Reviews

The Lonesome Crown by Brian Lee Durfee

alexdotc's review

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Fun, but too "on rails". Especially in this last book, tension and action is turned up but it seems like the main characters all have plot armor. It also seems like they behave and say things "out of nowhere" and out of character in service of advancing the plot and/or tying up loose ends. 

beardzerkker's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-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

leathor's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

4.75

kelmandaris's review

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

seanorrhea's review

5.0

I just gotta say that this may be my favorite trilogy of all time, only second (maybe) to mistborn Era one.

This was a wild, wild series, the last 45% of this was just....wow. I won't say anything as to avoid spoilers, but firey absolution was a hell of a sight to behold

I hope brian keeps writing fantasy, because as a debut, this is easily in my top five favorite trilogies of all time, and I would love to grt more from him in the future.

I know his eyesight isn't doing so hot, but I really really hope we get more. I stand by what I've been saying since I read forgetting moon, this is the most underrated and under appreciated series around.

rohanbhandari's review

3.0

Probably my least favourite book of the series, but the author did stick the landing to this one.

Gruesome and non-forgiving are the major themes of this novel. The characters are against put in such painful and difficult situations that you even start empathising with the not-so-moral characters

Also the author’s spin on prophecies themes was a unique one. The revelations in this book caught my by surprise. There were some very unexpected character eliminations and survivals.

In all, it’s a highly recommendable series for its unique take on prophecies, religion and the will to forgive one of its past.

andy_jenkins's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

5.0

brianbell7's review

5.0

I’ll be writing more thoughts later, but I would like to state for the record that no one, and I mean no one, writes batshit bonkers crazy large scale insane battle events like Brian Lee Durfee. I thought the channel water battle in TBH was nuts, not even close to Fiery Absolution. Bat. Shit. Bonkers. 5 stars

brents's review

5.0

This is the final concluding entry in the Five Warrior Angels series. It was one of my most anticipated reads of 2022 and it did not disappoint. This book starts with an absolute bang and sets the tone that no one and nothing is what you expect, anything can and will happen, and this book is going to go hard in terms of battle and action.

There really isn't much I can say about the 3rd book in a series without getting into spoilers, but if you've liked the first two books I think I can pretty safely say that you'll find plenty to love here. I think the thing I appreciated the most, apart from the crazy battles, are the completely unexpected character arcs and the way Durfee really explores some themes that leaves you questioning everything you thought you knew. This book has 3 epilogues and when I finished the last one I felt pretty damn satisfied and had an appreciation for what he was trying to say even though I may not have got every single answer I thought I might. I think kind of the point is no one really knows all the answers or has all of the details and how those things get interpreted and embellished over time to create myths and legends is kind of what the story is about. Of course it's also about the characters and their respective journeys and of course what happens in this fantasy world when shit really hits the fan. Those are great payoffs too.

sthenic's review

adventurous dark 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

3.5