The year is 1745 and the war between the undead forces of the Boy-King, Bonnie Prince Charlie, and the southern armies is raging. Those who fight alongside Martin, Fitz and Menzies in the armies of the Lord Protector feel that no sooner do they manage to destroy a number of the undead, more rise to take their place. To make matters worse, the Boy-King has taken Mary Campbell as his queen.

As the two opposing armies draw closer together it becomes clear that this is to be a fight to the death and that victory will extract a huge price. Despite their passion it is clear that the living army will need to use everything in their arsenal to defeat the undead. But they are not to know that within their ranks there is one man who will give them the edge they require.

Martin and Sean will be forced to face their demons as they work together towards victory. As Sean's unusual condition develops it becomes more difficult to hide his nature. If the Protector ever discovered what he was becoming his reaction would be understandable.

Will Martin and Sean manage to defeat the Boy-King before he realises his plan to become all-powerful?

Culloden is the superb final volume in the Watchers trilogy and follows the lives of the young thane. Martin and his old friend Sean as they fight to destroy the Boy-King and his un-dead forces. It is unusual that a trilogy of this kid of complexity manages to maintain the same energy and driving pace throughout as in the first volume but William Miekle certainly manages to do this.

The characters are wonderful. Usually, in a fantasy series, you discover a great deal of detail about the main combatants but only peripheral detail about the rest. In the case of The Watchers series the secondary characters are equally well-detailed. We meet Megan, Fitz's long-suffering wife, a woman who will not shirk from her duties and faces up to danger with more courage than many men and Edward Hillman, a young boy who has seen most of his family destroyed in the battles and yet manages to overcome his fears to fight alongside the other men.

As an engineer I particularly enjoyed the various methods developed by Hillman to try and kill the undead more effectively. From buckets of garlic water he goes on to create, firstly a hand-bellows water jet and then later a more powerful system. And this is only the start.

I suppose there are some people who may object to the idea that Bonnie Prince Charlie was a vampire but they must remember that this is a work of fiction – a wonderfully entertaining "what-if" that has kept me hooked from the very beginning.

I have not read any other work by William Miekle but I would be interested to see how his style would carry across to a different storyline. I have no doubt that whatever he decides to write next is sure to be just as compelling and addictive as The Watchers. Truly some of the finest writing I have had the good fortune to read.

Synopsis
The conclusion of the critically-acclaimed Watchers series!

A great victory has been won, but the war is far from over.

The Boy-King now needs his bride...and his heir.

Only the young officers of the Watch can stop him. But they have their own battles to face and their own demons to fight. And those inner demons are not proving so easy to control as they are lured to the blood-soaked moors of Culloden for the final confrontation.

The dead are rising. A new darkness is fast approaching. Victory is close...but will the hands of Martin and Sean be too bloodied for them to grasp it?

Praise for William Meikle
"...descriptions so vivid you can almost hear the clash of the swords and smell the blood."
--Murder and Mayhem Bookclub

"I would....recommend it to anyone out there who has been trying to find the next great adventure series"
--Lesley Mazey, The Eternal Night

"Aims for pure entertainment…and hits the mark"
--Simon Morden, VECTOR