A review by blove0312
The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

<i>Not wanting to be destroyed by despair doesn’t make you a coward, Ali. It makes you a survivor.</i>

<i>You know, for all the lecturing I’ve heard about how emotional women supposedly are, we have nothing on the men I’ve known.</i>

<i>I’m exhausted and would like to no longer experience emotions, but besides that, I’m fine.</i> (it’s meeeeeee!)


So. Empire of Gold. Though I knew how it would end, or similar anyhow, the way we got there was NOT how I’d imagined. It was exciting, honestly. Also tense and stressful AF at times.

The horror and pity I felt for Dara will always stand out. I fully rescind my previous “if he doesn’t die saving Nahri from a blow sent by her mother I will riot.” No spoilers of course. But this man deserves the world. 

You’re in for many, many surprises my fellow readers. Some it calling back from way before, stuff I’d not thought much of since. After rooting for most of them despite the fact that many of their respective goals clashed with the others’ goals, and understanding why they thought the way they thought, while also wishing they’d all learn to leave the past where it belonged, I was at least mostly satisfied with the ending. 

I love the underlying “stay true to yourself” message. It’s not really in your face often, but it’s there. And it’s encouraging. And so is finding yourself, or reimagining yourself, if and as needed. Because it’s all a part of being true to yourself. 

I did a lot of googling throughout this series, not knowing much of the Middle East’s legends and myths and religions. And it was fascinating. 

Not entirely sure when I had this realization, probably 30% or less:
Something I realized while getting ready for work this morning; so far I’ve not cried at all over this series. I don’t think I’ve even teared up. It’s still been a wonderful story, just surprising given my waterworks over fictional books.

To the above I say, <i><b>HAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA.</b></i>

Now it isn’t as though I sobbed for the last half or anything, but the few times I did really, really deserved it.