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ashybear02's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
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: Death of parent, Misogyny, Death, Religious bigotry, War, Slavery, Sexism, Murder, Child death, and Violence
venti's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
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
“i don't know,” she said, musing. “is there a feminine version of the tzhung name han?”
so nearly she surprised him into laughter. “hanyi.”
“then perhaps i shall call my daughter hanyi,” said rhian. “if I have a daughter. if i don't die soon.”
—
this book cut my heart out and sacrificed it to the evil entity of mijak. i literally don’t think i will ever be the same after this trilogy. like wtf.
i cried, i laughed, i dramatically acted out the scenes where sun-dao nearly died, and also when he actually did die LOL.
i loved the tzhung. they were so cool, loved the witch-men and their wind shit. really picked up the less interesting parts of the book, totally not because i imagined han as xiao zhan LMAO. his grief surrounding sun-dao and his general character arc was very unique and complex and i just want to give karen miller a hug for making such a sad little man™
and ofc zandakar. my little evil blue man. very much pissed me off how much shit he had to endure for rhian to take him seriously, but am very happy with his ending with dexterity. makes me happy.
rhian. omg i live for rhian. i sort of maybe live for alisdair, but he pissed me off eventually LOL. rhian was just so relatable. rhian is just like me fr. also the exchange at the top between her and han was literally the best part of the book, aside from dmitrak getting his shit rocked by zandakar.
controversially, i liked hekat’s story resolution. it was a sort of full circle moment, really. born in violence, dead in violence. hekat was doomed from the start. even completely insane in the end, hekat truly is a menacing villain, and to boot a complex one. miller was fire for that tbh.
to end, my other favourite exchange between rhian and han <3
—
she lost sight of him for a moment, in a blurring of tears. “thank you,” she said, her voice husky. “and…thank you for returning my horse, by the way.”
surprise and amusement flashed vivid across his face. “rhian, little girl-queen…tzhung's emperor has missed you.”
she touched his silk-clad arm with her fingertips. “and ethrea's queen has missed you, han.”
then they both turned at the sound of her soldiers, approaching. their private moment was over…
it was time to go to war.
so in conclusion, rhian has a baby girl called hanyi, zandakar is warlord in mijak with dexterity and everyone is happy <3 bc i said so
so nearly she surprised him into laughter. “hanyi.”
“then perhaps i shall call my daughter hanyi,” said rhian. “if I have a daughter. if i don't die soon.”
—
this book cut my heart out and sacrificed it to
i cried, i laughed, i dramatically acted out the scenes where sun-dao nearly died, and also when he
i loved the tzhung. they were so cool, loved the witch-men and their wind shit. really picked up the less interesting parts of the book, totally not because i imagined han as xiao zhan LMAO. his grief surrounding
and ofc zandakar. my little evil blue man. very much pissed me off how much shit he had to endure for rhian to take him seriously, but am very happy with his ending with dexterity. makes me happy.
rhian. omg i live for rhian. i sort of maybe live for alisdair, but he pissed me off eventually LOL. rhian was just so relatable. rhian is just like me fr. also the exchange at the top between her and han was literally the best part of the book, aside from
controversially, i liked hekat’s story resolution.
to end, my other favourite exchange between rhian and han <3
—
she lost sight of him for a moment, in a blurring of tears. “thank you,” she said, her voice husky. “and…thank you for returning my horse, by the way.”
surprise and amusement flashed vivid across his face. “rhian, little girl-queen…tzhung's emperor has missed you.”
she touched his silk-clad arm with her fingertips. “and ethrea's queen has missed you, han.”
then they both turned at the sound of her soldiers, approaching. their private moment was over…
it was time to go to war.
so in conclusion, rhian has a baby girl called hanyi, zandakar is warlord in mijak with dexterity and everyone is happy <3 bc i said so
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Genocide, Slavery, and Colonisation
Moderate: Misogyny and Xenophobia
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Child death
pemdas97's review
adventurous
dark
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
4.75
ceuran's review
3.0
Review that I posted as a comment in May 2012 because I was a Goodreads noob back then. Now updated to show as an actual review:
Overall it was a good book, but sitting there reading it I felt like it went on forever . . . I found trying to convince the counsel took too long. I dunno, after about a full day of reading and only getting half-way through I felt like banging my head against a wall.. when I wasn't reading that is.
Overall it was a good book, but sitting there reading it I felt like it went on forever . . . I found trying to convince the counsel took too long. I dunno, after about a full day of reading and only getting half-way through I felt like banging my head against a wall.. when I wasn't reading that is.
a_l_deleon's review against another edition
5.0
This is probably my favorite series by Karen Miller. I’m sorry to see the story end in this third book, but I did enjoy reading them all. I found there was much food for thought within this tale and well worth the time to read. It’s not an easy task to write a fantasy novel that’s centered around the faces of God, how people view the world, and act within their own set of beliefs. The Godspeaker Trilogy, in my opinion, was an incredible feat from a writing perspective and it was done very, very well.
circus_of_damned's review against another edition
3.0
This book was not the ending i was expecting mainly because this book takes all of the expected actions I thought it would. After the first and second book were so surprising in there action this was frustrating. And the ending felt to clean and yet not clean enough because of the predictable choices. Still enjoyed but not the ending i wanted.
jlsigman's review against another edition
4.0
I would have rated it 4 1/2 stars if I could. The pace is relentless, the terror palpable, the characters completely believable. I highly recommend this series to everyone.
kerveros's review against another edition
5.0
My friend Heather lent me the first two books in this series which I read pretty darn quickly last month. I mentioned to my other friend, Sophie, how much I wanted to read the third and, bless her heart, she only went and got me a copy! I'm glad she did because this book concludes the series pretty much perfectly.
