Reviews

OK this is why I liked this series! I was worried going into this book that after the disappointment of rereading book 2 that this book would also be another flop but it was the best so far! The side characters remain cartoonish and the setting contains zombies (which I am majorly not keen on) but just the interactions between Alfred and Haplo made this story great. This book is the first where they interact fully knowing who each other are and features them going from bitter enemies to almost friends and I am here for it. It is also in this book that the dog foreshadowing becomes a Thing. This book also features an interesting interpretation of the prophecy trope. There is a prophecy that is clearly very relevant to the events in the book and everyone knows it save from Alfred and Haplo. Haplo keeps on trying to find out what it is but fails for various reasons (hilariously some of his attempts fail because people think he is pretending not to know) and it is extremely entertaining. I just really enjoy Haplo's plans getting thwarted I guess?

While I had a great time reading this book there were some things that I didn't like. I wasn't too keen on the section at the beginning from Balthazar's perspective as he is a dramatic little emo who describes himself in a way that is painfully 'not like the other girls' - which was funny but I was definately laughing AT the book and not with it! There is also a section towards the end that is a bit heavy on the mysticism and for me sounded a bit like the authors preaching a little and slides a little into 'science BAD, religion GOOD' territory (yuck).

Content Warnings

mackle13's review

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3.0

The third book in the Death Gate cycle, and it's finally starting to resemble the series that I remember. More philosophy in this book, and we learn more about the Sartran.

It was nice to have the return of Alfred, though I grew a little tired of reading about him tripping over his own feet every other page. Hopefully that will lessen, a bit, as the series progresses since it's tied into his

Spoiler

confidence, and hopefully he'll be getting some more of that.

I also really liked watching the growing friendship between Haplo and Alfred, even if it's less than wanted on, really, either of their parts.

bookishchas's review

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4.0

Such a great book. It definitely had its flaws, but still a great entry in the series. Necromancy is not my favorite of the arcane arts in fantasy literature, so maybe that’s why I wasn’t blown away by it. The ending was really good though. Video review can be found here https://youtu.be/c_JuWB-Bz8g

inferiorwit's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

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