“My definition of an adult is someone who lives their life aware they are sharing the world with others. My definition of an adult is someone who knows the world was here before they showed up and that it’ll be here well after they walk away from it.
My definition of an adult, in other words, is someone who lives their life with a little fucking perspective.”
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This series flies so far under the radar, and it deserves much more praise than it gets. This is one of the best fantasy series I’ve ever read, ever. And I’ve read a shit-ton of fantasy in my life! It is my most-read genre by far.
A lot of this review won’t make sense if you haven’t read the first two books, so my advice to you would be to just go and do that and then come back here and tell me thank you. But if you insist on reading, this is the third and final book in the Divine Cities trilogy, which takes place in a world where gods were once real, and now they are not, and follows a select group of characters over several decades as they wrestle with the consequences of the gods disappearance.
Each book has a different main character, and here it’s Sigrud, who was Shara’s partner in book three, and for many years before and after those events. Here, the plot kicks off with the murder of SPOILER Shara Komayd, once prime minister END SPOILERS and Sigrud feels it is his responsibility to track down her murderer. Only, once he does that, he realizes he has opened up a can of worms, and a whole mess of complications come spilling out, once again involving the remnants of the Divinities who once controlled the world.
I was really only looking for two things here, and how it happened wasn’t really important to me. Bennett delivered on both. I wanted a good ending for Sigrud, and I wanted to see a way forward for this world that these characters inhabit. Both things came about in surprising yet satisfying ways.
I really can’t recommend this series enough. There isn’t anything else like it published in the fantasy genre. It’s smart and challenging, yet readable, and full of characters you love, and situations that are thrilling and frightening. It’s a great read.
Chipping Away at Mt. TBR, July 2022—Book 21/31
CBR BINGO: Series
The last book in an EXCELLENT fantasy series.
