SA Chakraborty's sweeping tale of a young thief who gets swept away to a magical kingdom with characters and creatures straight out of your most fantastical dreams and worst nightmares comes to an end with the dazzling and triumphant Empire of Gold.

Picking up where the Kingdom of Copper left off, the Empire of Gold carries the reader from Daevabad to Cairo, from Ta Ntry to the dark depths of the ocean itself. Chakraborty's impressive writing makes you feel as if you're right there alongside Ali and Nahri fighting for a better world. The characters are complex and the world is vibrant and alive.

The story of the Daevabad trilogy is a once in a lifetime journey that luckily you'll be able to visit again and again.

Umm...it was glorious . A great end to one of my favourite series ever. There is not many ways one can review the last book in a series . If you are interested in it , you obviously have read the previous two and believe me you are going to love it.

The Empire of Gold was one of my most anticipated releases for this year and I am happy to report that it more than met my expectations. It wrenched on my heartstrings. It made me laugh. It made me tear at my hair. It made me smile with delight and then with a bittersweet kind of pain. Suffice to say, it hooked me with every line.

It was such a thrill to be back among the characters that I adore for all of their strengths and flaws, and even the few new faces who make their introduction in this book were engaging and memorable. The lore grew richer than ever as we got to see more of the world outside Daevabad and the different kinds of magical peoples who inhabit it. The peris and especially the marid feature once again in larger roles, and some of the burning questions I had about their agendas and motivations were certainly answered.

I also love the way this book continues to explore all the difficult complexities and moral dilemmas that has always made this series so intriguing. What can be done to end a cycle of violence and vengeance that has lasted hundreds of years? What could possibly constitute justice when all parties have committed their own share of offenses? Is any one tribe’s view of righteousness truly just if it only subjugates another and propagates further hate? Do any of the families who supposedly have a claim to Daevabad truly deserve a chance to rule it?

Our ever-distressed characters, too, are still grappling with these questions. They also find themselves struggling with their own identities as new realizations come to light, and it does not make it easy for them to determine what their place should be (if any!) in Daevabad. Nahri, Alizayd and Dara all have fascinating arcs in this book as they are forced to evaluate their own choices and justifications. This book more than ever finds them questioning what they are expected to be, what they believe they should be, and ultimately who they truly want to be.

As much as I loved EOG as it is, I do wish we could have seen more of Zaynab and Muntadhir! I love seeing all sides of a conflict, so personally I think it would have been great to have had additional viewpoint chapters from one of these two. A POV of someone in Daevabad with a view into the resistance to contrast with Dara’s would have been wonderful. But given that this book is already a good 750 pages, I understand why the perspectives were limited to only our three main characters. (Not that I would have the slightest issue reading this even if it were 1,000+ pages, though!)

There’s still so much more I’d like to add to this review, but it may veer into spoilerly territory so I will hold off for now. But I promise that Daevabad fans are in for an intense treat and that the ending to this series will leave readers simultaneously satisfied and yearning for more.

First of all, I'd like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC of this fantastic book in exchange for an honest review.

(I've read this book in a couple of days when I have a dissertation project to write, so I think I can safely say this was AMAZING.)

This review contains spoilers (but they are minimal).

The Empire of Gold is the concluding volume in The Daevabad Trilogy, and unlike some other conclusions of fantasy trilogies I've read in the past year, Chakraborty excels in giving a satisfactory and well-deserved ending for all her characters. One of the things that always fascinated me in the trilogy is how believable the characters are - the author manages to make all of them three dimensional, with goals and ambitions and fears that are extremely relatable. Especially Nahri, and especially in this book - she's more vulnerable, even though she wouldn't freely admit it, and she's also more open to admitting she has a family she built in Daevabad. Nahri really is an exceptional protagonist, and her emotional journey in this book was delightful to read (not to live through - poor Nahri has been put through hell since the beginning of her journey in the magical world).

The book is divided in 3 POVs: those of Nahri, Ali and Dara. Dara has had POVs in the second book, but they were more sparsed then they were in The Empire of Gold. (If you love Dara, that's fantastic news - I don't care much for him and struggled a bit during his chapters, but I really do believe he added a lot to the storytelling.) I completely understand why those three were the chosen ones to tell this story; I just wished we could see a little bit of Daevabad through other characters, such as Muntadhir, Zaynab, or even Kaveh. (I would have loved a Jamshid POV as well!!!)

