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mmelibertine's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, Child death, Death of parent, Animal death, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, War, and Slavery
espressoreader's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
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? Yes
5.0
This series is beautifully done. It covers uncomfortable topics such as racial diversity religious diversity, class diversity, and even sexual diversity without appearing to beat the socially woke drum. For this reason, this book actually makes a person consider these difficulties that other’s face without turning them off by making them feel drowned in a political concept, rather than in a story with dialogue. None of the characters in this book are perfect. All of them have their own individual preferences, and even prejudices regardless of how high up they are how low down they are all of them demonstrate a level of prejudice. However, this book allows you to look beyond their flaws and watch them grow above them Prince, Ali is considered to be a religious extremist. Though many, of his perceptions are not ones that I would share he holds them, and grows to respect people with whom he does not agree. I think Prince Ali is perhaps one of the most well written characters, and one that I identify with the best. He maintains his religion, understand the precepts that say some thing is wrong, and still treats those people with respect and recognizes their dignity.
Beyond this political intrigue, there is also a beautiful story line with friendship, betrayal, reconciliation and ultimately understanding. The story shows the impact of generational abuse post traumatic stress, and gaslighting. It shows the impact of unhealthy relationships at all levels, and it shows very competent people suffering from and overcoming the physical and emotional abuse.
It does all of these things, without appearing to be activist propaganda. It relates real emotion experiences and actions rather than just glossing over everything as he’s racist and he’s too religious. I find that this book was extremely respectful of all ideologies, and showed the strengths and weaknesses inherent with those ideologies, and the flawed ways they were represented by their followers. This was overall a great trilogy, and I would love to see more from this author.
Beyond this political intrigue, there is also a beautiful story line with friendship, betrayal, reconciliation and ultimately understanding. The story shows the impact of generational abuse post traumatic stress, and gaslighting. It shows the impact of unhealthy relationships at all levels, and it shows very competent people suffering from and overcoming the physical and emotional abuse.
It does all of these things, without appearing to be activist propaganda. It relates real emotion experiences and actions rather than just glossing over everything as he’s racist and he’s too religious. I find that this book was extremely respectful of all ideologies, and showed the strengths and weaknesses inherent with those ideologies, and the flawed ways they were represented by their followers. This was overall a great trilogy, and I would love to see more from this author.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Death, Body horror, Bullying, Torture, Hate crime, Grief, Death of parent, Colonisation, Classism, Abandonment, Xenophobia, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Child abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Violence, War, Slavery, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, Racism, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Murder, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, and Gaslighting
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
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
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
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
tinybluepixel's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Blood, Body horror, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Murder, War, and Violence
Moderate: Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Colonisation, Dementia, Gaslighting, Religious bigotry, and Suicidal thoughts
instalovewithbooks'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
5.0
All I am gunna put right now is inconsolable crying over chapter 46 because holy shit.
Empire ruined me. I thought Brass and Copper have, but no, Empire is where I broke 😭
chapter 46, where Dara is saying goodbye forever to Nahri absolutely devastated me. I was trying to read as my eyes are turning blurry with tears ruined me. I'm so lost on that, and I KNOW it makes sense but that does not take away how much it hurt to see them finally separate I really hope Dara got some happiness. My Afshin.../
This series has honestly been a trilogy where it has kept me wanting to read it over and over again. I have now read City of Brass 3x, Kingdom of Copper 2x, and now Empire of Gold once. I did not know what to expect from this book, I honestly felt lost through it, and it wasn't because it was a bad book, it was quite the opposite. It was one of those books that you really aren't sure what the direction of the story will take, and what will happen next.
I am very much glad we are getting River of Silver this year as a physical book because I must have it. I really need something more to carry me on as this trilogy has taken a year off my life, I swear.
Honestly, this review is a mess, and I just don't care. I love this book so very much, and I plan to return to this world as many times as possible.
Empire ruined me. I thought Brass and Copper have, but no, Empire is where I broke 😭
chapter 46, where Dara is saying goodbye forever to Nahri absolutely devastated me. I was trying to read as my eyes are turning blurry with tears ruined me. I'm so lost on that, and I KNOW it makes sense but that does not take away how much it hurt to see them finally separate I really hope Dara got some happiness. My Afshin.../
This series has honestly been a trilogy where it has kept me wanting to read it over and over again. I have now read City of Brass 3x, Kingdom of Copper 2x, and now Empire of Gold once. I did not know what to expect from this book, I honestly felt lost through it, and it wasn't because it was a bad book, it was quite the opposite. It was one of those books that you really aren't sure what the direction of the story will take, and what will happen next.
