A good ending to a great series. Personally, I would've liked things wrapped up with less questions at the end, but many of the major plot points had a satisfying resolution. The worldbuilding continued to be amazing, and the tower was as wonderful and intriguing as ever. I highly recommend the whole series to anyone looking for a unique world and interesting characters with quite a bit of growth.
I'm so disappointed I don't how to express my disappointment without expletives because i really like and respect this author and will certainly be reading anything else he puts out next but also what the actual fuck was this mind-numbing slog? I was confused half the time as to what was going on because i couldn't find anything in here that gave one reason to care. None. I devoured the previous 3 installments and they are some of my favourite reads of all time across all genres and i was really looking forward to reading about them again but this felt like an insult.
A brilliant conclusion to a brilliant series. Whatever Bancroft's next project is, I'm already sold.
If you've already read the first three books, it feels silly to try and sell you on book 4. You're already compelled, and you should be, it's great. My one and only criticism is that I think the story continues a bit too many beats beyond the end. It's nothing terrible, but there's definitely a point where I went, "The end! Oh, wait, there's a few more chapters. Huh."
It's a common enough thing in the wrap-up of an epic. So common, that it'd be easier to list exceptions than series that did the same thing to some degree or another. In a series this full of unalloyed genius it's actually somewhat nice to see a bit of... alloy? Imperfection? It almost makes me feel like Bancroft could be some sort of human person, instead …
A brilliant conclusion to a brilliant series. Whatever Bancroft's next project is, I'm already sold.
If you've already read the first three books, it feels silly to try and sell you on book 4. You're already compelled, and you should be, it's great. My one and only criticism is that I think the story continues a bit too many beats beyond the end. It's nothing terrible, but there's definitely a point where I went, "The end! Oh, wait, there's a few more chapters. Huh."
It's a common enough thing in the wrap-up of an epic. So common, that it'd be easier to list exceptions than series that did the same thing to some degree or another. In a series this full of unalloyed genius it's actually somewhat nice to see a bit of... alloy? Imperfection? It almost makes me feel like Bancroft could be some sort of human person, instead of the eloquent spirit being I typically imagine.
So, a 4 for the conclusion, but I still recommend this series to everyone I know. It's amazing, and the ending is amazing, and I loved it. It just didn't need those last few bits.
