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3.0 AVERAGE
3.0 AVERAGE
The finale of the Flame of Requiem trilogy sadly fell a little short. The repetitiveness came back in full-force, and it brought a load of monotony with it. For most of the book it was all the same: dragons flee, they fight an army of monsters and seraph blocking their path home, thousands die, everyone loses hope, they're reminded of why they fight and regain hope, Ishtafel is a blood-thirsty monster both in and out, rinse and repeat.
Seriously, this happened so many times that I ended up skimming through most of the book, something I didn't do with the previous two entries, and it really made the problems with this trilogy more apparent. Sure, the sheer number of seraphim and their beasts show why Requiem was destroyed and her people enslaved, but the monotony and repetitiveness made it all come off as unrealistic and convenient. Also, absolutely no other seraph took pity on the Vir Requis? Every single one of them, including the civilians, wanted all the dragons dead or enslaved? I find that hard to believe. I also find it hard to believe none of the seraph took notice of the millions of monsters coming after the dragons from the south, thought: "Oh crap, that's bad!", and decided to fight them instead.
It made everything come off as shallow and more depressing than what came before, the numerous grammar errors didn't help.
Thankfully these issues slightly improved around the third half of the story (although it was a little too late for me), and there are still some positives to be found.
We get a lot more dragons this time around as our heroes spend most of their time in dragon form, said heroes and characters were still good, and whenever some of them get killed, its genuinely emotional and hits hard. I like that the author touched upon trauma, how it affects people, and how some will never fully recover from it. The small plot-twist around Meliora's 'curse' from the second book took me off guard in a good way, the final battle between Meliora and Ishtafel worked, and finally, I'd be lying if I said those last few pages didn't get me choked up. After everything that happened and everything our heroes endured, that ending nearly reduced me to a sobbing mess. It was all worth it.
Overall, even though the negatives outweigh the positives in my opinion, Pillars is an okay, bittersweet ending to the Flame of Requiem trilogy. It wrapped everything up well, and made me feel something. Any story that gets you emotional, no matter how questionable the execution is, should earn some points on that front.
Seriously, this happened so many times that I ended up skimming through most of the book, something I didn't do with the previous two entries, and it really made the problems with this trilogy more apparent. Sure, the sheer number of seraphim and their beasts show why Requiem was destroyed and her people enslaved, but the monotony and repetitiveness made it all come off as unrealistic and convenient. Also, absolutely no other seraph took pity on the Vir Requis? Every single one of them, including the civilians, wanted all the dragons dead or enslaved? I find that hard to believe. I also find it hard to believe none of the seraph took notice of the millions of monsters coming after the dragons from the south, thought: "Oh crap, that's bad!", and decided to fight them instead.
It made everything come off as shallow and more depressing than what came before, the numerous grammar errors didn't help.
Thankfully these issues slightly improved around the third half of the story (although it was a little too late for me), and there are still some positives to be found.
We get a lot more dragons this time around as our heroes spend most of their time in dragon form, said heroes and characters were still good, and whenever some of them get killed, its genuinely emotional and hits hard. I like that the author touched upon trauma, how it affects people, and how some will never fully recover from it. The small plot-twist around Meliora's 'curse' from the second book took me off guard in a good way, the final battle between Meliora and Ishtafel worked, and finally, I'd be lying if I said those last few pages didn't get me choked up. After everything that happened and everything our heroes endured, that ending nearly reduced me to a sobbing mess. It was all worth it.
Overall, even though the negatives outweigh the positives in my opinion, Pillars is an okay, bittersweet ending to the Flame of Requiem trilogy. It wrapped everything up well, and made me feel something. Any story that gets you emotional, no matter how questionable the execution is, should earn some points on that front.