Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - Last Argument of Kings

Say one thing about this book, say it's a bloody masterpiece.

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.

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podanotherjessi's review

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challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

I have such complicated feelings about this book and ahve been sitting on rating it for hours because I just don't know how to sum up what I think. Abercrombie continues to struggle with giving his women agency in this book. There were some absolutely horrific moments that elicited the emotions they were surely meant to elicit but I struggle with whether they were necessary or not. But my lord, there is some absolutely FANTASTIC character work in this. But also sometimes I was incredibly bored by the plot.
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

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