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A review by elenajohansen
Corambis by Katherine Addison
5.0
All the tension between Mildmay and Felix, every harsh word, argument, physical altercation... all of it was finally paid off in the last book in the series, when Felix is arguably at his lowest (knowing exile, compared to his earlier unknowing madness) and decides that it's time he tried harder to be a decent person.
His faults and his transgressions are not wiped away--quite the opposite, in fact. He's less able to forgive himself for what he's done than others are, especially Mildmay. It comes out, in a short but beautifully emotional conversation between the two of them, that basically Felix did so much to push his brother away because he couldn't believe anyone could ever accept him as he was, and the fact that Mildmay did felt undeserved, unwarranted.
I am wholeheartedly satisfied with this conclusion, and it was a real pleasure to watch the two of them interact like friends, even like family, rather than brothers-by-chance who were thrown together by circumstance.
On top of that, what made this final book a standout for me in the series was a twist on worldbuilding I'm not sure I've ever seen. The first three books seemed to have the same rough level of technology as say, Edwardian England--carts and horses and boats for travel, at best. Then, in exile, Felix and Mildmay go to a country totally unknown to them, and there are trains! Corambis has a higher level of technology, and while steampunk is nothing new (and technically they're steam- and magic-powered) I've never read anything involving higher technology without alien visitation being involved.
Also, Monette uses a very similar structure for the books throughout this series, many seemingly unrelated plot threads that gradually (or suddenly, in some cases) come together in a spectacular ending. While I criticized the previous book for doing this badly, here, it's handled much better. While I couldn't see all the specifics of how the ending would play out, I did at least get some sense of where things were going, instead of being bewildered about the importance of a character or an incident for most of the book.
I look forward to rereading the entire series in the future, hopefully picking up more of what confused me the first time, now that I know how it all works out.
His faults and his transgressions are not wiped away--quite the opposite, in fact. He's less able to forgive himself for what he's done than others are, especially Mildmay. It comes out, in a short but beautifully emotional conversation between the two of them, that basically Felix did so much to push his brother away because he couldn't believe anyone could ever accept him as he was, and the fact that Mildmay did felt undeserved, unwarranted.
I am wholeheartedly satisfied with this conclusion, and it was a real pleasure to watch the two of them interact like friends, even like family, rather than brothers-by-chance who were thrown together by circumstance.
On top of that, what made this final book a standout for me in the series was a twist on worldbuilding I'm not sure I've ever seen. The first three books seemed to have the same rough level of technology as say, Edwardian England--carts and horses and boats for travel, at best. Then, in exile, Felix and Mildmay go to a country totally unknown to them, and there are trains! Corambis has a higher level of technology, and while steampunk is nothing new (and technically they're steam- and magic-powered) I've never read anything involving higher technology without alien visitation being involved.
Also, Monette uses a very similar structure for the books throughout this series, many seemingly unrelated plot threads that gradually (or suddenly, in some cases) come together in a spectacular ending. While I criticized the previous book for doing this badly, here, it's handled much better. While I couldn't see all the specifics of how the ending would play out, I did at least get some sense of where things were going, instead of being bewildered about the importance of a character or an incident for most of the book.
I look forward to rereading the entire series in the future, hopefully picking up more of what confused me the first time, now that I know how it all works out.