T he Hounds of God is the concluding volume of Tarr's debut fantasy trilogy, "The Hound and the Falcon."

These books are set in a medieval world only subtly different from that of actual history. The middle book, The Golden Horn (1985), took its elven hero Alf through Constantinople's siege and fall to the crusaders in the thirteenth century. Among other themes, it showed how tragically events can go awry when political ambitions and religious fervor mix. The Hounds of God picks up a plot strand from the initial volume, overzealous churchmen who want to wipe out the elvenfolk, to show the same thing happening in Western Europe some years later.

Alf and his circle ultimately face down their most ferocious opponents — a rogue monk and the insane sorcerer whom he controls. This does not quite end the elvenfolk's troubles.

Their king, Gwydion, lies near death...