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4.5⭐️
I'm so sad that I've finished this series, I'm going to miss these characters so much, but I've had such a great time going on this journey with them. I know this is a series I'm going to revisit in the future, and I know I'll love this book more and more each time I read it. I have a lot of thoughts on this final book, some positive and some negative, but overall, I think it was an amazing, if bittersweet, ending.
Before I get into details, I'm going to preface this review by saying that I'm dumb and waited a year in between reading this book and the previous in the series. I wish I hadn't done that, especially since I read the others close together, and I think this book would have hit me harder if I'd just read it straight after the last one. It meant it took me a bit longer to remember all of the characters and events leading to this book, and for a while I wasn't as invested in the characters and story as I had been previously; but once I was, I was just so happy to be back in this world. Still, as much as I love this series, this world, and these characters, I don't think this was the strongest instalment, but I still think it's a fantastic epic fantasy series with a great ending. I will say, I think the fact that I switched from physically reading the first four books to the audiobook for this was also a bit jarring, but that's on me!
Let's start with the positives, though, because I really do love this series, and I think this book wrapped everything up in a really appropriate way. We have been building up to the events in this book for so long now, and there was a lot of payoff; seeds have been planted and conflicts fought and won to get us to this point, and we finally see the big battle we've all been waiting for. Everything feels so epic and very much like a classic fantasy tale. There are so many battles, and the span of the story is massive, as is the cast of characters. We have beasts and animal companions, as well as multiple races that are both allies and enemies. Everything about this series just screams epic fantasy, and I love it.
One of Gwynne's strengths is the way he writes battles. The way he writes strategy and builds the intensity from the viewpoint characters is fantastic. There is no shortage of battles in this book, and I loved seeing how each character or side took a different approach to the fighting. While at times I did feel like there were a few too many battles and a few weren't as impactful to individual characters as I would have liked, they were still gruesome and intense. The final battle in particular had me so gripped. Gwynne balanced all of the different perspectives to give us an overview of what was happening, and I was on the edge of my seat throughout the whole thing.
*spoilers for specific character deaths to come*
Since I'm talking about battles, I'll just say that John really didn't need to go so hard on the character deaths! It killed me. But I appreciated that he wasn't afraid to kill off characters, especially considering how focused the story is on the battles. I think it would have been more impactful if we sat with the characters a bit longer and felt their grief a bit more, but I also think Gwynne did a good job of showing how the fight has to go on no matter who the characters lose. I do think listening to the audiobook may have contributed to me not feeling as impacted by the numerous deaths, but I also think things just felt a bit rushed and we didn't have enough time throughout the book to sit with the characters in the emotional moments since it was so focused on the action. But still, it was heart-wrenching to see the characters we have grown to love meet a grisly end.
Lorcan's death had me gasping, and honestly, it was one of my favourite parts of the book because it shocked me the most and was part of a really cool thievery plot. Fidele's, on the other hand, I didn't love so much. It frustrated me a lot even though it was emotional, but she was so intent on speaking to Nathair but she never even got close to him and I don't think he was even aware that she'd died. I don't mind that she died, I just wish it had been done a little bit differently.
The thing I love about this series is the characters, and it's crazy to think how far they've all come since Malice. This series has some of my all time favourite characters now, and even though I'm sad to be leaving them, I know I'll come back and reread this series just so that I can see them again.
Corban and Cywen are amongst my all-time favourites, and I love them as siblings too. Corban has become a great warrior and leader, and I enjoyed his story in this book. I loved his relationship with Coralen, it was so cute and I love how far they go to protect each other, while still acknowledging that they'reboth badass and able to look after themself most of the time. It was nice seeing everyone rallying behind Corban, even when they learned the truth about Meical's lies. I liked Corban's confrontations with Meical in the Other World and what happened with that character, but I wish there was more exploration of that side of the world. I think Corban's story ended in a really beautiful way, we see him going off to make a new home with the people he loves, and it was so heartwarming.
