Monday, August 24, 2020

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty


The Empire of Gold is the third and final book in S.A. Chakraborty's "Daevabad" trilogy, which began with 2018's "City of Brass" (Reviewed Here) and continued with 2019's "The Kingdom of Copper" (Reviewed Here).  I've really enjoyed this series, which I had been reading in audiobook, and was greatly looking forward to the finale - hopefully again in the audiobook format (the reader was very good).  The trilogy is inspired by Islamic mythology, featuring spins on mythological creatures such as Djinn, Marid, and Peris in a very often grey world, dealing with some serious themes through three very different main characters, all of whom were written really well.  Alas, since I couldn't get the audiobook, I had to read this volume in print - which didn't stop me from grabbing that opportunity as soon as it came.

And The Empire of Gold is a really really fine capper to the trilogy, one that I really enjoyed.  The story takes the trio of main characters - Dara, Ali and Nahri - to enjoyable endings, as they each fight to find someway to save a Djinn world - not just Daevabad - that has broken apart.  A lot of what happens in this book is predictable, but most of that is just the product of two books of work in relationships going forward, and that just makes it all the more fun to read.  Again, it's not a perfect story, although I think my biggest complaint from the prior two novels (pacing) is fixed this time around.  But this is an excellent capper to an enjoyable trilogy and I really look forward to seeing whatever Chakraborty might write next.

Note: Spoilers for the first two books are inevitable at this point.

------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-------------------------------------------------------
The aftermath of Manizheh's attack on Daevabad have left the Djinn world is in disarray.  The five other Djinn tribes have sealed themselves away in their own territories - and their places within Daevabad itself - in fear of what Manizheh might do next.

And of course....all Djinn magic seems to have disappeared the moment Nahri and Ali hit the water and disappeared from the city.  Now the only magical forces left in the city belong to Dara and the Ifrit, allowing the residents of the city to resist falling under Manizheh's rule....and to Dara's dismay, Manizheh's reaction to this is to plot even more atrocities than the ones that made him sick when they took the city......

Meanwhile, Ali and Nahri find themselves somehow in Cairo, far from the lands of the Djinn. But as Ali can't seem to use the power of the Seal of Solomon, and the two knowing they can't leave the city in the hands of Nahri's mass murdering mother, they set out to gather allies to possibly take the city back.  But as they set out, without the magic they've gotten used to, they find themselves once more coming to the attention of the forces of the sea, wind and fire, who each have their own agendas for the future of the Djinn world, agendas that may not leave a place for any of them to stay alive......to say nothing of being able to save anyone they care about.....
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The finale of an epic fantasy series, in which the world is very gray, is always a tricky thing to land unless you're writing something very grimdark.  Because well, whereas previous parts of the story, including the prior novels, could end with seemingly unresolvable cliffhangers, in which good people find themselves caught in impossible dilemmas that really have no way out for everyone to wind up with a happily ever after.

This trilogy is not super grimdark, but it has for two books been very grey, with our protagonists: extremely lawful good Ali, who wants to help people who are oppressed and in need like the Shafit no matter what and keeps as a result finding himself in the middle of political power plays such as those run by his cruel pragmatic father; more neutral good Nahri, who is very willing to break rules and to con people into doing what she wants, but at heart wants to help people....and finds herself conflicted between her concealed Shafit nature, the Daeva people who revere her but hate her Shafits, and Ghassan's cruel treatment of both groups as he tries to maintain his political control; and historically tortured Dara, who wants to help Nahri and the Daeva people but regrets the atrocities he committed....and yet finds himself torn between committing new atrocities on behalf of the leader he's sworn to or letting his people be still oppressed.  There were no good answers for any of the three of them - well not for Nahri and Ali at least - with seemingly any good they each managed to do being turned towards some harmful outcome out of their control.

But the end of The Kingdom of Copper cleared the board of most of those conflicts.  Ghassan is dead, and Daevabad is under control of Manizheh, whose past may be sympathetic but actions make her transparently evil at this point, so there's no real chance that she'll pose any ethical conflict for our main duo.  While both Nahri and Ali face hidden truths about their heritages in this one that result in serious conflicts for them, they're not really conflicts which you can imagine them ending in any other way - they require sacrifices of themselves, not of others.  This all leads in the end to a happy ending, I have to say, not one that is depressing.

So it's to Chakraborty's credit that this all works so damn incredibly well for the most part.  Whereas prior books in the series were a bit slow to start, this one isn't.  Moreover, while the ethical conflicts are no longer a concern, the relationship issues between Nahri and Ali that have been building for two books are still there and finally come to a head here - in the way you might expect, but still in a very satisfactory fashion.  It was hard not to love Ali & Nahri before, and to want them to get a chance to be with each other, and this book really manages to tug those heartstrings in the best ways....while still remaining true to both their characters.  The mysteries behind the Marid and its connection to Ali - and the mystery of the Peri from book 1 - are revealed here, and are very satisfying...and provide more fantastical conflicts and scenes of pretty much epic proportions.  And while the ethical conflicts may be gone, there's still some political dealing in both Daevabad and outside for the main trio to deal with, and they're all very well done.

Dara's story arc is the weakest of the book, as it has been of the series, because it begins with the same bit as the 2nd book, where Dara is conflicted between Manizheh's atrocities and his need to serve her or to feel like his whole life has been for no point - meaning he was a monster for no good reason.  We've seen that character arc before, so it could get stale, but thankfully Chakraborty switches courses with Dara early enough in the plot so as to not make Dara's own chapters ever really feel tedious, so they still work.  Meanwhile the final conflict - which takes place in what the book labels as "Part 3 - is very satisfying but relies upon two plot tropes that I swear I've seen a whole bunch lately, and are more than a bit predictable.  But again, they're executed well enough, and the very ending is exactly what I hoped for, so I can't complain much.

Spoilers in ROT13: Gur obbx'f cebybthr erirnyf Znavmuru tvivat gur Vsevg Anuev'f gehr anzr, juvpu qbrfa'g ghea vagb nalguvat hagvy gur svany 10% bs gur abiry, jurer gurl hfr gung anzr gb gel naq pbageby ure....hagvy fur nffregf ure bja anzr nf "Anuev" vafgrnq, naq oernxf gurve pbageby.  Juvpu qbrfa'g ernyyl znxr frafr vs lbh guvax nobhg vg, fvapr jryy gur Vsevg xabj gur anzr "Anuev" nf jryy, ohg whfg srryf yvxr n xvaq bs ynml "nffregvat bar'f bja vqragvgl" gebcr.  Sbeghangryl vg qbrfa'g ernyyl znggre.

Gura Qnen, jub vf rafynirq ntnva ol Znavmuru guebhtu uvf vsevg evat naq pnaabg qvfborl ure, pbaivaprf ure gb yrg uvz qrny jvgu gur guerng gb Qnrinonq....juvpu bs pbhefr vf Znavmuru urefrys, nyybjvat uvz gb xvyy ure.  Ntnva, vg'f n pynffvp gebcr, ohg vg jbexf.

Anyhow, I really enjoyed the Daevabad trilogy in the end, so I'm quite happy to see it end like such. I can't wait to see what Chakraborty comes up with next, now that her first series is in the books.

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