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lilyphoenixx's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
fast-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
3.75
deah's review
Max rey love interest of all time truly dni if you're not a thrice reincarnated god willed back to life by the death of another god with good political savvy, 3 cool dogs, craft skills, is basically a dad, and finds violent rageful fraticidal vengeance hot in a woman
ijustreallyliketrees's review
adventurous
emotional
fast-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 and Violence
Moderate: Grief, Blood, and Genocide
Minor: Death of parent
fairytales's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
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
4.25
A beautiful conclusion to this trilogy and fantastic audiobook, which should have more popularity than it does.
I loved the Titania arch in this story. The relationship between Esmae and Alexei continues to be fraught and complex in unexpected ways.
The amount of power the gods had while being so flawed lends a uniqueness and complexity to this book though it can also be frustrating at times since it can cause the humans to lose agency, though there are ways—through weapons and boons and decisions where they also exert agency.
This story addresses loss and hurt and harm with such realness.
I can’t decide how I felt about the ending though, I’ll admit. Like it’s the ending you want for Esmae but also a little too perfect. I think I might have preferred a conclusion that had Esmae living out her life and meeting Max in the next one.
I loved the Titania arch in this story. The relationship between Esmae and Alexei continues to be fraught and complex in unexpected ways.
The amount of power the gods had while being so flawed lends a uniqueness and complexity to this book though it can also be frustrating at times since it can cause the humans to lose agency, though there are ways—through weapons and boons and decisions where they also exert agency.
This story addresses loss and hurt and harm with such realness.
charvi_not_just_fiction's review
5.0
As predicted, I am NOT OKAY after finishing this book
23-06-2023
Finishing this trilogy feels like coming home while simultaneously having a black hole in my chest because it's over :')
23-06-2023
Finishing this trilogy feels like coming home while simultaneously having a black hole in my chest because it's over :')
dhee_reads's review against another edition
5.0
Good: I love that Es is not the only one who is angry. Alexi is angry too. He blames her the same way she blamed him. We see him unravel. We see Es take in this change in Alexi. It's important for her growth. But it's also important for his growth as well. I live for confrontation scenes; Alexi, Bear and Es each get a moment. No one holds back on what they need to say. I love the moments when characters can finally say what they need others to hear.
So many of our dynamics between has changed: for gods, great beasts, mothers, kings, siblings, and hell our sentient warship too. The characters have crossed the chessboard; the layout of the story is so different from where we began. It feels like a transformation that is worthy of closing a trilogy.
We end the series on Alexi and Kirrin as main antagonists. For me, it had to end with them. Their paras (Arjuna and Krishna) are the heart of the Mahabharata. They're not maligned. They're just not softened. That's always been necessary. They're seen as duo both in this trilogy and the Mahabharata. But we have significant character moments with Alexi and Kirrin separately. I notice who they're becoming in the second half of book 2 a lot. Mandanna continues this exploration in this book. I feel more sympathetic to both them because we seen individual struggles and efforts.
Honestly, Mandanna doesn’t forfeit what the Mahabharata truly is. This is amazing because we center Karna i.e Es as our main character.It works because Es picks up Arjuna's main struggle. But Alexi our Arjuna para has other Arjuna problems.
I also love seeing weakness in gods. It touches me so much for gods to feel weight of their mistakes and to have real ties to other gods as well as humans. I felt this for Amba. I feel this for Kirrin too. It's made more powerful because Kirrin is Krishna. Krishna is very beloved and complex god. Tbh I'm still wrapping my mind around this part. There are lot of stories of Krishna as child and later as grown god. I feel like this Krishna is very much in the middle. It fits for me. But it's also a blank space. I personally don't know the stories occuring in that middle time period. I wonder about that a lot. It's not substitute but it's easier to accept this version of Krishna in part because this.
Con: The story speeds up because of Trimurthi paras. It forces Es to table her previous goals. But she was heading in that direction anyway.
Misc rant: I think Es runs out of steam. She hits a pt in the story where it's all too much. I love that rage can be exhaustive for the person raging too. I think it's important to admit she was forced to stop. Or rather it had to get to lowest pt in story to stick. The confrontations, the Trimurthi threat of total annihilation, finding love/fam and her own pre-existing moral code also helped. I think grief and rejection were always hiding behind her rage. It finally took the front seat.
So many of our dynamics between has changed: for gods, great beasts, mothers, kings, siblings, and hell our sentient warship too. The characters have crossed the chessboard; the layout of the story is so different from where we began. It feels like a transformation that is worthy of closing a trilogy.
We end the series on Alexi and Kirrin as main antagonists. For me, it had to end with them. Their paras (Arjuna and Krishna) are the heart of the Mahabharata. They're not maligned. They're just not softened. That's always been necessary. They're seen as duo both in this trilogy and the Mahabharata. But we have significant character moments with Alexi and Kirrin separately. I notice who they're becoming in the second half of book 2 a lot. Mandanna continues this exploration in this book. I feel more sympathetic to both them because we seen individual struggles and efforts.
Honestly, Mandanna doesn’t forfeit what the Mahabharata truly is. This is amazing because we center Karna i.e Es as our main character.It works because Es picks up Arjuna's main struggle. But Alexi our Arjuna para has other Arjuna problems.
I also love seeing weakness in gods. It touches me so much for gods to feel weight of their mistakes and to have real ties to other gods as well as humans. I felt this for Amba. I feel this for Kirrin too. It's made more powerful because Kirrin is Krishna. Krishna is very beloved and complex god. Tbh I'm still wrapping my mind around this part. There are lot of stories of Krishna as child and later as grown god. I feel like this Krishna is very much in the middle. It fits for me. But it's also a blank space. I personally don't know the stories occuring in that middle time period. I wonder about that a lot. It's not substitute but it's easier to accept this version of Krishna in part because this.
Con: The story speeds up because of Trimurthi paras. It forces Es to table her previous goals. But she was heading in that direction anyway.
Misc rant: I think Es runs out of steam. She hits a pt in the story where it's all too much. I love that rage can be exhaustive for the person raging too. I think it's important to admit she was forced to stop. Or rather it had to get to lowest pt in story to stick. The confrontations, the Trimurthi threat of total annihilation, finding love/fam and her own pre-existing moral code also helped. I think grief and rejection were always hiding behind her rage. It finally took the front seat.
carolita1128's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
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
matchamaker's review against another edition
adventurous
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? Yes
4.75
I love this series, but felt this final installment of the trilogy was rushing towards the end, with a lot of high-drama events in too few pages. I would have really liked more scenes focusing on the growing relationships between characters, or just the high-conflict ones. If we were given a little bit more of Esmae and Bear, his death would have been more devastating. If we had seen more of the love between Esmae and her friends, and between her and Max—the things that she had to live for—the end of the conflict would have been more resonant. And my greedy heart wanted more intimacy between Esmae and Max. Like, we didn’t even get a steamy make out scene? I feel robbed.
emiann2023's review against another edition
5.0
I finished this in an afternoon, it was so good.
Heartbreaking. Agonizing and pretty much dripping with grief. But oh the beauty and hope in this story. A reminder that there will always dawn a new day.
Heartbreaking. Agonizing and pretty much dripping with grief. But oh the beauty and hope in this story. A reminder that there will always dawn a new day.