Reviews

ULTIMA by Jay Kristoff

budtling's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

nizharu's review against another edition

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Well, I`m going to be very cruel with this.

The cultural apropiation thingy is something that don't gonna be touched.
A lot of people are comenting that, is stupid to beat a dead horse, also, they are better than me in that regard.

And that left us with the rest of the problem this trilogy had, wich there are many.

The first of first is the weaboo talk, all those hais and sama, was not better yes/aye and lord? mixing languages is bad in a lot of fronts.
That is part of the big problem I said it was not being comented, but also is grammar, and a big failure form the author part, weaboo is bad.

The rest of the grammar is cool, is very well written for the most part, poetic and purple, I love purple... then the weaboo start and sometimes the text is sprinkled with some shitty haikus and the magic falls.

problem number 1) Weaboo shit.

The second batch of problems came with the main character, Yukiko.
Yukiko is....
You know that saying about woman in videogames and the interpretaton that action girls usually have? basically that, a man with boobs but without the charisma nor the balls.
In videogames, that is cool, I mean, games are violent and having damsel in distress is as sexist as mans with boobs, but with the latters as a main character you can have fun, after all videogames have to be fun, need to be fun.

Usually in videogames, the male figure is view as a fantasy of power, and the female figure a fantasy of sexual nature, after all, videogames are made with males in mind and not us, the public with the boobs singularity.
That's not bad itself, unless you're a puritan murrican with the boobs singularity who doesn't know how to have fun.

That's the problem that Yukiko, the main character of this trilogy have, i'ts a man with boobs with a chronic symptoms of damsel is distress mixed with womans are cool because babbies. Also the character becomes in the second book when she learns that is pregnant a spineless little piece of shit.
Which reminds me of final battle results in the third book, in which Yukiko
Spoilerwas suposed to sacrifice herself alongside Burru to stop Izanami
but NO because BABBIES and need to be protected by a male because BABBIES!!
....
I don't know which is more sexist, if the videogames vision of womans or this.
so:

problem number 2) Man with boobs with a chronic symptoms of damsel is distress mixed with womans are cool because babbies as main character.

and:

Problem number 3) Puritan murrica fuck yeah!! BABBIES!!!!11!!

and problem number 4) It's sexist as hell.

Let's talk about secondaries, yes, secondaries...
There's a lotsa - well, two - cool characters down there, and very shitty ones too...
The second book have a lot of them and the point of view float between the main characters and them and that became a chore, some of that stories are boring.
In reality, the secondaries in this trilogy are very boring with the exception of the Warlord's sorry Sogun's sister and Kin, Kin is cool.
Buruu's... no, Buruu is not that cool.

The problen Buruu have is very simple, the author was triying to made him evolve and make him more human-minded as his link with Yukiko deepens but the result is you end with a human with the body of a gryphon.
BAD.

The Villains are a mixed bag too.
The Warlod was insane, and the rest of the people with power very stupid.
The Guild was... What was the Guild anyway? only a bunch of mad people, something about a dead godess and Pentex...
You know, Captain Planet mumbo jumbo but bad written.
And then Hiro, but I'm not gonna talk about him, it's so boring, do not deserve it.
And the barbarians... nope, not talking about them either, pure cliche of japan good/gaijin bad stereotypes, no thanks, i have enought weeabo.

I don't know how to say about these guys, they're a bunch of walking cliches, borings as hells, secondaries and villains equally.

Problem number 5) Boring secondaries and more weeabo stereotypes.

Problem number 6) Buruu is as human as the rest of the cast.

Problem number 7) Saturday's morning cartoons villains.


So the rating is justified, at least, this is my opinion only, rabids fangirls, respect it.
The second star is for an idea for a boss for my werewolf's campaing.

apollo1gcw's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

jabberjawed's review against another edition

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5.0

This book was beautiful, cover to cover. The characters run true and golden, even when caked in filth. The tale told is worth reading again and again. Choose.

_nika_'s review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful tense medium-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

3.0

This a beautiful ending for a great trilogy. As much as the characters have their issues the world building makes up for it. I have to say i probably disliked this part the most. I just felt like it was treated as a bit of a filler for a necessary end. I probably wouldn’t reread it if i’m completely honest. I preferred the first book way much more.

i’m also livid that Michi didn’t make it, she was by far my favourite character

jona_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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

4.25

drizzlybear's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.0

wow so much happened but still it felt a bit too long

catwithbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious 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? No

5.0

Ich habe schon sehr mit mir gehadert den letzten Teil zu beginnen und zu beenden. Denn ich weiß das immer was passiert das mich aus den Socken haut und auch traurig finde. Tja so war es auch hier, aber ich habe ja mit gerechnet. Ich habe mit den Charakteren mit gefiebert und bin bis zum Ende vor Spannung fast gestorben. Das komplette Setting hat mir von Anfang an gefallen und bin traurig hier wieder Abschied nehmen zu müssen. Mir wird Bur fehlen, wäre hätte nicht so einen tollen Donnertiger? Leider bisschen zu groß für ein Haustier.
Ich fand interessant wie sich alles mit den Charakteren entwickelt hat, manches hat man vielleicht geahnt, anderes eher nicht. Aber im Grunde bekommt man immer wieder eine große Überraschung präsentiert. Aber ich liebs.

