Reviews

The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty

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ljavery's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

3.75

castaly's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

4.0

robynlynae's review against another edition

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5.0

This book and the closure to this series was MAGNIFICENT.

The way Chakraborty tied up each character's journeys was expertly crafted and were extremely satisfying. As with the previous two, there is plenty of action throughout that really kicks in in the latter third of the book.

Spoiler

I had an inkling about Nahri's parentage back in book 2 and was so happy to see that I was right but the way that it was revealed was such a good scene. And she was SO CLEVER at the end, I was so happy to see how she managed to trick everyone to save Daevabad, help the Marid, save Dara, etc. So smart.

I loved seeing Dara's struggles throughout this book. I absolutely hated him for book 2 and for the beginning of this book but it was good to see him acknowledge how batshit crazy Manihzeh was and the scene where he tricked her was just brilliant. I thought for certain the only way his story could end was with death so I was very pleasantly surprised to see how he got to survive and I was so happy that although his ending wasn't necessarily happy, he finally had a noble purpose to chase.

By far, Ali's character arc was my favorite of all of them. He has come the farthest since the beginning of the series. The sacrifices he made at the end in order to save his people broke my heart but was also so freaking cool.

I loved loved loved the development of Ali & Nahri's relationship in this book. God, they were just two idiots in love and it was so nice but also....I WANT MORE!! I think the fact that the ending doesn't totally give them the like...wedding bells happy ending that I wanted was actually refreshing and I did like the ending. I guess I just read too much NA fiction because I wanted them to finally just get together and be happy. But the one scene where they did get hot & heavy was great until they ended it prematurely. lol.

But WOW, what a great book. The top notch world building, the excellent characterizations. This book was so rich in culture and twists and action. Just a really great story. This is now one of my top 5 fantasy series and it 100% passed my 'escape test'. Will definitely be recommending.

bookshelfbyjess's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful tense 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? Yes

4.5

eljtran2's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

killahb94's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

jesswhalen's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

This was a perfect conclusion to this trilogy. The plot stayed well paced, only coming down to tie up the end. The emotions got complex and the themes held true.

Nahri was an incredible heroine every step of the way. I love the nuance in well written stories about women finding their power-no matter who wants to keep them from it.