Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty

62 reviews

ariel790's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

3.75

Pros: 

• Characters are likeable. Nahri is a strong female character, Ali is respectful and determined in his own right. Even the antagonists, Dara and Manizheh, are understandable, if not relatable. The introduction of the myriad was interesting. 
• Settings are described beautifully with much detail. An example - " Bathed in starlight, Daevabad was beautiful—the jagged lines of towers and minarets, domes and pyramids—astonishing like a jumble of jeweled toys. Beyond the sliver of white beach, the dappled lake shimmered with movement against the black embrace of mountains."
• Lots of action. Epic duels and chases. 
• The story: Emotional. It was nice to see some of the characters get the opportunity to escape. Gave them the choice if they wanted to fight for Daevabad. The internal plights of those choices was very heartfelt and well written. Also enjoyed the backstory for Sobek and his reasonings for helping both Ali and Nahri. Nahri also has some of her lifelong "blanks" filled in.

Cons: 

• The story: Dara's story felt unfinished. He didn't get the redemption he deserves, I feel. Qandisha was also skimmed passed. She had an epic scene when she met Nahri, but nothing came of it. Manizheh's plight felt rushed near the end. She was intricately written in the beginning, only for that care to be lackluster near finish. Much of the finish felt more for convenience, over what would have been messier and taken more pages to flush out properly.
• The structure. The book jumped back and forth between characters. In the past two books, they pushed the story forward, continuing along the timeline. This one, it would crescendo a character's story to a point of action, only to switch to another character taking it back to where they were left off before the first character's point of view. It would be several more chapters before getting back to the plot line that was invested in. Made the book's pacing trudge along in several spots.

Overall a solid read. A good, not excellent, end to a trilogy. Still would recommend and do enjoy S.A. Chakraborty's writing style. They way she writes her characters and has them interact. Love that she found some 'irregular' mythology and creatures to focus on. Is nice to not have the 'same old, same old.' Would definitely like to see more about the ifrit, Dara, the marid and peri from her in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Slavery

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Blood

Minor: Chronic illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Death of parent, and Kidnapping

carrie_hanson's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

Wow what a finale. 
I wasn't sure how it would be possible to wrap everything up in just one last book but it worked and it worked well. Definitely check content warnings on this one as there is a lot of violence.
The characters arcs throughout the series were stunning, the history and politics of the world sometimes got confusing, but often because we didn't yet have all the information, like most of the characters. This book was dripping with dramatic irony at many times especially with Dara, but I'm glad with how his story wrapped up. 

and Nahri's grandpa being the Egyptian cook?? So many tears of joy at that

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and Slavery

Moderate: Torture and Injury/Injury detail

thoseoldcrows23's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

I can't imagine a more perfect ending to this series. Chakraborty does an excellent job of following through on the world and the characters she's established, and I feel like everyone ended up in a place that felt real and earned. This has cemented The Daevabad Trilogy as an all time favorite series for me and earned it a spot on the very short list of series that I feel get better with each instalment. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Murder, War, Torture, Slavery, Genocide, Gaslighting, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Homophobia and Pregnancy

breadwitchery's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Slavery, Violence, and War

Moderate: Sexual content, Torture, Grief, and Child death

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Cursing

astropova's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

5.0

Wow, what an amazing end to the series! That was definitely one of the most satisfying endings I've ever read. I love how Nahri really comes into her own. She's come a long way since conning random rich guys in Cairo!

I think the author did a great job with the final battle and tying up all the loose ends afterwards. I think every character really got the endings that were perfectly tailored to them.

This book was so long, but I think one of its biggest strengths is that it has just *incredible* pacing. There was not a single moment where I felt bored or like there was unnecessary fluff, detail, or just word count padding. Every scene was so sharp and had purpose. An exemplar of epic fantasy!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Slavery, Violence, Death, Genocide, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture

Minor: Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, and Vomit

dazzle_spider_reader_1212's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Death, Self harm, Murder, Sexual assault, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Medical content, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Dementia, Gun violence, Blood, and Animal cruelty

madamenovelist's review against another edition

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Religious bigotry, Racism, Murder, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Misogyny, Grief, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Blood, War, Sexual harassment, Torture, Slavery, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Gore, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Vomit, Xenophobia, Violence, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Gun violence, Death of parent, Cursing, Colonisation, Classism, and Child death

imds's review against another edition

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Confinement, Trafficking, War, Genocide, Murder, Slavery, Torture, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Grief, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Homophobia and Religious bigotry

Minor: Abortion and Rape

laurareads87's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.5

A solid end to an excellent series.  I didn't quite love The Empire of Gold as much as the two books that came prior to it -- I feel like there were some aspects of the plot that were more drawn out than necessary while others needed more attention; I also feel quite strongly that

the suggestion of romance between Nahri and Ali should've definitely just been left out entirely because it wasn't needed + added nothing.

  I do like, though, how the series has concluded overall, and give the series 5 stars as a whole.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Slavery, Violence, Gun violence, Murder, Gore, Blood, Torture, Confinement, and Medical content

summerspence's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Violence, and War

Moderate: Abandonment, Classism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Torture

Minor: Slavery