I am very much glad we are getting River of Silver this year as a physical book because I must have it. I really need something more to carry me on as this trilogy has taken a year off my life, I swear.
Honestly, this review is a mess, and I just don't care. I love this book so very much, and I plan to return to this world as many times as possible.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, Medical trauma, Blood, Violence, Toxic friendship, Murder, Gore, War, Medical content, and Grief
Moderate: Slavery and Gaslighting
Minor: Confinement
isleoflinds's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Xenophobia, Violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Torture, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Genocide, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Gore, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, and War
Moderate: Grief, Mass/school shootings, Pregnancy, Trafficking, Colonisation, Sexual content, Alcohol, and Outing
Minor: Rape
just_one_more_paige's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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? It's complicated
5.0
Check out my super fast turnaround on reading The Kingdom of Copper (the second book in the Daevabad trilogy) and this final installation! After it was like two years after reading The City of Brass that I finally continued with the series, I'm really proud of my "only" a couple months between these last two. Go me! Also, it was very convenient timing to jump headfirst into a 28-hour epic fantasy audiobook because we were flying to and from St. Croix for a vacation (which was wonderful!), but the flights were all tough ones for me and I really needed the "close my eyes and escape to another world" that this provided.
This final book in the Daevabad trilogy picks up exactly where the last one left off. Dara is with Manizhah in Daevabad, having taken over the city in a murderous fashion, trying to win the support of the people and build it back to the haven for their people that it used to be. Nahri and Ali find themselves in Cairo, after Nahri's split-second decision about what to do with Suleiman's ring at the end of the last book led to them being surprise-transported away from Davebad. Told in rotating perspectives - Dara, Ali, Nahri - our three MCs face myriad revelations about their ancestry, the truths of the world they find themselves in, and the history that has been hidden. They will all face difficult, impossible, decisions as they work in their own ways to bring their warring peoples together, save their beloved Daevabad from further destruction, atone for their past mistakes, pick up the mantels that they are each uniquely prepared to wear and combine their strengths to fight for a better future...and of course, sort out all their complicated feelings for each other.
I have to be honest and say that I've put off writing this review because I am a little overwhelmed by it. There was so much that happened in this culminating book, with the characters arcs and plot twists and reveals and politics. Plus, the world-building has been wonderfully complex from the start. So, the idea of trying to communicate all my final feelings and reactions (while also trying to keep it spoiler free) is daunting. Let me just start by saying that this final book clears up all the questions that I had been building over the course of the last two. Like, starting as early as the very first chapter (in which we get a solitary look at Manizhah's story and background from her own perspective), pieces start falling into place. And even as some of that context introduces even more questions, (because like I said, so much happens in this final book), I did feel happily satisfied with answers to everything by the end. So, in that respect, it was a great wrap-up. And let me just take a second here to talk about pacing, because this feels like the right spot. If the second book was a slow-roll on pacing with all the action in the final scenes, this book was high end speed all the way through. Yes, there are still the political machinations and interpersonal developments that are a bit "slower," but they are much more interspersed...and even then, those sections felt like they moved faster in this book than before. And I was here for that. I do have to say, though, that I think the second book could have benefitted from telling some of what happened here. I get the re-taking of Davebad by Manizheh happening before Ali and Nahri could leave the city, but, I don't know...after finishing this last book, the overall pacing of the series felt uneven. Plus, this last book was so long. And while I loved every page of it, I think it could have been split better overall.
