies can intercept it, murder Meven and his aides and shred every last written overture of peace.

A deadly chase across a ravaged landscape

The third installment of a Young Adult trilogy about divine "guardian-angel" horses and their charges, the adventures of Kalantha and Rue offer readers a mixture of light adventure, social commentary and a conflict with no ambiguity whatsoever. Kalantha, Rue and Meven are pure of spirit; the bishop and his flock of evil talking birds are the undisputed bad guys. The war they have created, using Meven as a puppet, is thoroughly without cause. This is convenient, as any serious argument for stopping the war vanishes as soon as Kalantha has exercised a positive influence on her befuddled brother.

Rabe's prose flows well, revealing some lovely turns of phrase and evocative descriptions of a society shattered by war. Kalantha herself is a plucky heroine: down-to-earth, willful, generous of temperament and yet believably uneasy with her high-society standing. Those assets aside, The Finest Challenge largely fails to satisfy. Its conflict is presented in simplistic, black-and-white terms, and none of the book's characters ever comes fully to life. The relationship between Kalantha and Rue—in theory, the heart of the novel—is sketchy and businesslike. Their interaction focuses on the next task at hand rather than anything more emotionally profound, leaving readers to take their mutual devotion for granted.

The villains also never quite deliver in this novel. With the bishop confined to bed, the story relies on a treacherous falcon, Ninéon, to direct all opposition to Meven's peace mission. Ninéon is wicked, all right—she is a ruthless murderer, devoted to increasing the war's body count. Beyond worshipping her world's nasty gods, however, she reveals no deeper motivation. She has a carnivore's outlook, animal appetites and no intellectual sophistication. Not surprisingly, her various schemes are too simple to leave the story's final outcome in any real doubt.

Readers who enjoyed Rabe's previous tales of the Finest may enjoy seeing Kalantha continue to seek her destiny, but for those new to this series, The Finest Challenge offers no good introduction to the Finest's world. Left on its own, this narrative is as lost as its heroine, wandering aimlessly through a land of shadowy, watered-down menace.