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A review by tkhongmaly
The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
5/5
Phew. The stakes of this series. I was shocked many times even in this final book. I was seething with rage more than once. I was loss for hope for a lot of it. At no point was I ever sure who might do what or how anything would be resolved.
This is a fantasy series with a truly hard-fought ending. Nobody was left unchanged, scars of this world running deep. And that’s what truly shines most about this series to me. Everyone has committed at least one atrocity, yet everyone’s choices made sense. Everything was incredibly morally grey. There’s no pure evil, no pure good. It’s just messy, messy, messy and very confusing. And even my one complaint for the series—the romantic aspect—was just more murkiness blurring the lines of character interactions.
To have written a series so incredibly layered and complex—deception met with deception, brutality with brutality with no end in sight—and to end it the way it does…Chakraborty is so expertly talented.
A true joy to have read (listened) to this series!
Phew. The stakes of this series. I was shocked many times even in this final book. I was seething with rage more than once. I was loss for hope for a lot of it. At no point was I ever sure who might do what or how anything would be resolved.
This is a fantasy series with a truly hard-fought ending. Nobody was left unchanged, scars of this world running deep. And that’s what truly shines most about this series to me. Everyone has committed at least one atrocity, yet everyone’s choices made sense. Everything was incredibly morally grey. There’s no pure evil, no pure good. It’s just messy, messy, messy and very confusing. And even my one complaint for the series—the romantic aspect—was just more murkiness blurring the lines of character interactions.
To have written a series so incredibly layered and complex—deception met with deception, brutality with brutality with no end in sight—and to end it the way it does…Chakraborty is so expertly talented.
A true joy to have read (listened) to this series!