Speaking to the characters specifically, I continue to love all the complexities of their relationships, taking into account their own personal feelings as well as the realities of their histories and decisions. The Dara-Ali-Nahri triangle is so beautifully and impossibly intricate; that level of depth and detail continues to astound. And throughout the novel, one's heart goes from full to broken and back and forth among them more times than I can count. It's a spectacular emotional roller coaster of love and connection and grief. On an individual level, Dara's story continues to crush hearts, especially as we get more and more details about how badly the Nahid's abuse(d) his faith and trust time and again, especially Manizheh. And though, as we get more about Manizheh's story too, there is deep heartbreak there as well and you can't help but feel sympathy (and maybe sometimes agree with her), it's impossible not to also hate her for all the pain she then caused others in taking things too far. As for Nahri, I was so glad to see how much more in charge of herself and her choices and actions she was, from the start. That was one of my biggest complaints from the last book, is how flat she felt. And I understood all the constraints on her, so I held my overall judgement, and I can now gladly say that I am completely on board with the way her character became the strong, assertive, sneaky in all the good ways, female lead I love reading about in fantasy. And Ali... I was never really "team Ali," I can't lie, but I have to say that his growth in this last book really got me cheering for him. I loved seeing his idealism stay strong, but expand to be more inclusive and understanding as he saw more of the world, learned more about (and to accept) the less perfect parts of himself, and listen more to advice from those around him with different perspectives. So he's still not my fav, but I did come around to him by the end.
I think many of the side characters that had been introduced throughout this series fell a little by the wayside in this final book. They were (almost all) present, and played a role, but they lost some of their nuance and became more pawns of the story as it culminated around Ali, Dara, and Nahri. It wasn't to an extreme that pulled me out of the story, and they all got endings that fit what we know of their characters well, but they seemed a bit flat here in comparison to our main MCs (and Manizheh and, to be fair, Jamshid). Speaking of endings... After all the identity crises and impossible decisions faced by our primary characters, I felt like the justice and redemption arcs they each got were perfect. After the amount of build-up to this ending, it needed to be great. And it was.
I am not actually going to go into too many specifics about the plot, because I'm honestly afraid I will forget what I know from before and what was in this book and I don't want to spoil anything. But I do want to reiterate that it was full of action and reveals and that the way it all wrapped up was exactly what I wanted from this finale. Related, Chakraborty continues to impress with how she pulled together so many characters and storylines and interwoven family and cultural histories in such a cohesive and compelling way. The scope of this series was pretty epic and it felt like she held it in hand the whole time. Topically, she lays out, with such ugly and perfect precision, the way that centuries of slaughter and bad blood, when so much harm has been done, is so hard to overcome (and maybe even forgive?). And that it takes consistent, purposeful and open-minded effort to reckon with that kind of history. It holds clear messages to would-be ally-leaders/peoples of today that the labor required to successfully confront and overcome the cycle of violence and vengeance is a lot; it requires growth (and growing pains) and consideration of alternate perspectives that do not happen overnight. It takes fighting against the dangers inherent in blind faith and following orders without question or critical thought, as well as an openness to accepting the uglier parts of your own past and complicity, and maybe just a little bit of idealism. But...it is necessary for a fresh start, and that kind of fresh start is worth the effort.
Basically, Chakraborty brought this epic story to a close with a bang (and a lot of bloody violence)! I loved, so much, that the characters and their stories and feelings were so nuanced and real that I couldn't decide whose side I was on or who I was cheering for. I vacillated wildly every time new info came to light (which was often) and that made for such an engaging reading experience! Epic fantasy at its finest. At one point, I believe it's Dara who describes his feelings towards Manizheh as “loyalty and dread, love and revulsion,” and I feel like that complicated mix of emotions perfectly describes how most of these characters felt about each other and what was happening around them, as well as how I felt about them all/the plot as the reader, I was completely bought into all of it.
“Not wanting to be destroyed by despair doesn’t make you a coward, Ali. It makes you a survivor.”
"You and I are not the worst of our ancestors. They don't own us. They don't own our heritage."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Torture, Racism, Murder, Confinement, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Xenophobia, War, Abandonment, Blood, Death, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical content, and Medical trauma
booksthatburn's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
THE EMPIRE OF GOLD is a satisfying conclusion to the amazing Daevabad Trilogy, taking its time tying up everything and everyone with suitable endings, as much as is possible for conflicts that brewed for millennia.
Dara's character arc is particularly good, but there's much to love for Nahri and Ali as well. The pacing is excellent, the characters’ motivations are coherent even as events become bloodier, and I’m very satisfied with the ending. It's everything I loved about the first two, but with more catharsis and resolution since it's the final book in the trilogy. The longer page count let the story take how long it needed, with space for things to play out at a wonderful pace.