Cywen was one of my favourite points of view throughout the entire series, and it was no different in this book. The final battle wouldn't have been won without Cywen, and I love that she was so crucial. I also really enjoyed the scenes of her looking after everyone when they were imprisoned in Drassil, and then helping in the escape. I just really love her.
One thing I'm massively disappointed about is that we didn't get nearly enough interaction between Cywen and Veradis. I ship them so hard! And their relationship was so well built in Valour, I was so excited to see them reunited, I wish we could have lingered on that for a bit longer. I also just wish we had some quiet moments with the two of them where we saw their friendship and see them catching up because I felt like they had such a great dynamic.
Veradis is another favourite, he has had an interesting arc throughout the series, and I just really love him. I really enjoyed his perspective, and I think we got some of the best action scenes from his point of view. Even though Nathair took more of a back seat in this one, which I was a bit disappointed by, I like seeing him and Veradis fighting at the end, and I think the emotional conflict between them was interesting.
Coralen is just a great character, she's smart, loyal, a great fighter and tracker. My only wish for her is that we got to see her reunite with her brothers, I'm sad we didn't get any scenes with them together. I especially wish we'd got the behind the scenes of Conall switching sides, I know it was supposed to be a plot twist and I did love that moment (especially his mooning), but I wanted an emotional moment between him and his siblings where he realises he's on the wrong side.
I love Maquin, especially when he's with Fidele. I'm so glad he got closure in this book, even if his story was bittersweet. I do think it was an appropriate ending for his character, no matter how heartbreaking it was. And the fact her slayed a Draig! Iconic.
Camlin is also loveable. Just like the others, he can be pretty ruthless and clever, but I enjoyed seeing how his brain worked. I liked how he carved his place out beside Edana, not entirely intentionally but purely because he was loyal and believed in her, as well as his super sweet relationship with Meg.
Storm, Budai, and their pups own my whole heart, and I love them. And Craf, of course.
When it comes to the villains, this book provides a lot of satisfying moments. I still wish some of them had been developed a bit more because they can fall into stereotypes sometimes, but I wasn't too bothered by that and enjoyed seeing them get destroyed.
I like that a lot of the villains in this series are just gross men who think they can get whatever they want. I hated Lykos, he's disgusting, as are many of the men in power in this series. I liked that a lot of the villains were men like him who let power go to their head. But, I also liked the way the twist of the Ben-Elim being sketchy was done. I knew we couldn't trust them, but I loved how it played out and the shock our characters felt. It also sets up some great things for the next series.
I liked what was going on with Rafe in this book. It was interesting seeing the effects of the cup on him and how it impacted his status with Rhin. He's a little weasel though, but Gwynne still managed to make me feel some connection to him.
I think Rhin needed to be more developed as a villain. There was a lot of potential for her in earlier books, but I think she just stayed quite surface level evil, and it felt stereotypical. I still found her interesting though, I just wish we'd gone deeper with her.
I know I'm forgetting a lot of characters, and while I felt connected to a lot of them, I do think there were a few too many perspective characters at time. I think that sometimes meant that the side characters felt a little bit underdeveloped, but luckily, since this is the final book in a series, I was already connected to most of them. I feared for them quite a few times and not all of them made it, I just wish we'd had more time with them all.
Since this is the final book in the series and the climax of the conflict that has been building throughout, there weren't many new world-building elements. I do think Gwynne has built a really amazing, expansive world throughout these books, it definitely feels like it has a life of its own, which is something I think all fantasy authors strive for. I still liked seeing magic being used, and I liked seeing how our people gathered up the Treasures. I also love that the killer ants made a reappearance in this one.
At first, I didn't love the audiobook narrator, and I wasn't sure how I felt about some of the accents. But the narrator did grow on me. I still think the book might have worked better for me if I'd read it physically like I did the others. I think it would have made it feel similarly paced to the others, whereas the audiobook went by a lot quicker. But that's definitely a me problem.
I know I'm probably forgetting details that I wanted to mention, but overall, I think this was an epic ending to an epic series that I know I'll return to in the future.