I'm aware that my criticisim of the number of Dara chapters is not really fair - he's an interesting character, clearly conflicted and up to his neck in moral dilemmas. He's our way into an Nahid-occupied Daevabad, and I appreciated his attempts to bring a peaceful resolution to the city itself. I think his ending was bittersweet and therefore exactly what he deserved - he's got a lot of penance to do, and he won't shirk from it. He's realized he's done horrible things and is willing to atone for it, which I think is the most appropriate end for him, since the rest of the djinn world moved on and changed drastically from his time and he simply did not fit in anymore.

Ali is my baby. I cried multiple times during his chapters - I just love how much he loves his siblings, his relationship with his faith and how he feels about Nahri. I think one of the greatest things Chakraborty achieved in this series is how faith is portrayed: Ali and Nahri come from different traditions and both of them respect each other, and find comfort in praying and strenghten themselves from it. Ali was, as always, a delight: a flustered, awkward and self-sacrificing delight, who was willing to do anything to protect and preserve Daevabad. I have no words for Ali, because I love his character deeply - I think Chakraborty has built him with so many contradictions that work and enrichen him; his one of the most interesting characters I have ever read, period. (And he's an accountant. This woman is a sorcerer.)

My only drawback in this book (and I guess in the trilogy as a whole, because this perpasses the three books) is the whole deal with the marids. I get the message - we can only build lasting peace if we address and try to correct all the hurt and injustice that everyone suffered, and given the fact that the marid suffered with the creation of Daevabad, they should be included - I just wasn't completely sold on this storyline. The marid are important and add up to Daevabad's last stand against Manizheh, but something about it irked me, so I thought it fair to mention in this review.

Lastly, the solution Nahri and Ali came up with in regards to the ruling of Daevabad made my heart sing. I'm just in awe of such deep problems like intergenerational trauma, questions of justice and even genocide were approached in this series. Chakraborty did not shy away from some thorny issues, calling out on the bigotry of her characters in a way we should do in the real world.

The Daevabad Trilogy is, quite frankly, one of my favourite fantasy stories ever. I feel honoured for been given the opportunity to see Nahri and Ali grow as characters and people. If you read thus far, thank you! And thank you to S.A. Chakraborty for such an incredible, complex and touching story. :)

With this final book in the trilogy, has the series lost it's magic for readers?

The story has grown from an orphaned thief's adventures navigating and exploring an amazing, magical, Arabic fantasy land to focus on rebellion and change through revolution. Chakraborty is very sneaky and clever and knows exactly how to push your buttons and feed your anger and hate. It is easy to grow increasingly bitter and resentful towards the crowing conquerors whose excuses for genocide and ethnic cleansing is rooted in a thousand year cycle of hate, fueled by their dogmatic religious fanaticism.

"You might remember it is my family that our creed elevates - it's we who are to lead you, not the other way around." "The Nahids were tasked with caring for this city and it's people, all of them. It's a responsibility, Banu Nahida. Not a right."

By destorying the magic system in this fantasy world, readers are no longer distracted by shiny, dazzling, glittery djinn magic and Chakraborty's message is crystal clear and relevant beyond these pages: people shouldn't be subject to violent 'rulers' who are out of touch with peoples needs; people should have a choice; there is a path towards change; there is hope. Unfortunately, in this case, the path is not one of non-violence and peaceful protesting. It is vicious, violent and littered with casualties.

"If you rule by violence, you should expect to be removed by violence."

I cursed this book many many times. Chakraborty adds layer after layer of warring tribes and stubborn fanatics who refuse to listen to logic or reason and conveniently contradict themselves when confronted with their rational for genocide. It's insane troll logic.

"She and Ali were trying something different, a small way to make peace before you destroyed any hope of that in our time." "That peace was ended by the shafit attack on the Navasatem parade, as much as it was by our conquest." "I'm sure it's comforting for you to believe that. What a relief after you'd already plotted the slaughter of my people to learn you had a new justification to cling to."