This wraps up a bunch of stuff left hanging from the previous book. There's a storyline that has most of its major elements here though it wasn't entirely new for this book. This is definitely a distinct phase of the larger story, with enough that's unique to it for it to stand out, but more than enough in common to be a great finale. The big things I can think of that get resolved here are working off of ground laid before, so nothing is wholly new but the way things are developed and complicated makes it feel fresh. As the last book, things are wrapped up very well. The characters get endings that are right for them and I like how things work out for Daevabad as a whole. A few things are left open, but it's the openness of possibility for the characters who made it to the end of the book. The main characters are the same and their narrative voices have stayed consistent, with some changes in how they think about certain events. This wouldn't make sense if someone started here and hadn't read the first books. There's enough story here that if someone persisted after the first few chapters they might have a good time, but a lot of what makes this so good is dependent on knowing what the characters and their city have been through, without that knowledge the resolutions wouldn't be as meaningful. If you're intrigued by book three, please go back to the beginning and read the whole trilogy.
I loved this and I'm sad there isn't more, but there's plenty to linger over.
Dara's character arc is particularly good, but there's much to love for Nahri and Ali as well. The pacing is excellent, the characters’ motivations are coherent even as events become bloodier, and I’m very satisfied with the ending. It's everything I loved about the first two, but with more catharsis and resolution since it's the final book in the trilogy. The longer page count let the story take how long it needed, with space for things to play out at a wonderful pace.
This wraps up a bunch of stuff left hanging from the previous book. There's a storyline that has most of its major elements here though it wasn't entirely new for this book. This is definitely a distinct phase of the larger story, with enough that's unique to it for it to stand out, but more than enough in common to be a great finale. The big things I can think of that get resolved here are working off of ground laid before, so nothing is wholly new but the way things are developed and complicated makes it feel fresh. As the last book, things are wrapped up very well. The characters get endings that are right for them and I like how things work out for Daevabad as a whole. A few things are left open, but it's the openness of possibility for the characters who made it to the end of the book. The main characters are the same and their narrative voices have stayed consistent, with some changes in how they think about certain events. This wouldn't make sense if someone started here and hadn't read the first books. There's enough story here that if someone persisted after the first few chapters they might have a good time, but a lot of what makes this so good is dependent on knowing what the characters and their city have been through, without that knowledge the resolutions wouldn't be as meaningful. If you're intrigued by book three, please go back to the beginning and read the whole trilogy.
I loved this and I'm sad there isn't more, but there's plenty to linger over.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Slavery, Blood, Gore, Body horror, Medical content, Medical trauma, Violence, Torture, Genocide, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Cursing, Homophobia, Colonisation, Excrement, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Kidnapping and Sexual content
CW for eye injury (graphic), major character death (graphic).theespressoedition's review
adventurous
challenging
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? It's complicated
4.0
After finishing this book, I just wanted to take a deep breath and let it out. It was so much to digest in one book. In fact, if I had it my way, it would've been broken up into at least two (or even three) separate books. I knew that these books were written with a ton of world-building (and it's probably my favorite thing about them), but it's already a little tiring when the first 3/4 of 550-600 page book just handles the secondary events taking place to bring everything to the epic conclusion. When you hand me an 800+ page book and it has the same writing style, it's a stretch to finish it with gusto. As much as I truly adore the story in this series, I found myself flicking through the pages to see how many I had left each chapter as I read because I wanted it to pick up the pace a bit.
HOWEVER, if I were to ignore the pacing entirely, I would give this a full 5 stars - honestly, the whole series deserves that! It's beautifully written, meaningful, really connects you to the characters, and I rarely felt like a moment was unnecessarily added.
Since this was the finale novel in the trilogy, I can officially say that I want more. Not because I felt like it was lacking (clearly, that was not the case), but I'm desperate to learn what ends up happening to Dara and I'd love to read even just a novella about what his life looks like after the events that take place in this book.
I hope this fantasy trilogy gains more recognition over time because it certainly deserves all the hype!
HOWEVER, if I were to ignore the pacing entirely, I would give this a full 5 stars - honestly, the whole series deserves that! It's beautifully written, meaningful, really connects you to the characters, and I rarely felt like a moment was unnecessarily added.
Since this was the finale novel in the trilogy, I can officially say that I want more. Not because I felt like it was lacking (clearly, that was not the case), but I'm desperate to learn what ends up happening to Dara and I'd love to read even just a novella about what his life looks like after the events that take place in this book.
I hope this fantasy trilogy gains more recognition over time because it certainly deserves all the hype!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, and Torture
Moderate: Death and Violence