Reviews with content warning for Blood - Das Imperium aus Gold

This series has been absolutely amazing, and after finishing it, I’m both completely fulfilled and sad to see it come to a close. All in all, it was a great ending to the trilogy, although I’m hoping to see more come from the author.

The world-building continues to be absolutely incredible. This book ranges farther than the previous ones, allowing us to see even more of the wonders in this world. From the human streets of Cairo to Daevabad to other areas of the djinn world and even into the lands of the elementals, they’re all portrayed so beautifully and richly that I could feel as though I was right there with the characters with no effort on my part.

“The water arched around him like a tunnel, marshy roots and submerged trees stretching to hold up a glittering canopy of refracted celestial light, glimmering droplets, and dappled green lily pads. Fish and turtles swam past, the silvery whites of their bellies flickering like candles.”

Another area where this book really shines is the characters. They’re each so thoroughly created, realistic, and flawed, while the majority still retain that sense of lovability. It didn’t escape my notice that the major power players in this book were all female, while the male characters played supporting roles. Manizheh, Nahri, and Hatset were the strong women pulling the strings, and even though their motivations were very different, I loved that they found ways to reclaim power that had been denied to them.

I’ve loved Nahri from page 1 of book 1. She’s tough, smart, and not afraid to be who she is. However, her past has left her with no shortage of trauma, and she’s scared to get close to anyone. I can’t say I blame her. Fortunately, growing up in the human world has left her uniquely positioned to do well in a world where magic has disappeared. As usual, though, she’s forced to make some difficult decisions to save the world that she loves.

“Nahri had sworn never to be a pawn again, and yet here she was … forced to serve another master in order to save the people she loved.”

Ali has really grown on me over the course of the series. He’s begun to loosen up … slightly. His world has been turned upside down, and everything he ever believed changes in this book. He finds himself trapped in Cairo without magic, and there’s a slow-burn romance that builds throughout the book between him and Nahri. Even as he learns how to adjust his entire worldview, some things never change. Namely, his steadfast morals and his incredible lack of timing:

“‘Creator, it’s like you’re in a competition with yourself over picking the worst time to say something.’”

I seriously struggled with Dara throughout this book. I honestly felt for him in earlier books, but had a complete lack of empathy for him in the first half of the book. By the time he realized he was in a mess, he was too deep to get himself out of it. At that point, I found a little more compassion towards him. His POV chapters also gave us some more insight into what was going on with Manizheh. She was hard not to hate, although her history made it clear what made her the way she turned out to be.

“Dara was so sick of despairing over his fate, of guilt eating him alive. Now he was just furious. Furious at being used, at letting himself be used again and again.”

The pacing wasn’t consistent during this book. The first two parts were super slow. I kept plodding through them, trusting that things would speed up. And when they did, WOW! The action kicked off, and things started moving very quickly, so that the last 2 parts of the book flew by. I’m absolutely a Chakraborty fan for life, and will be eagerly awaiting her next project, regardless of what it is.

Content Warnings

dariusz's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional inspiring 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

Content Warnings

katrinarose's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

okays1331's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging 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

"If what I have seen is true, it means there is peace for the worst of us. Rest for those who do not deserve it. It was beautiful. And it spoke to a mercy this world does not deserve."

Swoon. Sob. Laugh. Sob and sob some more. I am undone by the finale to the Daevabad trilogy. I care so much about these beautiful, terrible, broken Djinn. The writing conveys a depth of emotion that is impossible not to feel myself alongside the characters.

This book is so long (nearly 30 hours in audiobook), and it is a testament to Chakraborty's storytelling that I never wanted to put it down a single moment. Thank goodness a snow storm came along to lock me in the house with this story for a few days.

From the first book, the trilogy grew layering and deepening the mythology from the beginning of the first book which felt like a simple (albeit gorgeous) fairytale (that is right up until the end) to this finale full of rich details and history. It was all done effortlessly. Sometimes, in other high fantasy books, it can feel like the reader is trapped in pages of background reading before the story happens at all, but not here. The author builds it naturally into the story, so suddenly, I realized I could navigate Daevabad's complex politics and history with relative ease. That is until the next revelation shook up what I thought I knew. And wow, the way the history was unveiled made it increasingly hard to find the "right" side or make easy monsters of the antagonists. Even more so when Dara, one of the first people we meet and love in the whole series stands on wrong side of every story.

The author writes about grief, love, faith, forgiveness, and loyalty so beautifully and respectfully. The pain is wrenching and my heart hurts. The bonds are forged here. The characters through tragedy and bloodshed realize what is truly important to them. What they would kill and die for.

Some of my favorite moments that will stick with me.

-Ali finding himself in prayer and grief beside humans worshipping in Egypt taking comfort from reaching out to the same creator.

-Dara talking about death and the afterlife with his grieving enemy.

-Ali and Nahri finding space to be themselves and trust each other with their pain and fear.

-

Nahri performing surgery on Ali's heart with barely any magic after confessing their love for each other.

-Family learning to love and accept each other.

“You’re not the only one who’s had to pretend to be different while people with power insult the parts of you you never get to wear openly. I wish that you had trusted me, but more than that, I wish I had behaved in a way that would have encouraged you to trust me.” Jamshid

Jamshid kissing Muntadhir's fingers in the midst of his panic attack reminding him that Muntadhir woke him this way after Jamshid was shot "You said you were so afraid of hurting me that you knew not where else to touch".

At the release of Manizeh's command, Dara transforming from the fearsome Afshin of legend into a broken and desperate man falling to his knees to beg forgiveness for the things he has done and pleading with Nahri to surrender so that he will not have to hurt her or watch her die.

Ali sharing space and history with his Marid grandfather making the Marid no longer monsters, but another of the incredibly complex beings that share the magical world.

BUT all the characters are sassy as hell. It's so funny to hear them teasing each other or pulling one over on a powerful elder. Even Ali has grown a true sense of humor probably learning it from all his time with Nahri. Charkraborty knows exactly when to give us this little taste of laughter and love.

“ An excellent omen. Just really promising all around."

"

Alizayd

isn't dead...I made him swear it. And I think he's afraid of me."

Content Warnings

icfasntw's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

QUICK PITCH: The final book in Chakraborty's Daevabad Trilogy, sequel to The City of Brass and The Kingdom of Copper.

VERDICT: I really cooled down on this book. The first two featured a lot of politicking, which is always my favorite. The third book felt like part adventure novel, part "hanging out with the bad guys so you know how bad they are," and part wrapping up a bunch of threads that were introduced in earlier installments as quickly as possible. The result felt a bit rushed and didn't hold my attention like the first two.

SERIES: Overall, I think the series is all right. I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books and I love seeing fantasy stories from perspective other than "Western European." My biggest complaint is that I wish some of the longer threads, like

the marid

, had been introduced and explored more thoroughly in previous books instead of all solved at once at the end.

Content Warnings

noelanig's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

More...