It goes on and on and on and you become jaded, exhausted, frustrated and find yourself constantly yelling at characters to pull their heads out of the... sand! Yes, the sand, they're near the desert, that must be where their heads are. [Mental note: stop being a swear-bear and keep it PG-13.]

But preserve and trawl through the vitriol. It is definitely worth your reading time to join this little thief, her friends, the non-psychotic family members, and a giant flying mythological creature who eats all the apricots, on their final stand to save their world all because they have a glimmer of hope that things could be better.

"I want to fix this and maybe one day see a world where it's normal to pick sides based on what's right rather than on whose family or tribe we belong to."

Recommended for fans of The Hunger Games, Throne of Glass, Rebel of the Sands

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

*** Spoilers ahead in case you haven't read Book 1 and 2 in The Daevabad Trilogy (City of Brass and Kingdom of Copper)***

After Daevabad's fall, we follow two different paths: Nahri and Ali trying to survive after fleeing the city and going to Cairo and Manizheh, Dara and some other important characters in Daevabad dealing with the city and its people without magic and all the politics the we love so much in this series.

First of all, after since finishing the second book, I was DYING to know what would happen next and it did not disappoint. One thing I absolutely love about this series is how the characters have so many layers. It's difficult to say who are the villains and the good guys, because all of them are so well developed that it's easy to empathize with them and understand their motives (even Manizheh's - yeah, I know)

Nahri and Ali are the same amazing characters we've seen in the previous books, I love them very much and I'm very happy with their ending. Dara's plot also surprised me quite a bit. I think he had the best evolution among the main characters. Plus I don't want to spoil the romance in this one, so what I can say is that it will not please everyone. In my view, it was really cute and personally, I was shipping them.

Despite loving the characters' ending, I have to say that the action is this book was not as breathtaking as in the previous books. The action scenes are good, don't get me wrong, but I felt they were more compelling in the other books. I was also hoping for more mind-blowing moments... There was one twist that did surprise me, but that was it. Fortunately, the politics and the magic elements - especially more about the Marid - continue to be on point in this book.

I'll surely miss this amazing cast of characters: Nahri, Ali, Dara, Muntadhir, Issa, Razu, Jamshid, Zaynab, etc. It was an incredibly satisfying ending and it even brought tears to my eyes at one point. I highly recommend this series if you like fantasy and lovable characters and I wouldn't be sad at all if there was some kind of spin off.

What are emotions? What are feelings? I don't know anymore because OMG I CANNOT EVEN FUNCTION ANYMORE JESUS ROOSEVELT CHRIST. This book was just sooooo unbelievably good, and then just that ending, and how everything turned out and led to that point, and my heart just hurts it is so full. Breeeeaaattthhheee... okay, let's try to write some kind of coherent review.

The book starts off pretty much immediately where the last book left us, which I liked because that cliffhanger at the end of the second novel had me reeling. Reeling, I tell you. I must admit that it took me a minute or two to get back into it because it had been over a year ago since I read the last one, and I had forgotten a few things... BUT once I remembered who everyone was (😂) I was more than happy to be thrown back into the thick of it. Just like the other two books in the series, this book was a whirlwind of political intrigue, which I am a massive fan of. I just think incorporating some politics into a fantasy book makes it seem more 'real,' even amongst hidden kingdoms and djinn. I also think that the different kinds of magic were explored and explained really well; the history and the reasoning behind the powers made them seem more legit, vs. a writer who just throws a random magical sword into the mix and then suddenly everyone's' problems are solved. Not Chakraborty - she gives us substance.

World-wise, Chakraborty did such a good job on building what was already there. I feel like in the first two books we were still getting to know Daevabad and all of the different types of people and magic, so I was not entirely sure how she was going to expand on it. What she did end up doing, however, was so good, and made so much sense for the story (now that I am thinking back on it). SPOILER YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED but introducing the neighbouring kingdom not only made sense given the ties that Ali had there, but it was also a great way to expand the world and to make it feel a little more realistic END OF SPOILER.

