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booksthatburn's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
THE EMPIRE OF GOLD is a satisfying conclusion to the amazing Daevabad Trilogy, taking its time tying up everything and everyone with suitable endings, as much as is possible for conflicts that brewed for millennia.
Dara's character arc is particularly good, but there's much to love for Nahri and Ali as well. The pacing is excellent, the characters’ motivations are coherent even as events become bloodier, and I’m very satisfied with the ending. It's everything I loved about the first two, but with more catharsis and resolution since it's the final book in the trilogy. The longer page count let the story take how long it needed, with space for things to play out at a wonderful pace.
This wraps up a bunch of stuff left hanging from the previous book. There's a storyline that has most of its major elements here though it wasn't entirely new for this book. This is definitely a distinct phase of the larger story, with enough that's unique to it for it to stand out, but more than enough in common to be a great finale. The big things I can think of that get resolved here are working off of ground laid before, so nothing is wholly new but the way things are developed and complicated makes it feel fresh. As the last book, things are wrapped up very well. The characters get endings that are right for them and I like how things work out for Daevabad as a whole. A few things are left open, but it's the openness of possibility for the characters who made it to the end of the book. The main characters are the same and their narrative voices have stayed consistent, with some changes in how they think about certain events. This wouldn't make sense if someone started here and hadn't read the first books. There's enough story here that if someone persisted after the first few chapters they might have a good time, but a lot of what makes this so good is dependent on knowing what the characters and their city have been through, without that knowledge the resolutions wouldn't be as meaningful. If you're intrigued by book three, please go back to the beginning and read the whole trilogy.
I loved this and I'm sad there isn't more, but there's plenty to linger over.
Dara's character arc is particularly good, but there's much to love for Nahri and Ali as well. The pacing is excellent, the characters’ motivations are coherent even as events become bloodier, and I’m very satisfied with the ending. It's everything I loved about the first two, but with more catharsis and resolution since it's the final book in the trilogy. The longer page count let the story take how long it needed, with space for things to play out at a wonderful pace.
This wraps up a bunch of stuff left hanging from the previous book. There's a storyline that has most of its major elements here though it wasn't entirely new for this book. This is definitely a distinct phase of the larger story, with enough that's unique to it for it to stand out, but more than enough in common to be a great finale. The big things I can think of that get resolved here are working off of ground laid before, so nothing is wholly new but the way things are developed and complicated makes it feel fresh. As the last book, things are wrapped up very well. The characters get endings that are right for them and I like how things work out for Daevabad as a whole. A few things are left open, but it's the openness of possibility for the characters who made it to the end of the book. The main characters are the same and their narrative voices have stayed consistent, with some changes in how they think about certain events. This wouldn't make sense if someone started here and hadn't read the first books. There's enough story here that if someone persisted after the first few chapters they might have a good time, but a lot of what makes this so good is dependent on knowing what the characters and their city have been through, without that knowledge the resolutions wouldn't be as meaningful. If you're intrigued by book three, please go back to the beginning and read the whole trilogy.
I loved this and I'm sad there isn't more, but there's plenty to linger over.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Murder
Moderate: Cursing, Homophobia, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Suicide attempt, and Colonisation
Minor: Sexual content and Kidnapping
CW for eye injury (graphic), major character death (graphic).achingallover's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
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
incredible
i will not stop talking about this to anyone who will listen
i wanted more zaynab but that's literally my only critique
the chosen name thing!
just. perfection.
i will not stop talking about this to anyone who will listen
i wanted more zaynab but that's literally my only critique
the chosen name thing!
just. perfection.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
micheala's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
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? It's complicated
4.5
I've been putting this book off for a while as I loved the first two books and I didn't want this trilogy to end. The thing that finally pushed me to pick it up was the fact that it was overdue at the library and I couldn't renew it and I felt bad not reading it or returning it lol
There really is no way to talk about the finally in a series without spoiling the rest of the series, so if you haven't read the Daevabad Trilogy, all I can say is I highly recommend it.
