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librarianmage's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Body horror and Death
Minor: Sexual assault and Xenophobia
mirrorstorm_'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
I loved this series. Sad to see it end. Only criticism I have is how the bad guys (trying to stay spoiler free) ended up over the top maniacal evil villain by the end. Dara’s past and the question of if redemption is possible for someone plot was so well done in the series up to this point that I was shocked by the full on villain role they cast the ‘bad guys’. It still was an amazing end to a great series. Just was surprised by the decision.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Genocide, Racism, Slavery, and War
Minor: Homophobia and Torture
_forestofpages's review against another edition
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
5.0
The perfect ending to this incredible epic tale. I loved it all, literally everything.
All the characters arcs complete and in such satisfying ways. And not to mention even the marid and shaffit got their dues. I was so surprised by Dara's ending and the alternate epilogue gave me such joy.
I love this trilogy.
All the characters arcs complete and in such satisfying ways. And not to mention even the marid and shaffit got their dues. I was so surprised by Dara's ending and the alternate epilogue gave me such joy.
I love this trilogy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Moderate: Body horror, Slavery, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder
rinku's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- 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
3.5
Compared to the snooze fest The Kingdom of Copper was, The Empire of Gold was way more interesting and was a 3.5 stars read for me, just like The City of Brass. Instead of staying at one place and the plot barely moving forward, the story is more adventurous and brings together the open threads, even though I didn’t understand all of it.
This book follows again the three characters from last book, namely Ali, Nahri, and (sadly) Dara. Ali and Nahri are suddenly in Kairo and have to find a way back to Daevabad. Through Dara’s POV, we learn that the magic is gone there and that Manizheh is struggling to take over the city. We get some court intrigue vibes with his part of the story while Nahri and Ali experience more adventures and immediate dangers.
My biggest problem with the plot was probably that there were many things that I just didn’t understand. Maybe it’s because I got at some points really tired when reading the series, or maybe because things weren’t explained enough. It took me probably too long to understand what happened to Ali and Dara. Ali’s part of the story bored me at some points quite a lot, even though he’s my favorite character of the three; especially some of the Sobek parts were just weird (and all I could think about was hbomberguy, I’m really sorry).
In comparison, the ending was quite nice, even though I had some issues with it: I loved that at the end, they were all back at Daevabad and that Jamshid saved the day. It was a bit cliché that the villains argue at the end, and it wasn’t really satisfying that Dara was the one killing Manizheh. Can we also talk about the fact that none of the important characters died? Of course, I’m not a fan of killing characters off just for the sake of it, but it just didn’t fell right since the stakes were so high . What annoyed me as well was that after the final fight, we get more pages than necessary. It’s nice that that they are introducing democracy, but I doubt that there will peace since the grievances the different tribes have won’t simply go away, I believe .
Like before, my favorite characters were Nahri and Ali. At many moments in the course of the story, I just wanted to hug them since they deserve so much better. When we’re back in Kairo, I noticed how much I miss Nahri’s old self. I also love that we finally get the dynamic between them back that we had in the first book. They have so many great moments together, and I’m so happy that Nahri chose him . What I especially like about them is that their gender roles are kinda reversed with Ali being more emotional and Nahri being more logical. Still, Nahri’s emotions are depicted quite well.
Besides them, the other al Qahtani’s were definitely carrying this book for me. Muntadhir is still one of my favorite characters and I was so happy that he survived . Most of the female characters were great as well, besides Manizheh. With her, I had a problem that I had with a few characters: I couldn’t understand their motivations. Would you really feel revenge for ten generations and judge the descendants of those people for what their ancestors did? Ghassan was a more interesting villain, to be honest. I furthermore still hate Dara and it’s baffling to that some people say that he carried the series. There’s just nothing to like about him; I hate how impulsive he is and how many innocent people he hurt. I’m really not a fan of the fact that they spared him, Nahri should’ve killed him honestly. But I guess he’s punishing himself in the end, so that’s good ?
I’m honestly not sure if I would recommend the Daevabad series or not. What I really liked about it were the characters, but that’s mostly it. Revenge is a big theme in this series which couldn’t catch me as much since I don’t know if it’s the right way to hate other people because for what their ancestors thousands of years ago, but oh well. Additionally, some things were just a bit too complicated, and I still don’t fully understand everything that has happened. In my opinion, this series could’ve been a duology or a trilogy with normal-length books. This whole hospital arc was so boring and could’ve been told in a few chapters. Those lengths are probably the reason why I couldn’t enjoy the series as much as I wanted to and won’t re-read it any time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Gun violence, Sexual content, Dementia, and Abandonment
Minor: Body horror
espressoreader's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
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
This series is beautifully done. It covers uncomfortable topics such as racial diversity religious diversity, class diversity, and even sexual diversity without appearing to beat the socially woke drum. For this reason, this book actually makes a person consider these difficulties that other’s face without turning them off by making them feel drowned in a political concept, rather than in a story with dialogue. None of the characters in this book are perfect. All of them have their own individual preferences, and even prejudices regardless of how high up they are how low down they are all of them demonstrate a level of prejudice. However, this book allows you to look beyond their flaws and watch them grow above them Prince, Ali is considered to be a religious extremist. Though many, of his perceptions are not ones that I would share he holds them, and grows to respect people with whom he does not agree. I think Prince Ali is perhaps one of the most well written characters, and one that I identify with the best. He maintains his religion, understand the precepts that say some thing is wrong, and still treats those people with respect and recognizes their dignity.
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
madamenovelist's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- 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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
thedevouringbookshelf's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror and Xenophobia
tinybluepixel's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Dementia, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Colonisation
rebeccajost's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Genocide, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Body horror, Gun violence, Slavery, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Minor: Sexual content
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).