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mary_soon_lee's review
4.0
This is the final book in Carol Berg's Collegia Magica fantasy trilogy. I liked it very much. At times, I loved it. I loved the friendship, the care, the characters had for each other. The book is darkly original, the plot compelling. It kept my attention when the main characters were isolated from friends and allies, beset by enemies and difficulties. But it was when two or more friends came together that I loved it.
Deep friendships are perhaps what I most like to read about.... The friendship between Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin anchored Patrick O'Brian's superb twenty-book-long naval series for me. The friendship between Seregil and Alec and Micum delighted me in Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner books. Likewise, Carol Berg creates friendships that captivate me, both in this Collegia Magica trilogy and in others of her books. But I craved more time seeing those friendships in play.
Deep friendships are perhaps what I most like to read about.... The friendship between Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin anchored Patrick O'Brian's superb twenty-book-long naval series for me. The friendship between Seregil and Alec and Micum delighted me in Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner books. Likewise, Carol Berg creates friendships that captivate me, both in this Collegia Magica trilogy and in others of her books. But I craved more time seeing those friendships in play.
mamap's review against another edition
4.0
i like carol berg. i don't like all of her stuff, but i did like this one. interesting fantasy novel. i'm not a fan of multiple voices, i prefer following one person as they discover the story, though, with this book, it did help to develop the characters.
i like carol berg because she allows bad things to happen to good people, not everyone lives through everything, and not everyone come out unscathed. still, some of her reasoning can seem a big far-fetched, however, it is fantasy.
finally, we get to hear a bit of dante's part of the story and maybe understand a little bit more why he is the way he is. the fight for evil is real and myth's and legend may have more truth in them that we realize. wouldn't it be nice to have a little magic in the world, but is the price too expensive.
i like carol berg because she allows bad things to happen to good people, not everyone lives through everything, and not everyone come out unscathed. still, some of her reasoning can seem a big far-fetched, however, it is fantasy.
finally, we get to hear a bit of dante's part of the story and maybe understand a little bit more why he is the way he is. the fight for evil is real and myth's and legend may have more truth in them that we realize. wouldn't it be nice to have a little magic in the world, but is the price too expensive.
stilladyj's review
4.0
Dante is the least interesting of our 3 narrators, which made this book a little difficult to get into, but about 1/3 of the way through, the mystery kicks into high gear and the plot carries you through the length of the book. A great ending to a great series
itadakinasu's review
4.0
A solid finish to a great trilogy, The Daemon Prism is written in the standard style and with the depth that one can expect from Carol Berg. As with other books by Berg, the detail can be a bit heavy at times, however it creates vivid imagery needed to understand the complex or unintuitive aspects of magic and the world she has created. The characters are rich and multifaceted, although aspects of some characters develop in easily foreseeable ways. The only negative aspect I can call to mind is the slightly weak last struggle between the antagonists and protagonists. It was hard to visualize what happened until the very end, when the emotions of our protagonists are clear and raw.
hpstrangelove's review
4.0
Decent ending to the series, but I didn't like it as well as the first two. I found it getting bogged down during the middle. I think it could have been cut back without harming the story.
Again, I listened to the audiobook, which had three narrators, two men and one woman (the same woman who narrated book 2). The voice of the narrator for Dante was way too old for the 32 year old character. It was difficult to not think of him as a 70 year old man! The other male narrator would have done a better job.
Again, I listened to the audiobook, which had three narrators, two men and one woman (the same woman who narrated book 2). The voice of the narrator for Dante was way too old for the 32 year old character. It was difficult to not think of him as a 70 year old man! The other male narrator would have done a better job.
felinity's review against another edition
3.0
3.5
This was hard to rate - I didn't enjoy this as much as #2, but it was still good. I'm just not certain whether I'd feel the urge to re-read, which I factor into ratings.
