A review by miketilford
Of Kings and Killers by Will Wight
adventurous
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
4.5
This is the final book of the Sea side of The Elder Empire series, my fifth book overall, and was the best of the bunch so far. We get some pretty cool reveals about the nature of the world and some of the characters that I won't spoil here.
Civil war has erupted in the empire and lines are drawn straight down the middle. Half the guilds want to maintain the empire by putting Calder on the throne, the other want the empire to fall and divide it up into smaller pieces. While most of the characters are focused on this, Calder discovers that there is an even bigger threat to the entire world, and attempts to unite them all.
The series ends with a satisfying, yet bittersweet conclusion. We are left with a definite end, but it leaves things open to the possibility of a future sequel, but they aren't necessary.
Now I sit here, five books into this six book series, and I don't really feel like I need to read the sixth book, nor do I really want to. The Shadow side has always been the weakest, and now I feel like it'll just be a letdown. I will read it however, as I am a completionist and wouldn't feel right about leaving the series incomplete.
I need to reiterate that I am not a fan of the way Will Wight has divided up this story. It was a cool novelty for the first pair of parallel novels, but it is annoying now. The Sea side of the series is the better of the two by far, with much more likeable characters, and better insights into the world as a whole. If someone was just starting this series, I would say read all the Sea novels and leave it at that. Maybe in a few years, come back and read the Shadow novels. Alternating back and forth didn't do it for me.
Overall, a satisfying conclusion to these characters and this world, albeit not perfect.
Civil war has erupted in the empire and lines are drawn straight down the middle. Half the guilds want to maintain the empire by putting Calder on the throne, the other want the empire to fall and divide it up into smaller pieces. While most of the characters are focused on this, Calder discovers that there is an even bigger threat to the entire world, and attempts to unite them all.
The series ends with a satisfying, yet bittersweet conclusion. We are left with a definite end, but it leaves things open to the possibility of a future sequel, but they aren't necessary.
Now I sit here, five books into this six book series, and I don't really feel like I need to read the sixth book, nor do I really want to. The Shadow side has always been the weakest, and now I feel like it'll just be a letdown. I will read it however, as I am a completionist and wouldn't feel right about leaving the series incomplete.
I need to reiterate that I am not a fan of the way Will Wight has divided up this story. It was a cool novelty for the first pair of parallel novels, but it is annoying now. The Sea side of the series is the better of the two by far, with much more likeable characters, and better insights into the world as a whole. If someone was just starting this series, I would say read all the Sea novels and leave it at that. Maybe in a few years, come back and read the Shadow novels. Alternating back and forth didn't do it for me.
Overall, a satisfying conclusion to these characters and this world, albeit not perfect.