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downtowndaly's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Torture, War, Blood, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Terminal illness, Sexual violence, and Rape
mpickard's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
My thoughts on characters:
Logan: he was my favorite POV in the previous books but he took a dark turn in this one. He had less agency than normal and you can see how he got his reputation. Although he claims to not want to fight and kill, he never makes any decisions to break the cycle of violence. I still think he is a good person but I don't think as highly of him.
Glokta: he is an absolutely terrible person. No redeeming him but he doesn't want to redeem himself despite occasionally doing a single good thing. His POVs were sometimes annoying because they were so self pitying but at the same time, his sarcasm was amusing.
Jezal Luther: he seemed like the biggest character improvement which was honestly surprising and kinda sudden. Who knows if it will stick. He seems like the perfect candidate to be a figurehead. He will be fine.
Bayaz: what a spider with his fingers in every pot. Honestly not sure how he managed it all since it seemed like he only had a couple of people close to him. He also knew so much but also missed some really big points.
Dogman: my favorite character. His falling out with Logan was heartbreaking.
Collem West: a mostly ok person. Tried really hard all the time. He had major anger issues that didn't get shown enough imo. He lost my respect when he hit Ardee, no matter how sorry he was.
Ferro: she doesn't as much character development and her POVs were pretty boring. She seems like she ended up where she wanted to be from the beginning, killing Gurkish people. I thought it weird that she didn't react to Logan. Of all the characters, we know the least about her backstory and she was the hardest to connect with since she has such a one track mind. It would have been nice to get some more personality from her. All she did was kill things, sleep with Logan, and be able to hold a stone.
Ardee West: the women in these books got the short end of the stick. When Ardee was introduced, I thought she would be a major player since she was so smart and outspoken. But instead she became a drunk who didn't impact the story besides being used to advance the storylines of her brother, Jezal, and Glokta. We are supposed to believe that she is happy taking care of Glokta shitty bedsheets now?? Very disappointing.
Queen Terez: I'm going to be honest, the treatment of Terez put such a bad taste in my mouth that it ruined the book for me a bit. I had been so relieved that there wasn't much sexual violence in the first books that what Glokta makes her do is so shocking and disgusting to me. I know the point of the book is that villains aren't usually punished. But even with all the violence and suffering in the book, this was especially vile. The only gay character in the book being forced to have sex with Jezal and have at least four children or else her lover will be raped? Honestly, I found that scene more nauseating than all the death and physical violence.
Women in First Law books: I was honestly a bit disappointed by the female characters in these books. The female representation isn't as bad as other fantasy books, but it's not as good as I had hoped. I don't think they passed the Bechdel test despite the large cast of characters. Ferro was the only one we got a POV from, and although she was powerful and had the potential to be an interesting character, she didn't feel as real as the other POVs. The more minor characters were disappointingly lacking agency or a credible backstory. The only female wizard was bitter and not over Bayaz. The Makers daughter was tragic, bitter, evil, and not over Bayaz. The witch who worked for Bethod had no backstory even though she could have been as interesting as the Feared. The previous queen lost both sons and a husband within a year and is never mentioned again. The female Practical (who's name I'm forgetting) was another physically strong woman but it seemed so weird to make her have a romantic history with the mercenary. She was another person that I thought might play a larger roll than she did.
Graphic: Death, Murder, Rape, Child death, Torture, and War
nerdkitten's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Vomit, War, Terminal illness, Blood, Cursing, Murder, Rape, Torture, Toxic friendship, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Violence, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Cannibalism, Lesbophobia, Classism, Outing, Ableism, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Medical content, Racism, Sexual content, Alcohol, Excrement, Grief, and Xenophobia
Minor: Abortion, Body shaming, Abandonment, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Genocide, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Sexism
camam4's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Gore, Blood, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Vomit, Rape, and Sexual violence
amir_hamza's review against another edition
- 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'll be honest, going into this book with everything I had heard, I strongly suspected this book to be a 6/10 from me. I let myself hope it would be a 7/10. But man oh man was I absolutely not prepared for this, in more than one way. I confess I'm still hesitant to give this a 10/10 given I find the pessimistic and borderline nihilistic view on human nature a touch far too unsuitable with me, but I'll still give this the next best thing I can give on my scale, a 9.5/10.
This book, to me felt very much like its contemporary concluding volume of an epic fantasy trilogy, The Hero of Ages. Both are like masterful and tightly plotted final acts of a story with nonstop calamitous and world-shaking revelation. And when I say "final arcs" and "nonstop" I do mean them in the most literal way possible. This (and Hero of Ages) WERE the endings as a whole, a complete volume detailing a story's final arc. The entire book was simply an avalanche of an ending, just picking up more pieces as it went, till I guess just a bit of cooldown at the end. Just a bit. Why this comparison? Well, The Hero of Ages is doubtless my favourite conclusion to any series ever (I haven't read a whole lot yet, but it's still...something). So to be placed next to that even for examination, at least by my standards, is very high honour indeed. As high as it gets, really.
Overall, I'm blown away. I am in shock. I am in awe. And I bow down to this wretched majesty. I was not sure if I would pick up the sequel trilogy when I read the last two books, given I found them decent with hints of greatness at best and just cumbersome at worst, but this ends all doubts. I simply can't wait to see more of this story.
Edit: Nope, 10/10. Let's go.
Graphic: Cursing, Sexual violence, Gore, Violence, and Torture
Moderate: Rape
esknight89's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Ableism, Violence, Torture, Sexual assault, Murder, Misogyny, Gore, Vomit, Rape, Pregnancy, War, Terminal illness, Death, and Body horror
surdiablo's review against another edition
- 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
The characters of course grow further, or at least some of them thinks to themselves that they do. It leaves you with such conflicted feelings wondering who to root for, as even the nicest one among them was a
All the doubts or questions I had throughout the series were answered and it was so satisfying to see everything unraveled, although it obviously didn't always lead to pleasure :') The whole part II was such a wild ride for me that each chapter left me breathless. It had some of the best action scenes I have ever read
Graphic: Torture, Violence, Gore, and War
Moderate: Cursing, Alcoholism, and Rape
Minor: Sexual content, Child death, and Pregnancy
kylieqrada's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Torture
Moderate: Body horror, Cursing, and Rape
Minor: Child death, Sexual content, and Slavery
alaa_ilikecats's review
- 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? Yes
4.5
There is no closure here
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Child death
podanotherjessi's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
And since this is the final book in the trilogy, I need to mention that the ending was... well complicated. It had some amazing moments, but it sometimes dragged on and some of it felt very unneeded.
Characters: 9
Plot: 7
Setting: 7
General appeal: 8
Writing style: 8
Originality: 9
Ending: 6
Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Cannibalism, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gore, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Violence