451 pages
English language
Published April 13, 2017
Revenge. It's something Sigrud je Harkvaldsson is very, very good at. Maybe the only thing. So when he learns that his oldest friend and ally, former Prime Minister Shara Komayd, has been assassinated, he knows exactly what to do--and that no mortal force can stop him from meting out the suffering Shara's killers deserve. Yet as Sigrud pursues his quarry with his customary terrifying efficiency, he begins to fear that this battle is an unwinnable one. Because discovering the truth behind Shara's death will require him to take up arms in a secret, decades-long war, face down an angry young god, and unravel the last mysteries of Bulikov, the city of miracles itself. And--perhaps most daunting of all--finally face the truth about his own cursed existence.
The final entry in the Divine Cities trilogy was, in my opinion, the least good. I still gave it three stars, because I did enjoy it. I just enjoyed the first two more. The protagonist this time is Sigrud and some mysteries of his are solved and he gets a fitting ending. But I just felt the story wasn't as good as its predecessors. It felt a bit like an entry in some YA series.
Absolutely outstanding finale of this trilogy. It neatly concludes everything with a bow around it for me. Sigrud as a main protagonist was so very good. These books deserve to be more widely known.
The third volume of the author's theofictional trilogy focuses on the attempts by one of the surviving divine children to wreak vengeance on his mother(s) and, as in the way of these things, everyone else. The hero, who has, somewhat accidentally, also acquired some characteristics of the divine, is a member of the original triad that were introduced in the first volume. Like his companion of the second volume, he comes to regret having been a man of violence - and does indeed kill rather less people than in earlier episodes of the saga.
Once again the story is quite deftly woven. There's a bit too much of the Silver Surfer syndrome for my liking, but it's a read.
This was a fun series. Each book was separated by a handful of years. Enough time for perspectives, aging, getting comfy with the world and it's quirks after the blink. I'd sorely like to read a novelette of the hey-day of gods as their remembrances are just shadows and historical fantasies.
This world has always been drawn from our own. Saypuri obviously have Indian influences, Sigrud and his folk are some combination of Russian & Northmen. The "Country" I always wonder if it has some USA tendencies. Just margin notations.
We return to Sigrud..
"There were things you knew. Then there were things you knew you didn't know. And then there were the things you didn't know that you didn't know" -- Sigrud
Hiding, waiting, wanting both salvation and death but not allowed either. Poor guy. A weapon without a target.. Until..
What has Ashara unearthed this time and …
This was a fun series. Each book was separated by a handful of years. Enough time for perspectives, aging, getting comfy with the world and it's quirks after the blink. I'd sorely like to read a novelette of the hey-day of gods as their remembrances are just shadows and historical fantasies.
This world has always been drawn from our own. Saypuri obviously have Indian influences, Sigrud and his folk are some combination of Russian & Northmen. The "Country" I always wonder if it has some USA tendencies. Just margin notations.
We return to Sigrud..
"There were things you knew. Then there were things you knew you didn't know. And then there were the things you didn't know that you didn't know" -- Sigrud
What a tremendous sin impatience is, he thinks. It blinds us to the moment before us, and it is only when that moment has passed that we look back and see it was full of treasures.
Everything I was hoping for in the conclusion to this series. Robert Jackson Bennett has created a masterwork.