And then, the characters... EVERYTHING HURTS AND I AM DYING. Okay, that ending, the way things progressed and changed not only within this book alone but through the whole series. It hurts so much. There was definitely so much character development going on with our three main characters, and they really grew up in the span of the books. The ending, did I love it? Well, not going to lie, within my heart of hearts, there is another ending I maybe would have preferred but given the way the series and characters changed throughout, this is what made sense. Like, if Chakraborty ended things the way I deep-down wanted them to end, then it would've been disingenuous to the people that the characters had become.

Overall, I thought that this book trilogy was amazing. Absolutely fantastic, from the world to the characters to Chakraborty's writing, I am a massive fan, and will definitely be reading Chakraborty's next book, no matter what it is.

If you like djinn, deserts, and fantastical fantasy, I urge you to pick up this series!

Wide-ranging, brutal and, ultimately, hopeful, this book stuck the landing in every way I'd hoped. I have enjoyed spending time in Daevabad so much- the intensely political storylines are married so well to the fantasy that it makes the world feel alive and breathing in a way that few other series manage- and I found this book to be the perfect, satisfying farewell.

Chakraborty has a talent for growing and developing characters (Ali's journey, in particular, has been a really wonderful one to read), one that is displayed to its fullest extent in Empire of Gold. If you have loved Dara, Nahri, Alizayd, Jamshid- heck, even the murderous ifrit- you will find satisfaction here. It's a huge achievement, and I can't wait for it to be available to everyone.

So how do you start to review the last book in a favorite series of all time? I'm looking at a black page and I'm quite literally at a loss for words.
This review will be in two parts: first, a non-spoilery overview of my thoughts and then I'll just need to go into spoiler territory. A lot of our enjoyment of a last book in a series is directly linked to what we were hoping to see in the plot or from the characters and I cannot say that without spoilers.

However there will of course be spoilers for City of brass and Kingdom of copper.

NO SPOILERS AREA :

The World building
The world expands so much in this book, during the first two we were mostly in Daevabad and I loved that, but it's also so refreshing to have different stories and see the world outside of that one city. Moreover, it doesn't just expand geographically, we get a much better understandings of the other magical beings in this world, the Peris and the Marids and that was fascinating. I also loved to understand more about what happened during Anahid’s time and during Zaydi’s time.

We also go to new parts of the world of the Djinns, see how they live outside of Daevabad. It just made me wants to have *more*. I really hope we get a new series in this world, or even a novella or short story… There could be so much more that we would see and discover. PLEASE.

On the magic side, there's no big explanations of why this thing works and why this doesn't, there's no carefully defined magic system and it's really okay. It actually works better that way with the world that was created. I usually prefer very well crafted magic systems but here it's the other way around. this book is pure magic, in all the definition of the word. And it's not like it has no law, we can see there's some, they are just not explained to us. but nothing ever felt like it was just an easy trick from the author to get the plot along. It was always "believable". Because yes, even fantasy stories set around magical beings can be believable, or not. There has to be some sense, some rules have to be set even if they are not explained, characters can't suddenly do things out of nowhere when no one, no where has ever done it. And yes, I think S.A. Chakrabory found the perfect balance here, between giving us information and keeping us in the dark to make us look at the world through Nahri's eyes, from a human eye : incredible and magical.

The plot
I think it all worked very well, Ali and Nahri on one side going from place to place, trying to find a way to save Daevabad, and Dara on the other side, in the city, seeing everything happening and being…Helpless ? Or is he ? That’s always the big question with Dara.

I really liked the adventure part of Ali and Nahri, as I said about the world it opened the world and let us see so much more and I loved all of that. I was never bored for one moment, either because I was so stressed out for the characters or because some more funny/other type of moment was happening and I was grinning like a fool. Ali makes for great entertainment, as always, especially with Nahri’s cutting remarks.

