Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty

1 review

ariel790's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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? No

3.75

Pros: 
  • 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.
Cons: 
  • 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. 
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