I'm so sad that I've finished this series, I'm going to miss these characters so much, but I've had such a great time going on this journey with them. I know this is a series I'm going to revisit in the future, and I know I'll love this book more and more each time I read it. I have a lot of thoughts on this final book, some positive and some negative, but overall, I think it was an amazing, if bittersweet, ending.
Before I get into details, I'm going to preface this review by saying that I'm dumb and waited a year in between reading this book and the previous in the series. I wish I hadn't done that, especially since I read the others close together, and I think this book would have hit me harder if I'd just read it straight after the last one. It meant it took me a bit longer to remember all of the characters and events leading to this book, and for a while I wasn't as invested in the characters and story as I had been previously; but once I was, I was just so happy to be back in this world. Still, as much as I love this series, this world, and these characters, I don't think this was the strongest instalment, but I still think it's a fantastic epic fantasy series with a great ending. I will say, I think the fact that I switched from physically reading the first four books to the audiobook for this was also a bit jarring, but that's on me!
Let's start with the positives, though, because I really do love this series, and I think this book wrapped everything up in a really appropriate way. We have been building up to the events in this book for so long now, and there was a lot of payoff; seeds have been planted and conflicts fought and won to get us to this point, and we finally see the big battle we've all been waiting for. Everything feels so epic and very much like a classic fantasy tale. There are so many battles, and the span of the story is massive, as is the cast of characters. We have beasts and animal companions, as well as multiple races that are both allies and enemies. Everything about this series just screams epic fantasy, and I love it.
One of Gwynne's strengths is the way he writes battles. The way he writes strategy and builds the intensity from the viewpoint characters is fantastic. There is no shortage of battles in this book, and I loved seeing how each character or side took a different approach to the fighting. While at times I did feel like there were a few too many battles and a few weren't as impactful to individual characters as I would have liked, they were still gruesome and intense. The final battle in particular had me so gripped. Gwynne balanced all of the different perspectives to give us an overview of what was happening, and I was on the edge of my seat throughout the whole thing.
*spoilers for specific character deaths to come*
Since I'm talking about battles, I'll just say that John really didn't need to go so hard on the character deaths! It killed me. But I appreciated that he wasn't afraid to kill off characters, especially considering how focused the story is on the battles. I think it would have been more impactful if we sat with the characters a bit longer and felt their grief a bit more, but I also think Gwynne did a good job of showing how the fight has to go on no matter who the characters lose. I do think listening to the audiobook may have contributed to me not feeling as impacted by the numerous deaths, but I also think things just felt a bit rushed and we didn't have enough time throughout the book to sit with the characters in the emotional moments since it was so focused on the action. But still, it was heart-wrenching to see the characters we have grown to love meet a grisly end.
Lorcan's death had me gasping, and honestly, it was one of my favourite parts of the book because it shocked me the most and was part of a really cool thievery plot. Fidele's, on the other hand, I didn't love so much. It frustrated me a lot even though it was emotional, but she was so intent on speaking to Nathair but she never even got close to him and I don't think he was even aware that she'd died. I don't mind that she died, I just wish it had been done a little bit differently.
The thing I love about this series is the characters, and it's crazy to think how far they've all come since Malice. This series has some of my all time favourite characters now, and even though I'm sad to be leaving them, I know I'll come back and reread this series just so that I can see them again.
Corban and Cywen are amongst my all-time favourites, and I love them as siblings too. Corban has become a great warrior and leader, and I enjoyed his story in this book. I loved his relationship with Coralen, it was so cute and I love how far they go to protect each other, while still acknowledging that they'reboth badass and able to look after themself most of the time. It was nice seeing everyone rallying behind Corban, even when they learned the truth about Meical's lies. I liked Corban's confrontations with Meical in the Other World and what happened with that character, but I wish there was more exploration of that side of the world. I think Corban's story ended in a really beautiful way, we see him going off to make a new home with the people he loves, and it was so heartwarming.
