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just_one_more_paige's review against another edition
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
achingallover's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
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
incredible
i will not stop talking about this to anyone who will listen
i wanted more zaynab but that's literally my only critique
the chosen name thing!
just. perfection.
i will not stop talking about this to anyone who will listen
i wanted more zaynab but that's literally my only critique
the chosen name thing!
just. perfection.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, Racism, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, and Vomit
totallyshelfaware's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
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
This obliterated me. 5 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Slavery, Torture, and Violence
micheala's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
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? It's complicated
4.5
I've been putting this book off for a while as I loved the first two books and I didn't want this trilogy to end. The thing that finally pushed me to pick it up was the fact that it was overdue at the library and I couldn't renew it and I felt bad not reading it or returning it lol
There really is no way to talk about the finally in a series without spoiling the rest of the series, so if you haven't read the Daevabad Trilogy, all I can say is I highly recommend it.
I'm not a particularly fast reader, but I finished this 750+ page book in 4 days. The pacing never feels like it's dragging or like any of those pages are simply filler. Everything feels important to the plot and necessary for this rich world and this stunning conclusion to an amazing trilogy.
We continue to have the three alternating POVs of Narhi, Ali and Dara and all three of those POVs feel like they were given equal importance (not like the author had a clear favourite that they wanted to spend more time with, like I'm currently encountering with another book)
I did spend a LOT of this book very frustrated with Dara, in that he keeps being willfully naive about what is going on and what he is assisting with. I mean it makes sense for his character, it's just annoying wanting him to get with it already. Plus spending so much time with Manizheh was infuriating - like I'm sure it was meant to be.
I liked seeing all the threads that were laid in the first two books concerning Ali and Narhi start coming together. Finding out the truth about both of their histories was very satisfying.
I also really appreciated the way things wrapped up. It's not all sunshine and rainbows (there was a genocide and civil war that just happened so it would have felt out of place if it had), but there was that hopeful tint to the events.
Overall this was a very satisfying conclusion to a series that I've very much enjoyed and I'm glade to finally have read it.
There really is no way to talk about the finally in a series without spoiling the rest of the series, so if you haven't read the Daevabad Trilogy, all I can say is I highly recommend it.
I'm not a particularly fast reader, but I finished this 750+ page book in 4 days. The pacing never feels like it's dragging or like any of those pages are simply filler. Everything feels important to the plot and necessary for this rich world and this stunning conclusion to an amazing trilogy.
We continue to have the three alternating POVs of Narhi, Ali and Dara and all three of those POVs feel like they were given equal importance (not like the author had a clear favourite that they wanted to spend more time with, like I'm currently encountering with another book)
I did spend a LOT of this book very frustrated with Dara, in that he keeps being willfully naive about what is going on and what he is assisting with. I mean it makes sense for his character, it's just annoying wanting him to get with it already. Plus spending so much time with Manizheh was infuriating - like I'm sure it was meant to be.
I liked seeing all the threads that were laid in the first two books concerning Ali and Narhi start coming together. Finding out the truth about both of their histories was very satisfying.
I also really appreciated the way things wrapped up. It's not all sunshine and rainbows (there was a genocide and civil war that just happened so it would have felt out of place if it had), but there was that hopeful tint to the events.
Overall this was a very satisfying conclusion to a series that I've very much enjoyed and I'm glade to finally have read it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Murder, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Xenophobia
mandkips's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
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? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Violence, Torture, Murder, Medical trauma, Medical content, Confinement, and Grief
katrinarose's review against another edition
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
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Death, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, and Violence
bookish_otaku's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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
5/5 stars
Could there have been a better ending to an amazing trilogy? I really don’t think so.
I think I’d have to say the thing I loved most, that really stuck out to me about this entire series, was the writing of Dara’s character. He’s so incredibly flawed and morally grey and suffers so much, but the way he was written to trigger the deepest emotions (whether they be anger or sorrow) a human is capable of feeling was masterfully done. Sometimes I hated him, and then other times I found my heart deeply aching for him, and the sheer range shows just what a well written character he is. He is also so wonderful for reminding us that there is always more than one side to a story, and that sometimes people believe terrible things because if they stopped believing them, then they couldn’t live with themselves.
This is a topic I think Chakraborty did an immensely wonderful job addressing. What Dara did is inexcusable, and she faces that head on. He has done horrible things, but she offers this path to redemption, a way to be productive instead of wallowing over all that has happened and cannot be changed. It’s a tough topic, and she does it amazingly. Her writing of Manizheh is similar and one of a tragedy, although we see what happens as a result of her terrible life. It’s awful and gut wrenching and unforgivable, but it also makes us chew on that bitter fact that no one person is entirely to blame, and that peace can only come from ending the horrible chain of revenge and blame.
More on the topic of book writing, I loved what she did with the world-building, expanding it even into the final installation of her trilogy. It leaves endless possibility for other works and gives that sense of hope that even though this story is completed, it’s never really over.
