Reviews

Wow. What an incredible, heart-wrenching and poignant ending to a fantastic trilogy. I'm continuously floored at the expert way Fonda Lee weaves aspects of this story together - the last two pages a prime example of such.
I did find the fast-forwards to be a bit confusing at times since a significant amount of time was covered all in this one book, but by no means was it impossible to follow.

ababb's review against another edition

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5.0

Perfection

morgan_juneee's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

emaidoh's review against another edition

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5.0

Omg???? Now THAT is how you close a trilogy. An incredible work spanning the generations of clans. An epic tale of strength and loss and love and pain. The detail to characters and the weaving of plot lines, without leaving a stone unturned. Truly an insanely beautiful work.

tsunni's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

What a great conclusion to the trilogy. Fonda Lee is a remarkably consistent writer, and has carried the same tense tone, dramatic worldbuilding, and nuanced character development throughout all three books. She's managed to have the characters grow and change in significant ways across their entire lives and careers through multiple time jumps, without compromising the core of who they were. Hilo, Shae, and Anden especially are given so much room to develop and feel incredibly realistic and complex, and the next generation of Kauls also exhibit characteristics and personalities that feel believably responsive to what they see from the previous generation. No Peak, their continual struggle against the Mountain clan, and how they react to believable change and progress in the worldscape, was always handled with care and thought; the Espenia parody of the US throwing its weight around and exploiting the small Kekon nation and the justifiable anger and delicate handling it provoked was amusing and sad at the same time, but always felt real, as did the old guard's slow acceptance of changes to tradition and standards. The wrap up to the three book arc is satisfying, the plot turns keeping the story engrossing, emotionally fraught, and well paced without being overwhelming or ever boring. I would absolutely recommend the entire series to anyone interested in an asian triad/yazuka/mafia story following a family through an entire generation; I'd also watch the hell out of a tv adaptation if it ever happens.

Also calling the Espenia capitol AC as the analogue for real life DC; lmao

One tiny sour note and something that threw me out of the story briefly: I felt Fonda Lee did an overall decent job with representation in a trilogy and overarching plot that didn't focus on it, with Anden being a gay man and some believable in universe explanation for how the lesbian/gay (get to T in a moment; BQAI+ is never a topic in the story) population is thought of (unlucky and a bad sign for the superstitious, but otherwise accepted), especially given the general time frame and generally more conservative asian cultures the story is based on. There is one blink and you miss it mention of trans people; two trans women show up as unnamed characters interacting with Remi, a side character in Espenia, with all of three sentences devoted to them, and they're never mentioned again. Their appearance is bracketed by a main character being groped, and an uncomfortable and crude sexual proposition after, and Remi himself is shown to be honorless and a negatively traited character in the story. They stood out for being the only trans mention in the triology, and I question why Fonda Lee made these one off throwaway characters trans, given: the negative sexual context in this part of the story, Remi himself as a clear antagonist, and the briefness of their appearance; there was absolutely no reason to make them trans at all, except for a negative association. If I could ever talk to her, I would maybe encourage Fonda Lee to examine what unconscious bias she has to have done this. This overall had no impact on quality of the rest of the story, but stood out for how uncharacteristically un-nuanced and thoughtless the handling was across three books of nuanced character writing.

eli_mageofpages's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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