The characters
I love Alizayd SO MUCH. He is really one of my favorite characters of all time. He really reminds me of Fitzchivalry Farseer from the Realm of the Elderling series by Robin Hobb at times and damn, that’s not always in his favor because that’s always for the senseless shit he does but that shit is WHY I love him so much. Idiotic soft men are my jam. Give me a man who always does the wrong thing with the best of intention, who puts everyone’s wellbeing above his own and doesn’t realize other people don’t want him to do that for them and sometimes want to do that *for him*, and who will just leave a person or a city/country because he thinks it’s better *for them*. The comparison with Fitz was obvious for me in books 1 and 2, and in the beginning of book 3 again…Damn, Fitz walked so Ali could run. But then they took different path. Where Fitz never actually learned and did the same idiotic choices time and time again I feel like Ali actually grew and learned from his mistakes, especially in regards to Nahri and I LOVED to see that change in him.
I want to hug this boy and protect him forever.

But Ali isn’t the only amazing character in this story. First of course we have Nahri who also get quite the development in this one. But she is strong, she is now confident in her abilities, and she just won’t deal with your bullshit. She also gets a little more in touch with her feelings and gets to open up a bit and we love to see that for her! Overall she is still the thief from Cairo and we love her very much.

Dara… Well. What do you say about a war criminal who committed a genocide and helped commit another? I don’t love him and I don’t ship him with Nahri either, but I have to say I liked his pov in this one. It was very hard; the most difficult chapters to get through were his, especially during the second half of the book. The book was bordering on changing genre and becoming Grimdark at times there. I think I like what happened to him and his development. I appreciate how it was written and that nothing was ever remotely excused.

As for the non-POV characters… Muntadhir and Zaynab really deserve more. I really hoped we would get at least a couple POVs from both. They are SO GOOD. Muntadhir grew so much in this book, I was so proud of him! Zaynab we barely saw but she deserves her own books, that’s for sure. SHANNON, I’LL BE WAITING.

I have a more difficult relationship with Jamshid, probably because of his feelings toward Ali and the fact that he tried to have him killed, my poor boy. That’s a personal thing however, and it’s here because of my love for Ali but I did enjoy him a little bit more in this book. And I love his relationship with Nahri.

The writing style
There's a couple of sentence that are over used like the the different version of they"put their lips in a grim line". Albeit, it was used much less in this book but I did read all 3 this week and there was just a little too much of it aha. Not a big thing but I thought I would mention it.
I really don’t have much else to say, nothing new at least. Solid writing style, I don’t like too many metaphors and simile and we don’t have much in here which I enjoy. It’s simple and understandable and the action scenes are actually possible to follow, the world-building is never info-dumpy… All around a good time !

To conclude, was this series absolutely *perfection*? No book is, in my opinion. But it’s still pretty damn close. Of course, there will be nitpicking on stuff and for the couple of negative things I said that was really what it was: nitpicking. This is a solid 5 star read, as were the previous 2 books.
This series just feels so real. It really feels like I could transport to Daevabad, and meet these characters, everything has been fleshed out so well, it’s never just a book, it’s a story and a world in and of itself.
The fact is : I was INVESTED. In a way that I very rarely am with books nowadays. I couldn't stop reading, I inhaled this 750 pages book in a weekend after already reread the first 2 books the previous days. When a book makes me invest so much energy and feelings into its plot and characters and when it breaks my heart in such a majestic way, then I just have to applaud. It's the kind of books that just transports you into another world and make you truly feel like you're somewhere else for a time. That you actually know those characters. It's when a book really becomes magic. Only a few gems do that for me and this series is definitely one of them.

Now that it’s over this series is definitely finding its place in my top 3 books/series of all time along with the Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb and the Imperial Radch trilogy by Ann Leckie. I would give anything for a follow up series or something more in this world. Either from a character we already know ((view spoiler)) or from characters in the past or future that we don’t know yet.

SPOILERS BEGIN HERE, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED
STAY AWAY