666prada's review against another edition

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4.0

0.5, Praying for Rain ★★★★★
1, Stormdancer ★★★★ and ½
2, Kinslayer ★★★ and ¾

4.25 stars

This was the hour when words meant nothing. When talk of revolution and justice was washed away, and all that remained was the reality of a gutted home, a bloodstained thoroughfare, an empty stroller. This was fresh-faced troops marching onto Guild sky-ships. This was mothers and wives kissing sons and husbands they may never see again.

(contains spoilers for the previous books)
and the lotus war trilogy finally came to an end, or a new beginning, depending on how you look at it. it was a series i really enjoyed reading, and the last book didn't disappoint, even though i feel like the author crammed a bit too much into a single book, while kinslayer suffered from the so-called middle-book syndrome. despite that though, it was a satisfying ending and i don't have that many complaints. endsinger picks up right where the second book left off.

♠Yukiko: she is pregnant with twins, while dealing with the betrayal of Kin and the new information about the rebels among the Guildsmen. while i disliked the whole unwanted pregnancy twist in kinslayer, it didn't bother me too much at the end. i loved her character arc and journey throughout the trilogy, from the obedient girl to the angry, vengeful woman to the legendary hero and leader she is becoming in endsinger.

♠Buruu: with the arrival of Kaiah, Buruu also has to overcome his past(which we finally learn in this), and i loved every second of it. he is one of my favorite characters since the first book, and his sarcasm gives me life.

♠Kin: he is back in the Guild after betraying the Kagé in Kinslayer. honestly, he has never been a character i liked, but his arc took a turn i wasn't expecting at all. that changed some things, but i still can't really think fondly of him.

♠Kaori: after Daichi's capture, she is the new leader of the Kagé, and honestly? she got on my nerves so much in the first half of the book. she is stubborn and narrow-minded, so full of rage and thirst for revenge.

♠Hana: she joined the rebels and rides an arashitora, while trying to figure out what's up with her eye. i feel like she is one of the characters who didn't really get justice in this book. her character arc paled in comparison to others in the book and i feel like there were some missed opportunities regarding the whole zryachniye. also why the fuck does it have to be tied to
Spoilervirginity? whyyyy
. and she just wasn't that interesting as a person either.

♠Michi: she is back with the rebels after escaping the palace and learning what happened to her mistress. she had her moments, but i feel like she also got a bit forgotten, like the author didn't know what to do with her.

♠Yoshi: after Jorou's death, he also joined the rebels but wants to take revenge. look we all know he is my favorite character in the whole thing and his arc was satisfying on every level and i enjoyed his dialogue with Buruu so much. why am i always a hoe for having my heart shattered into pieces? noone knows.

♠Hiro: dudebro running the same circles, wanting to take revenge on Yukiko, but i actually liked how the whole thing with him was resolved, i wasn't expecting that.

and besides these, there are many more random povs and characters scattered throughout the book, sometimes i even felt underwhelmed, but it was needed to see every side of the story, but tbh there are some characters i have no idea about. who are they? where did they come from? no clue. as i previously mentioned, the book had so much loose ends to tie up. we have the individual character arcs with Buruu and his past, the unfinished things between Hiro and Yukiko, Yoshi's revenge, Hana's eye. some of them were well-done, for example Buruu's, but others left me wishing for more. and as i mentioned, it's a bit too many characters to grasp properly in 400 pages.

especially, when we have even bigger things to deal with, like the raging civil war between the clans, the Guild preparing the Earthcrusher, the gaijins, and obviously, the big bad at the end of the line. the plot had many twists and revelations i wasn't expecting, it was truly an epic conclusion with a bittersweet, overall hopeful ending and while i loved how it came all together by the end, some subplots were clearly rushed. for example the thing with the gaijins made little sense to me and i felt like it wasn't as strong as the rest of the novel.

but, i can't complain much about it when i had such a fucking good time. i love the themes that are explored, how epic it is, i love the writing and the dialogue, it's so powerful and i'm a sucker for everything that happens even if it can be quite a stretch at times. it might not be peak literature, but it caters to my needs, especially the first half. grey morality, some fucked up shit and ordinary people who weren't cut out to be heroes are my jam.

i also live for the bond between Yukiko and Buruu, it's beautiful and special, and just seeing these two came so far makes me happy and sad at the same time. every romantic subplot pales in comparison. well, the romance is definitely one of the weak points of the trilogy and has been since the first book. i still couldn't warm up to any of the pairings, but there were barely any actually romantic scenes included, so i wasn't too bothered.

idk man this review was even more of an incoherent mess than usual(what is english i dont know mate), but it's hard for me to talk about a last book without spoiling literally everything.

other books by Jay Kristoff

The Nevernight Chronicle
1, Nevernight ★★★ and 3/4

Lifelike
1, Lifel1k3 ★★★

The Illuminae Files (cowritten with Amie Kaufman)
1, Illuminae ★★★★ and ½
2, Gemina ★★★★
3, Obsidio ★★★

Aurora Cycle (cowritten with Amie Kaufman)
1, Aurora Rising ★★

britney_l_xox's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.25