This was hard to rate - I didn't enjoy this as much as #2, but it was still good. I'm just not certain whether I'd feel the urge to re-read, which I factor into ratings.
wynwicket's review against another edition
3.0
I liked the first book of this trilogy, LOVED the second one, but the third... ugh. It was as if the author wanted to see how absolutely awful she could be to her protagonists. The torture and angst were ramped up tenfold and for what purpose? I was so disappointed. All that character growth, gone.
egelantier's review against another edition
3.0
i was 100% correct to be worried about this book. it's the weakest of all three, and not only because we're stuck with dante's pov for 89% of it. and, okay, it accounts for a lot of problem, because dante is an inefficient, self-pitying, wilfully ignorant jerk with anger management issues, and watching him isolate himself from everybody who could do him even a bit of good, chase every magical carrot thrust before his nose and make every. damn. mistake you just know he's going to make for two thirds of the book is excruciating, okay. like, i would admit that his behavior does make some sense for somebody with childhood and adolescense as screwed up as it is, but it doesn't necessarily makes for a character i'm interested in. and it's make worse by the fact that berg clearly considers him to be a noble woobie, and just, no. no. he improves some by the end, and gets a completely undeserved okay somehow deserved happy ending and hopefully will work on being less ridiculous human being, but i did not enjoy a ride in his whaaaaaaaaaambulance.
anne and ilario do appear closer to the end and kick some ass, which soothed me somehow. still angry about portier's fate, leave me to my tears.
this highly unbiased opinion aside, the general direction turned from intriguing courtly whodunnit to standard fare fantasy with ~dire prophecies and stuff, the world shrunk down a lot and weirdly... thinned, and the plot was, i feel, threadbare. oh, and last couple of chapters added a completely unnecessary pining to all the other prime example of PEOPLE NOT TALKING TO EACH OTHER WITH THEIR ACTUAL MOUTHS because it's not like we can behave like sentinel human beings.
out of all new characters, i've loved xanthe the evil(ish) desert priestess the most, because she was unabashedly horrible and yet weirdly adorable, knew exactly what she wanted, went after it with gusto, outlived everybody who fucked her over and hopefully ran away in the end to become an evil yet appealing desert queen. you go, xanthe.
(this is, hm, not to say that i've un-enjoyed the trilogy or would un-rec it; most of my vitriol comes from frustrated expectations, but even so, all three books were interesting, compelling, lively and well-written; i've not enjoyed high fantasy in quite some time).
anne and ilario do appear closer to the end and kick some ass, which soothed me somehow. still angry about portier's fate, leave me to my tears.
this highly unbiased opinion aside, the general direction turned from intriguing courtly whodunnit to standard fare fantasy with ~dire prophecies and stuff, the world shrunk down a lot and weirdly... thinned, and the plot was, i feel, threadbare. oh, and last couple of chapters added a completely unnecessary pining to all the other prime example of PEOPLE NOT TALKING TO EACH OTHER WITH THEIR ACTUAL MOUTHS because it's not like we can behave like sentinel human beings.
out of all new characters, i've loved xanthe the evil(ish) desert priestess the most, because she was unabashedly horrible and yet weirdly adorable, knew exactly what she wanted, went after it with gusto, outlived everybody who fucked her over and hopefully ran away in the end to become an evil yet appealing desert queen. you go, xanthe.
(this is, hm, not to say that i've un-enjoyed the trilogy or would un-rec it; most of my vitriol comes from frustrated expectations, but even so, all three books were interesting, compelling, lively and well-written; i've not enjoyed high fantasy in quite some time).
bookstuff's review against another edition
3.0
I felt it was too grim. Dante has no sense of humor, neither does Anne (2nd pov character). Ilario (my favorite character) is underused and Poitier is offscreen most of the time.
Also, I hated the ending.
Also, I hated the ending
Spoiler
where Poitier is sacrificedkaeritha's review against another edition
4.0
Didn't enjoy it quite as much as the previous books. Likely because it doesn't have enough Portier. I really wish he'd figured more in the last two books. I like Anne and Dante, but I definitely missed Portier. All in all, a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy (?). Based on the nomenclature "novels of the collegia magica" I am hopeful that there will be more books in this world. And the end of Daemon Prism certainly allows for that without leaving too much of a dangling hook.