I’m sure I’ve talked about this in my other reviews, but it warrants being repeated, Nahri as a strong female lead. So many times, “strong female lead” is thrown around to attract readers when really it’s some chic who’s conventionally hot (generally to white people might I add) who refuses to listen to others because she’s too “independent” for that, even when they give sound advice, and who tends to have a streak for violence or trying to break rules. Nahri broke rules, but not in the “I have to prove my independence as a strong female lead so I’m going to break some rules for the sake of breaking rules.” No, she broke rules with a purpose and a message. She also broke the rule that apparently, “strong” female leads require a desire for violence.
I’m so in love with her being a healer, finding strength in helping others and listening to what they need. Sometimes she gets pushed around by men, but she does it with a resistance, and in a way where it’s like she is the one in control. She knows how to pick and choose her battles, a message that’s so vital in this trilogy. She uses her wits, not her brawn, to win not the battle, but the war. She also becomes stronger, not by hiding her feelings, but by learning to slowly open up after having been repeatedly taught by the world that everything she wants will be taken from her. She is beaten again and again, but she gets back up on her own, she doesn’t need a man to help her. But of course, if she does need help, it will be from a friend first, not a man. (By this I mean she won’t care if they’re a man or not because she isn’t so focused on her impression of being strong.) If this isn’t true strength, then my goodness I don’t know what is.
I can’t say that the plot twists weren’t entirely unexpected. There were some parts where I was like “Oh :O” but nothing earth shattering. Where this trilogy really stands strong is in its characters and the emotional impact they have and the hard lessons they must learn alongside us. It’s for this that I find this series truly invaluable to read and hope that anyone and everyone who enjoys living, read these books.
For the modern day reader who is truing to diversify their bookshelves, also a great read. But it’s mostly for the above that this trilogy shines so far above many others.
Could there have been a better ending to an amazing trilogy? I really don’t think so.
I think I’d have to say the thing I loved most, that really stuck out to me about this entire series, was the writing of Dara’s character. He’s so incredibly flawed and morally grey and suffers so much, but the way he was written to trigger the deepest emotions (whether they be anger or sorrow) a human is capable of feeling was masterfully done. Sometimes I hated him, and then other times I found my heart deeply aching for him, and the sheer range shows just what a well written character he is. He is also so wonderful for reminding us that there is always more than one side to a story, and that sometimes people believe terrible things because if they stopped believing them, then they couldn’t live with themselves.
This is a topic I think Chakraborty did an immensely wonderful job addressing. What Dara did is inexcusable, and she faces that head on. He has done horrible things, but she offers this path to redemption, a way to be productive instead of wallowing over all that has happened and cannot be changed. It’s a tough topic, and she does it amazingly. Her writing of Manizheh is similar and one of a tragedy, although we see what happens as a result of her terrible life. It’s awful and gut wrenching and unforgivable, but it also makes us chew on that bitter fact that no one person is entirely to blame, and that peace can only come from ending the horrible chain of revenge and blame.
More on the topic of book writing, I loved what she did with the world-building, expanding it even into the final installation of her trilogy. It leaves endless possibility for other works and gives that sense of hope that even though this story is completed, it’s never really over.
I’m sure I’ve talked about this in my other reviews, but it warrants being repeated, Nahri as a strong female lead. So many times, “strong female lead” is thrown around to attract readers when really it’s some chic who’s conventionally hot (generally to white people might I add) who refuses to listen to others because she’s too “independent” for that, even when they give sound advice, and who tends to have a streak for violence or trying to break rules. Nahri broke rules, but not in the “I have to prove my independence as a strong female lead so I’m going to break some rules for the sake of breaking rules.” No, she broke rules with a purpose and a message. She also broke the rule that apparently, “strong” female leads require a desire for violence.
I’m so in love with her being a healer, finding strength in helping others and listening to what they need. Sometimes she gets pushed around by men, but she does it with a resistance, and in a way where it’s like she is the one in control. She knows how to pick and choose her battles, a message that’s so vital in this trilogy. She uses her wits, not her brawn, to win not the battle, but the war. She also becomes stronger, not by hiding her feelings, but by learning to slowly open up after having been repeatedly taught by the world that everything she wants will be taken from her. She is beaten again and again, but she gets back up on her own, she doesn’t need a man to help her. But of course, if she does need help, it will be from a friend first, not a man. (By this I mean she won’t care if they’re a man or not because she isn’t so focused on her impression of being strong.) If this isn’t true strength, then my goodness I don’t know what is.
I can’t say that the plot twists weren’t entirely unexpected. There were some parts where I was like “Oh :O” but nothing earth shattering. Where this trilogy really stands strong is in its characters and the emotional impact they have and the hard lessons they must learn alongside us. It’s for this that I find this series truly invaluable to read and hope that anyone and everyone who enjoys living, read these books.
For the modern day reader who is truing to diversify their bookshelves, also a great read. But it’s mostly for the above that this trilogy shines so far above many others.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Confinement
Moderate: Genocide
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