The relationships :
I don’t think anyone will be really surprised by the endgames here. As I said in my review for book 2, I wished Ali and Nahri could stay best friends and not lovers but I wouldn’t be mad if they ended up together, and that’s what happened. During the first half, as their relationship was growing, I was actually getting really into it. As long as they were alone together their relationship actually worked and I was invested. But by the end, once Nahri meets with Dara again… there’s just something off. Not because I ship Dara and Nahri (gods, no) but they definitely have more chemistry and it feels like, if Dara had turned on Manizeh sooner and could be redeemed in Nahri’s eyes, then she would have picked him. Ali feels like a second choice somehow and because I love him with all my heart, it hurts a bit to see it go down like this. His love for her is much more established than her love for him. During the ending parts all the important scenes were between Nahri and Dara, Ali didn’t even get to fight alongside her but Dara did. Dara and Nahri had a very important conversation together about something that was important for them both… while Ali and Nahri didn’t really get a last scene like this. They did not even kiss once they found each other again…. I think I really needed at least one last kiss, something showing why she chose Ali… or did she ? It was no that clear if they were ending up as friends or as lovers to be honest and as I’m writing this I have my doubts (on Nahri’s side, because Ali’s feelings were made quite clear).

Jamshid and Muntadhir better get a novella or at least a short story. We could get so much from them both trying to navigate this new world. They also must have a ton of PTSD that they could help each other through (with the help of a shrink if that’s possible in that world, PLEASE).

The Characters
I need to talk again about Dara... I wish he had died. I think he should have chosen to go die and just BE DONE. I was really hoping this would happen but…. Here we are. However, that he goes around looking for the enslaved Jinns around the world is probably the best second choice and I am happy with that. He is away, he finally tries to do good… But he is still a liability. I mean, sure, he thinks like this now but in a 100 years ? In 1000 ? He might still have blood purity idiotic ideas and go on a rampage again and I don’t trust him not to do that.

I love that Nahri finally got a family member… It was so sweet to realize her grandfather was the one bringing her Egyptian food. The fact that Manizeh wasn’t actually her mother was a cool reveal, it was so established since book 1 that I wasn’t even thinking about her brother being actually the father. I imagined all the fathers possible but it was always Manizeh at her mother but it makes SO MUCH SENSE. It’s not like a reveal that just seems to be here for the element of surprise. It does really make sense. Poor Jamshid though, stuck with two war criminals as parents.

Some plot points
Was I surprised by any plot point ? Not really. Except for Manizeh not being Nahri’s mother of course. It was easy to see for instance that Dara had to be the one killing Manizeh, we basically knew that from the beginning of book 2 and yet that wasn’t a problem at all. I loved to see how we got there, and it was obvious because it was the best thing to do and anything else would have felt weird. To have Nahri kill her ‘mother’ (or aunt) would have just continued the circle of death and this time she was able to come out of this story with barely killing anyone. Which is kind of the point too, this whole series is about breaking the toxic family resentments and desires of vengeance. To be able to move past it and create something new. And it was for the best that Nahri didn’t have to kill anyone to reach that.

It was so hard at times to read Dara’s chapters. Manizeh actually killing all the Daeva’s high nobility was… Like…???? And enslaving some of them ? And then cutting Muntadhir’s eye ??? Please have mercy… And then when she enslaved Dara as well I was simply speechless. That she could do that to him after everything. As I said, I’m not a big Dara fan, he is a murdered and worse but DEAR GOD. And when he destroys part of the city to find Zaynab I had to take a little break. Shannon didn’t even have to describe gruesome deaths in details, to just be in Dara’s mind as he was forced to see this and DO this was enough to make me feel ill. It was really well done. A horrible yet incredible chapter. I had chills thinking of what she would make him do next. Let this poor man rest.

I was hoping we would get more from the Marids and WE DID!! And we got a lot of it actually, with not that much pay off if I’m being honest as Nahri, Jamshid and Dara did most of the work during the final battle there but definitely less people got killed in Daevabad thanks to Ali so that’s definitely a win. It’s the kind of thing that makes me think we just have to get another story in this world to get to see what happens NEXT. Especially for Ali, with his new powers and his new appearance… We could get so much more from this! And that’s what we deserve. In any case, I loved all that part of the story-line, to get to understand more about them and see how they are linked to Nahri as well.

I already concluded my review in the non spoilery section but I will just end up by saying that I love these characters SO MUCH, and I miss Alizayd already way too much and I'm dying for some ind of sequel, even just a short story.... I'll probably reread at least this book in June with everyone else. I need my fix, and I need to talk to people about this. COME TALK TO ME IF YOU HAVE READ IT PLEASE <3

SPOILERS

<b> Actual rating 4.40 </b> because while I found the ending satisfying, I would've loved to see a few things done slightly differently but I will talk about that in a minute.

