A review by hanarama
The Empire of Gold, by S.A. Chakraborty
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- 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
The Good:
• 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.
• 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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Suicide attempt, Slavery, Self harm, Murder, Medical content, Genocide, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse