I knew that The Tomb of Dragons was part 3 of a trilogy that was itself kind of a side series from a stand-alone novel The Goblin Emperor. Now all four are being framed as “Within the Chronicles of Osreth” (back cover), so I’m really hoping there’s going to be more of this world and characters. The Tomb of Dragons is a good ending with decent closure for Thara Celehar’s story, but there’s also plenty of room left open for more to come, including the emperor (who gets a couple of cameos!) and the rest of the crew in Amalo.
The one complaint I have is that parts of the story meander a bit, and some bits don’t quite connect. There’s a political plot, Thara’s general future after events of the previous story, his personal relationships, his ideas about personal happiness and calling, his coats (seriously, count how many times this gets brought up), a cemetery archive beyond disorganized, and of course a death (or several) that need his Witnessing. I was starting to give up until a conversation between Iana and Thara brought me back; they actually directly have the “Are you attracted to me in that way?” talk. Something needed to be done about these two by the end of the trilogy, but I wasn’t expecting it to be that direct. It actually worked out pretty well, although I’m kind of surprised Thara actually managed to have the conversation considering how traumatized he’s been about a lot of things. Good for him/them.
I also really appreciated that the community kitties he feeds get a designated caretaker once it’s clear Thara is going to be travelling a lot, which he because of needing to witness what the individual who asked him to investigate frames as a mass murder, and is likely going to result in powerful individuals and entities wanting to put a stop to the mission (ie- kill the Witness, who would be Thara). This whole thing leads us back to the imperial court. What I don’t quite get is why the cemetery records thing needs to take so much time. It’s a short-term answer to one problem, sure, and it ends up mattering at the very end, but the time in between seems a little unnecessary.
It’s still a good ending in spite of some minor issues, and there’s a possible future ahead. I hope we get to see some of that.
