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4.43 AVERAGE
4.43 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
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:
Complicated
4.5 stars. Overall I felt this was a satisfactory end to the trilogy! The prologue immediately sucked me back in and I found myself whipping through the book. While I know that pacing can be an issue for other readers in this series, including myself, it was not a very big deterrent in this book. Perhaps because I was so invested in the world building, the mythology, the characters that I found myself enjoying the slower parts of the story as much as the fast climactic scenes. I also really love Suri's prose. Sometimes in fantasy novels, I find the prose is lacking, but that's definitely not the case of this trilogy. The writing style is quite beautiful and brings a lot of depth to the story, so it doesn't just feel like I'm just reading a plot.
The story of The Lotus Empire is not a cut and dry "Let's end empire" story, but a more complicated one about power, faith and people. Overall, it was a vastly entertaining and intriguing story. While the romance between Priya and Malini is deeply integral to the story, that is only one part of the story. Malini trying to hold onto her power was exciting to read through, I was definitely wondering when certain plots would come to fruition. Bhumika's sacrifice at the end of the last book was explored pretty well in this book, considering that she does not retain the memories of herself. I still felt quite connected to her and the ways she grieved despite not knowing what she had lost. I was interested in seeing how Priya would navigate the Yaksa and also to just learn more of their lore. Rao trying to determine his purpose after Aditya's death definitely took us on an interesting journey. I personally enjoyed the depth of characters and points of view, it gave the world a lot of depth, like I was putting together the puzzle pieces.
Some things that I would have changed - I would have loved to see more of outside the lands of the empire because the bits we did get to see were very cool. I would have also loved if the last like 20% of the book was a little longer. Things moved a little too fast in the climax for my taste and I think some of the plot/story would have impacted me more with a little more time to breathe. The way time passes in these books has always been a little hard to follow/confusing, so I can just see how improving on that would bring some more weight to the ending of it all. Nonetheless, these issues were not big enough for me to take away too many stars. The story took me on an emotional ride and I am glad to have experienced this trilogy.
The story of The Lotus Empire is not a cut and dry "Let's end empire" story, but a more complicated one about power, faith and people. Overall, it was a vastly entertaining and intriguing story. While the romance between Priya and Malini is deeply integral to the story, that is only one part of the story. Malini trying to hold onto her power was exciting to read through, I was definitely wondering when certain plots would come to fruition. Bhumika's sacrifice at the end of the last book was explored pretty well in this book, considering that she does not retain the memories of herself. I still felt quite connected to her and the ways she grieved despite not knowing what she had lost. I was interested in seeing how Priya would navigate the Yaksa and also to just learn more of their lore. Rao trying to determine his purpose after Aditya's death definitely took us on an interesting journey. I personally enjoyed the depth of characters and points of view, it gave the world a lot of depth, like I was putting together the puzzle pieces.
Some things that I would have changed - I would have loved to see more of outside the lands of the empire because the bits we did get to see were very cool. I would have also loved if the last like 20% of the book was a little longer. Things moved a little too fast in the climax for my taste and I think some of the plot/story would have impacted me more with a little more time to breathe. The way time passes in these books has always been a little hard to follow/confusing, so I can just see how improving on that would bring some more weight to the ending of it all. Nonetheless, these issues were not big enough for me to take away too many stars. The story took me on an emotional ride and I am glad to have experienced this trilogy.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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
one of the most well-written endings i’ve read for a fantasy series
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Beautiful.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
fast-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:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
tense
slow-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
Well… It was good. But it was nowhere near as good as it could have been. Suri made some phenomenal main characters, but sadly, they were not the protagonists of this series. Well, Priya was. But poor Malini.
Not to say this wasn’t, in many ways, phenomenally good. It’s just that amongst the unquestionable five-star parts were parts that didn’t work, and not even in a particularly interesting way. It didn’t quite bear out its promise.
Not to say this wasn’t, in many ways, phenomenally good. It’s just that amongst the unquestionable five-star parts were parts that didn’t work, and not even in a particularly interesting way. It didn’t quite bear out its promise.