To recap from my review of The Riven Kingdom there were a few things I wanted to happen in this book:
- Hekat and Zandekar to reunite
- to see how Rhian copes with the threat of Mijak and how she allies (or not) with the trade countries
- Zandekar to stike his brother down
Now obviously a proper discussion of these falls into spoiler territoy so if you want to know if the things I wanted to happen did then click below!
All three things happened (the middle one clearly had to if you think about it...) but perhaps not how I wanted... In chronological order then, Rhian does really well in terms of accepting the threat, though I think her... annoyance... at Zandakar and Jones is rather unQueenly. Though that does show how new she is to that role. I really, really enjoyed the alliance between Rhian and Han of T-somethingorother - I thought the way their relationship developed was awesome and I would love for their to be a series about Han and his country. The reunion between Hekat and Zandakar ... it happened as it needed to for these characters (i.e. it did not go down well) but I just wish there had been some more time for them, for Zandakar to have spent a few more minutes with his Yuma, maybe for Hekat to realise that she was freaking crazy in the same way that Vortka did . As for the Zandakar v Dimmy show down, well again I wish some more time had been devoted to it, but what happened and how it happened is perfect for the book.
Rhian certainly grows into her role as Queen, I really enjoyed seeing the evolution that she undertakes, from a head-strong girl to Queen in Riven Kingdom, from Queen to Warrior to Ruler in this book. She isn't quite as fierce as Hekat is, but she's certainly as strong in her own way.
Alasdair is... annoying comes to mind but he improves as the book goes on. You can understand why he is as petulant or childish as he is at times, but it doesn't come across as being particularly noble. But guess what - nobles are human beings too and he certainly comes off as being human! I think what Miller does well is creating characters that are human and flawed, in a way that doesn't come across as being pointless or there for plot reasons.
Zandakar is, Zandakar. He doesn't really change all that much - his big character moment came in Riven Kingdom. I do wish he had been a bit more emotive at certain moments though (for example whenhe found out that Vortka was his father, or that his country had started human sacrifice, or that the god he had served all his life was actually a demon, and what his culture thought of as demons were actualy on the side of good (though that raises questions about good and evil and... I'm not a theology student so I'm so not going in that territory .
Jones and Ursa are another pair that haven't changed much really since Riven Kingdom. They're okay, but Ursa can be more than a little grating.
Han... now, he is interesting. I didn't like him in Riven Kingdom, but then he did only turn up at the last moment and spoil things for Zanakar so... maybe that is understandable. But in this he goes from being a cold, manipulative ruler to someone desperately trying to do the best for his people and country. His relationship with Rhian goes from one of a man who thinks he knows best, to a somewhat ally, to a potential threat, to a friend. I really wish there was more of him in this book, and part of me hopes that Miller has included him and/or his nation in other books of hers.
Overall, a very strong finish to a series I wasn't sure I'd want to read in full. I'm looking forward to reading more by this author in the future.
To recap from my review of The Riven Kingdom there were a few things I wanted to happen in this book:
- Hekat and Zandekar to reunite
- to see how Rhian copes with the threat of Mijak and how she allies (or not) with the trade countries
- Zandekar to stike his brother down
Now obviously a proper discussion of these falls into spoiler territoy so if you want to know if the things I wanted to happen did then click below!
Rhian certainly grows into her role as Queen, I really enjoyed seeing the evolution that she undertakes, from a head-strong girl to Queen in Riven Kingdom, from Queen to Warrior to Ruler in this book. She isn't quite as fierce as Hekat is, but she's certainly as strong in her own way.
Alasdair is... annoying comes to mind but he improves as the book goes on. You can understand why he is as petulant or childish as he is at times, but it doesn't come across as being particularly noble. But guess what - nobles are human beings too and he certainly comes off as being human! I think what Miller does well is creating characters that are human and flawed, in a way that doesn't come across as being pointless or there for plot reasons.
Zandakar is, Zandakar. He doesn't really change all that much - his big character moment came in Riven Kingdom. I do wish he had been a bit more emotive at certain moments though (for example when
Jones and Ursa are another pair that haven't changed much really since Riven Kingdom. They're okay, but Ursa can be more than a little grating.
Han... now, he is interesting. I didn't like him in Riven Kingdom, but then he did only turn up at the last moment and spoil things for Zanakar so... maybe that is understandable. But in this he goes from being a cold, manipulative ruler to someone desperately trying to do the best for his people and country. His relationship with Rhian goes from one of a man who thinks he knows best, to a somewhat ally, to a potential threat, to a friend. I really wish there was more of him in this book, and part of me hopes that Miller has included him and/or his nation in other books of hers.
Overall, a very strong finish to a series I wasn't sure I'd want to read in full. I'm looking forward to reading more by this author in the future.