Oh my god, where do I even start?

<i>Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the eARC of this book. It made me very happy and means a lot to me. </i>

I have to admit, I didn't expect to enjoy this book as much as I did because I had a kind of a rough ride with the first book and I listened to the second book at x2.3. I feel like that's when i actually got invested in the story because I remember missing the characters after finishing The Kingdom of Copper. When I got the email that my wish had been granted I was so, so excited!

I'm honestly not sure how to review this book mostly because when I like something I don't usually have much to say.

All books so far have been pretty slow in the beginning and then halfway through they'd pick up and suddenly it would be a wild ride and I wouldn't know who to be worried about first. It was a bit different with this one because while it was still very slow in the beginning, something was always happening that would keep me excited to continue read which hasn't actually happened in a long time and I'm so glad for it.

We have the same 3 POVs from the second book and get to see a lot of all of the characters. Personally, I enjoyed Nahri and Ali's chapters way more than Dara's which was also the case in The Kingdom of Copper. However, while his chapters were just plain boring in the second one, in The Empire of Gold they were actually grimdark. Dara wasn't as much of a character than a narrator who would show the slow descent of Manhizeh into madness and I hated and loved every second of it. I hated it, because I hated how crazy she was, I hated the way she behaved and I hated the way Dara behaved. And I loved it, I loved it because Dara's slave mentality is well-written and executed and Manhizeh's craziness makes sense. I understand why both of them acted the way they did and it was very-well written and not especially easy to read. Subjectively, I didn't like it, objectively, it was amazing.

I wasn't satisfied with the way Dara's Character arc ended. I feel like he <spoiler> should've died instead of leaving Daevabad to hunt down enslaved djin because it kind of redeems him and i didn't want him to be redeemed. </spoiler> He did show some development at the end which I liked. I'm still not his biggest fan tho.

Now, let's go to the actual Characters that i like.

Nahri and Ali developed so much as people, I totally love their growth. Every scene when they were together was a favourite and I love the way the worked together. Their time in Egypt was actually one of my favourite to read about and that's where they truly bonded again. I simply ship them so so hard <spoiler> and i wish my ship had sailed in a more explicit way but the ace in me is also satisfied with the way it was wrapped up. </spoiler>

OMG, I don't even know what to talk about! There's so much that needs to be covered and I seem to have forgotten how to word. Why?

I just enjoyed everything about Ali and Nahri and chapters 8 and 48 are my favourite! That's all I'm gonna say about that.

All of the stuff in Shefala was also very interesting and I loved the way Nahri and Jamshid bonded, I also loved how accepting he was. I loved his character, at first, I wasn't very sure about him because he was acting rashly but in this book he grew as well.

All of that marid stuff was very interesting and I actually loved what happened with them.

The peri stuff and the ring was a bit confusing and unclear and I may even go as far as to say that it was a bit convenient but I'm not complaining because I liked the ending well enough.

Now, all of the stuff that happened at the end was INTENSE. I loved every second of it but I won't go into details because we'd this review will never end.

I wasn't surprised by a lot of the revelations because I've been talking with a friend during after i finished the second book and we, mostly her, shared theories and all that jazz so we (meaning her) called most of them. However, I did not see what Nahri did with that dagger coming. (This sounds both cryptic and dodgy but I didn't want to tag it as spoiler.)

And here comes the main reason this isn't 5 stars, Dara. I didn't like the end of his character arc. <spoiler> I expected him to die but I stead he is alive. I get it. He chose to live in order to repent and hunt down the enslaved djin and fight ifrit and since he doesn't have the mark he can never return to Daevabad and see Nahri again and that's his sort of bittersweet ending. I just wish he had just died tbh but at the same time i understand why he had this sort of ending. He was neither redeemed, nor not redeemed. </spoiler>

I think that the story wrapped up nicely and I already talked about pretty much everything I wanted to say so yeah.

There is a lot going on in this book and i didn't even cover half of it. Muntadhir was amazing and not so amazing and the rest of the characters were also doing their thing and as you can see, i am spent.

It was defo worth sticking to the end and I really enjoyed it.