I'm not a particularly fast reader, but I finished this 750+ page book in 4 days. The pacing never feels like it's dragging or like any of those pages are simply filler. Everything feels important to the plot and necessary for this rich world and this stunning conclusion to an amazing trilogy.
We continue to have the three alternating POVs of Narhi, Ali and Dara and all three of those POVs feel like they were given equal importance (not like the author had a clear favourite that they wanted to spend more time with, like I'm currently encountering with another book)
I did spend a LOT of this book very frustrated with Dara, in that he keeps being willfully naive about what is going on and what he is assisting with. I mean it makes sense for his character, it's just annoying wanting him to get with it already. Plus spending so much time with Manizheh was infuriating - like I'm sure it was meant to be.
I liked seeing all the threads that were laid in the first two books concerning Ali and Narhi start coming together. Finding out the truth about both of their histories was very satisfying.
I also really appreciated the way things wrapped up. It's not all sunshine and rainbows (there was a genocide and civil war that just happened so it would have felt out of place if it had), but there was that hopeful tint to the events.
Overall this was a very satisfying conclusion to a series that I've very much enjoyed and I'm glade to finally have read it.
There really is no way to talk about the finally in a series without spoiling the rest of the series, so if you haven't read the Daevabad Trilogy, all I can say is I highly recommend it.
I'm not a particularly fast reader, but I finished this 750+ page book in 4 days. The pacing never feels like it's dragging or like any of those pages are simply filler. Everything feels important to the plot and necessary for this rich world and this stunning conclusion to an amazing trilogy.
We continue to have the three alternating POVs of Narhi, Ali and Dara and all three of those POVs feel like they were given equal importance (not like the author had a clear favourite that they wanted to spend more time with, like I'm currently encountering with another book)
I did spend a LOT of this book very frustrated with Dara, in that he keeps being willfully naive about what is going on and what he is assisting with. I mean it makes sense for his character, it's just annoying wanting him to get with it already. Plus spending so much time with Manizheh was infuriating - like I'm sure it was meant to be.
I liked seeing all the threads that were laid in the first two books concerning Ali and Narhi start coming together. Finding out the truth about both of their histories was very satisfying.
I also really appreciated the way things wrapped up. It's not all sunshine and rainbows (there was a genocide and civil war that just happened so it would have felt out of place if it had), but there was that hopeful tint to the events.
Overall this was a very satisfying conclusion to a series that I've very much enjoyed and I'm glade to finally have read it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
cerilouisereads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Gore, Self harm, Slavery, Torture, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
icfasntw's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
QUICK PITCH: The final book in Chakraborty's Daevabad Trilogy, sequel to The City of Brass and The Kingdom of Copper.
VERDICT: I really cooled down on this book. The first two featured a lot of politicking, which is always my favorite. The third book felt like part adventure novel, part "hanging out with the bad guys so you know how bad they are," and part wrapping up a bunch of threads that were introduced in earlier installments as quickly as possible. The result felt a bit rushed and didn't hold my attention like the first two.
SERIES: Overall, I think the series is all right. I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books and I love seeing fantasy stories from perspective other than "Western European." My biggest complaint is that I wish some of the longer threads, likethe marid , had been introduced and explored more thoroughly in previous books instead of all solved at once at the end.
VERDICT: I really cooled down on this book. The first two featured a lot of politicking, which is always my favorite. The third book felt like part adventure novel, part "hanging out with the bad guys so you know how bad they are," and part wrapping up a bunch of threads that were introduced in earlier installments as quickly as possible. The result felt a bit rushed and didn't hold my attention like the first two.
SERIES: Overall, I think the series is all right. I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books and I love seeing fantasy stories from perspective other than "Western European." My biggest complaint is that I wish some of the longer threads, like
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Medical trauma