Cywen was one of my favourite points of view throughout the entire series, and it was no different in this book. The final battle wouldn't have been won without Cywen, and I love that she was so crucial. I also really enjoyed the scenes of her looking after everyone when they were imprisoned in Drassil, and then helping in the escape. I just really love her.
One thing I'm massively disappointed about is that we didn't get nearly enough interaction between Cywen and Veradis. I ship them so hard! And their relationship was so well built in Valour, I was so excited to see them reunited, I wish we could have lingered on that for a bit longer. I also just wish we had some quiet moments with the two of them where we saw their friendship and see them catching up because I felt like they had such a great dynamic.
Veradis is another favourite, he has had an interesting arc throughout the series, and I just really love him. I really enjoyed his perspective, and I think we got some of the best action scenes from his point of view. Even though Nathair took more of a back seat in this one, which I was a bit disappointed by, I like seeing him and Veradis fighting at the end, and I think the emotional conflict between them was interesting.
Coralen is just a great character, she's smart, loyal, a great fighter and tracker. My only wish for her is that we got to see her reunite with her brothers, I'm sad we didn't get any scenes with them together. I especially wish we'd got the behind the scenes of Conall switching sides, I know it was supposed to be a plot twist and I did love that moment (especially his mooning), but I wanted an emotional moment between him and his siblings where he realises he's on the wrong side.
I love Maquin, especially when he's with Fidele. I'm so glad he got closure in this book, even if his story was bittersweet. I do think it was an appropriate ending for his character, no matter how heartbreaking it was. And the fact her slayed a Draig! Iconic.
Camlin is also loveable. Just like the others, he can be pretty ruthless and clever, but I enjoyed seeing how his brain worked. I liked how he carved his place out beside Edana, not entirely intentionally but purely because he was loyal and believed in her, as well as his super sweet relationship with Meg.
Storm, Budai, and their pups own my whole heart, and I love them. And Craf, of course.
When it comes to the villains, this book provides a lot of satisfying moments. I still wish some of them had been developed a bit more because they can fall into stereotypes sometimes, but I wasn't too bothered by that and enjoyed seeing them get destroyed.
I like that a lot of the villains in this series are just gross men who think they can get whatever they want. I hated Lykos, he's disgusting, as are many of the men in power in this series. I liked that a lot of the villains were men like him who let power go to their head. But, I also liked the way the twist of the Ben-Elim being sketchy was done. I knew we couldn't trust them, but I loved how it played out and the shock our characters felt. It also sets up some great things for the next series.
I liked what was going on with Rafe in this book. It was interesting seeing the effects of the cup on him and how it impacted his status with Rhin. He's a little weasel though, but Gwynne still managed to make me feel some connection to him.
I think Rhin needed to be more developed as a villain. There was a lot of potential for her in earlier books, but I think she just stayed quite surface level evil, and it felt stereotypical. I still found her interesting though, I just wish we'd gone deeper with her.
I know I'm forgetting a lot of characters, and while I felt connected to a lot of them, I do think there were a few too many perspective characters at time. I think that sometimes meant that the side characters felt a little bit underdeveloped, but luckily, since this is the final book in a series, I was already connected to most of them. I feared for them quite a few times and not all of them made it, I just wish we'd had more time with them all.
Since this is the final book in the series and the climax of the conflict that has been building throughout, there weren't many new world-building elements. I do think Gwynne has built a really amazing, expansive world throughout these books, it definitely feels like it has a life of its own, which is something I think all fantasy authors strive for. I still liked seeing magic being used, and I liked seeing how our people gathered up the Treasures. I also love that the killer ants made a reappearance in this one.
At first, I didn't love the audiobook narrator, and I wasn't sure how I felt about some of the accents. But the narrator did grow on me. I still think the book might have worked better for me if I'd read it physically like I did the others. I think it would have made it feel similarly paced to the others, whereas the audiobook went by a lot quicker. But that's definitely a me problem.
I know I'm probably forgetting details that I wanted to mention, but overall, I think this was an epic ending to an epic series that I know I'll return to in the future.