Posted by AAAAHHHH I was so excited to get a copy of this!!! But then I got slammed into 80 hour work weeks at work… and then I had some personal shit go down, so I am just now in AUGUST getting to this, ugh!
Edit: <Narrator> She wrote in August. Now it’s September. This summer was the fucking worst — very sorry to authors who sent me ARCs, my whole life exploded — like my excitement for this book.
Edit: oh, look, I’m editing this review again in <checks watch> an entirely different calendar year. I’m the worst reviewer ever.
So, this kicks off with Gorm being super bored and anxious, he’s full of undelivered justice. He’s obsessed with finally getting the king off the throne while everyone else seems to have moved on, his party and society as a whole. He’s kind of right, though. The King sucks and doesn’t deserve the throne. He’s also got some shady shit going on to try and get rid of the Queen. This story wraps up the series and so there’s a lot of various plotlines we’re following as the reader. I quite enjoyed all of them, Gorm has always been a favorite but I deeply appreciate all the different perspectives we’ve gotten throughout this series.
I felt like the prose was a huge highlight not only for this book, but for all three of them. The “professionalism” and “sharpness” go up a notch with each installation. What I mean by that is that it’s well-edited and crisp when you read it. There was never a point where I felt the word choice was off, or awkward, or I had to read it again to understand, or it just “hit the ear wrong.” There was none of that at all. Quite the contrary, there were a bunch of quotable and memorable passages and I’m unsurprised to see many places in the kindle app where there are dotted lines under passages like, “Ignorance is a commodity. In any economy where knowledge has value, ignorance does as well.” It’s very Terry Pratchett like in that way, where more obvious life-truths are phrased way that just resonate.
As with the previous books, there was a lot of social commentary, parody, and satire built around the different races and how it sometimes mirrors our own issues. Topics like racism are addressed through the shadow kin and the lightlings which has been a talking point throughout the series.
When I read the first book, Orconomics, years and years ago I had not yet started doing court transcription and I didn’t have any experience with lawyers. Now, I do. Now, I have lots and lots of experience with that. I spent a ton of time typing down word for word what occurs in various court settings. I have picked up a deep, deep appreciation for the lawyers and the legal contracts in this book. There’s truly layered humor here that may hit harder for some than others depending on personal experience. Not that you need to have experience to find it funny, but kind of like those who have worked in an office setting might find The Office funnier than those who have not, just an extra layer. I digress.
I felt like this one wrapped things up well. There are a lot of threads left loose from the last book, and this book followed various groups of people as they’re tying them all together and brought it to a satisfying conclusion. The Poldo and Thane offshoot is one of my favorites. I felt like Feista was a good representation, (as a general perspective) from a marginalized culture. One particular scene that stood out to me had a line that went, “Feista looked at the restaurant where her heritage was currently providing ambiance for wealthy diners” referencing a drum that belongs to her people being displayed in some restaurant, which is grotesque considering how much it means to her people. Things like that were scattered throughout her perspective and I found it compelling.
Kaitha, has always had a slightly different tone than the rest of the characters. She’s the elf that was struggling with an alcohol-like addiction to an in-world “salve.” She has been clean for a year and attending something close to AA meetings. She has more issues than just struggling with an addiction, she’s also concerned about transforming into a dark elf. I really enjoyed the tonal change from character to character. It’s very difficult to write perspectives in a way where as soon as I read it, I know who I’m reading and that the perspective has changed. It’s even more difficult to write a darker comedic tone and keep it in line with the rest of the story. I also personally find that grounding a comedy with more serious topics and a darker undertone will keep it from floating away with ridiculousness. I also enjoyed the random references that were thrown in from time to time but didn’t beat you over the head with it; e.g. “marked figures to the rhythm of the war drum” lol.
This was longer than I thought it would be, but I think if it were shorter I may have said something like, “things were solved too easily”. There was a lot to tie together, a lot of POV groupings, and a Big Villian to defeat at a conclusion of a series, so it makes sense this was a little longer, but it did affect the pacing a bit. The ending was totally wackadoo with a serious supervillian epic climax. I found it fitting, to be honest.
OVERALL RATING: 8.5/10 or 5 stars on Goodreads!