espressoreader's review against another edition
- 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
Beyond this political intrigue, there is also a beautiful story line with friendship, betrayal, reconciliation and ultimately understanding. The story shows the impact of generational abuse post traumatic stress, and gaslighting. It shows the impact of unhealthy relationships at all levels, and it shows very competent people suffering from and overcoming the physical and emotional abuse.
It does all of these things, without appearing to be activist propaganda. It relates real emotion experiences and actions rather than just glossing over everything as he’s racist and he’s too religious. I find that this book was extremely respectful of all ideologies, and showed the strengths and weaknesses inherent with those ideologies, and the flawed ways they were represented by their followers. This was overall a great trilogy, and I would love to see more from this author.
Graphic: Self harm, Death, Body horror, Bullying, Torture, Hate crime, Grief, Death of parent, Colonisation, Classism, Abandonment, Xenophobia, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Child abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Violence, War, Slavery, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, Racism, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Murder, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, and Gaslighting
ariel790's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
- Characters are likeable. Nahri is a strong female character, Ali is respectful and determined in his own right. Even the antagonists, Dara and Manizheh, are understandable, if not relatable. The introduction of the myriad was interesting.
- Settings are described beautifully with much detail. An example - " Bathed in starlight, Daevabad was beautiful—the jagged lines of towers and minarets, domes and pyramids—astonishing like a jumble of jeweled toys. Beyond the sliver of white beach, the dappled lake shimmered with movement against the black embrace of mountains."
- Lots of action. Epic duels and chases.
- The story: Emotional. It was nice to see some of the characters get the opportunity to escape. Gave them the choice if they wanted to fight for Daevabad. The internal plights of those choices was very heartfelt and well written. Also enjoyed the backstory for Sobek and his reasonings for helping both Ali and Nahri. Nahri also has some of her lifelong "blanks" filled in.
- The story: Dara's story felt unfinished. He didn't get the redemption he deserves, I feel. Qandisha was also skimmed passed. She had an epic scene when she met Nahri, but nothing came of it. Manizheh's plight felt rushed near the end. She was intricately written in the beginning, only for that care to be lackluster near finish. Much of the finish felt more for convenience, over what would have been messier and taken more pages to flush out properly.
- The structure. The book jumped back and forth between characters. In the past two books, they pushed the story forward, continuing along the timeline. This one, it would crescendo a character's story to a point of action, only to switch to another character taking it back to where they were left off before the first character's point of view. It would be several more chapters before getting back to the plot line that was invested in. Made the book's pacing trudge along in several spots.
Overall a solid read. A good, not excellent, end to a trilogy. Still would recommend and do enjoy S.A. Chakraborty's writing style. They way she writes her characters and has them interact. Love that she found some 'irregular' mythology and creatures to focus on. Is nice to not have the 'same old, same old.' Would definitely like to see more about the ifrit, Dara, the marid and peri from her in the future.
Graphic: War, Death, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Slavery
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Blood
Minor: Chronic illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Death of parent, and Kidnapping
madamenovelist's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Genocide, Religious bigotry, Racism, Murder, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Misogyny, Grief, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Blood, War, Sexual harassment, Torture, Slavery, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Gore, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Vomit, Xenophobia, Violence, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Gun violence, Death of parent, Cursing, Colonisation, Classism, and Child death
summerspence's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Violence, and War
Moderate: Abandonment, Classism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Torture
Minor: Slavery
laurenkimoto's review
- 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
Graphic: Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Torture, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Sexual assault, Rape, Animal death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Grief, War, Vomit, Trafficking, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Hate crime, Racism, Homophobia, Alcohol, Blood, Gaslighting, Gore, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, Child death, Colonisation, Confinement, Death of parent, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Death, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Slavery, Sexual content, and Murder
tinybluepixel's review
- 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
Graphic: Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Blood, Body horror, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Murder, War, and Violence
Moderate: Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Colonisation, Dementia, Gaslighting, Religious bigotry, and Suicidal thoughts
lais's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, Genocide, Gaslighting, Grief, Hate crime, and Murder
Moderate: Slavery
readwithria's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I always appreciate when series keep getting stronger as they go, and the Daevabad trilogy does just that. Chakraborty pulls together all of the elements of her world and gives them all the time they deserve. Characters make hard choices that have serious consequences and those consequences continue into the resolution. The end of this series doesn't equate to the end of the growth of these characters, and even in the epilogue, I could see and appreciate where they were heading.
One of the things I really like about this book is that it gives a significant amount of time to the aftermath. A full 70ish pages (about 10%) of the book takes place as the dust is settling and gives us readers a chance to see how the characters we've grown to love are going to shape their world. It was necessary, especially for an 18k page series, and it was done extremely well.
While this series isn't one I would seek out again on my own, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Religious bigotry, Slavery, and Torture
thebookaholic's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Racism, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and War
hanarama's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
• Sympathetic opposing POVs
• Interesting setting and world building
• Pleasant writing style
• Satisfying ending
The Bad:
• Portions or the final showdown felt overly convenient.
• Information kept from reader.
You Might Like this if You Like:
• Epic fantasy
• Unique world building
• Big final battles
As the conclusion to the Daevabad trilogy, I feel mostly positive, but a tad mixed.
Coming off of the excellent second installment, Chakraborty initially allows her readers a well needed chance to breath and absorb everything that happened thus far. This also gives her ample time to set up the different factions as they were left off. This allows the reader to really absorb the growing threats and to see the characters in new settings.
And this book brings a few new settings that really help to flesh out the world. While the previous books took place mostly within Daevabad, this book takes place mostly outside of the city. It was really cool to see parts of the Djinn world that have only been mentioned previously.
However despite the great first and second acts, I felt like the final showdown was a bit lacking. Though the overall conclusion was satisfying, I rolled my eyes a couple of times during the battle. It felt as though it were written as a screenplay rather than a book. Some key information wasn't given to readers beforehand, leading to some silly, Marvel-style reveals. Further, it felt like everything and anything went right for the heroes, erasing a good chunk of the tension I had felt leading up to the conclusion. It felt really out of left field as Chakraborty has previously written very tense and engaging battle sequences.
Non-battle reveals did shock me though, and felt well executed, and satisfying. The mains all got appropriate endings. Overall, a good read.
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Suicide attempt, Slavery, Self harm, Murder, Medical content, Genocide, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse