Reviews with content warning for Genocide - L'impero di oro

An utterly fantastic conclusion to this entertaining adult fantasy trilogy. Equal parts dark, emotional, and beautiful. I loved that nothing seemed clear cut for the main characters, No character is perfect, they all make bad decisions, do things they regret and have to deal with the consequences It made each of them more compelling to read. I enjoyed watching them grow, and their storylines had satisfying conclusion. Ali is my favorite character of the series, and he’s really grown on me from the beginning. I also related to Nahri coming into her own as a healer, and realizing that you won’t always do it perfectly but to be patient with yourself. The villain in this novel is the kind you love to hate, but also you wonder just where things went wrong for them.

I called Muntadhir and Jamshid from the first novel, and I love them so. Also the alt. epilogue gave me hope for a sapphic Aqisa/Zaynab?? I’m not sure I love that Dara gets a redemption ending after literal genocide of thousands, but never actually comes to terms with the fact that the shafit are actual people worthy of respect. <\spoiler> I’m not sure I’m emotional prepared for this series to be over…

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readandfindout's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional slow-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

Style/writing: 4.5 stars
Themes: 5 stars
Characters: 4.5 stars
Plot: 4.5 stars
Worldbuilding: 5 stars

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sneaky_snake22's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring tense medium-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

5.0

I'm in literal tears. This book broke and healed my heart in ways I didn't know it needed and I'm still crying. Seriously read this series.

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readwithria's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.0

Empire of Gold takes what the previous Daevabad books set up and ties everything together in a way that is both satisfying and leaves room for continued growth.

I always appreciate when series keep getting stronger as they go, and the Daevabad trilogy does just that. Chakraborty pulls together all of the elements of her world and gives them all the time they deserve. Characters make hard choices that have serious consequences and those consequences continue into the resolution. The end of this series doesn't equate to the end of the growth of these characters, and even in the epilogue, I could see and appreciate where they were heading.

One of the things I really like about this book is that it gives a significant amount of time to the aftermath. A full 70ish pages (about 10%) of the book takes place as the dust is settling and gives us readers a chance to see how the characters we've grown to love are going to shape their world. It was necessary, especially for an 18k page series, and it was done extremely well.

While this series isn't one I would seek out again on my own, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

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xphilphil's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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

4.5

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laurence0917's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

4.5

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booksthatburn's review against another edition

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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.

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