The Empire of Gold: 3 (Daevabad Trilogy)

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I finished reading The Kingdom of Copper, the second volume in The Daevabad Trilogy, in December, 2018. And then there are political considerations, (would you be with someone from the family that murdered large numbers of your people? This means I may earn a commission should you chose to sign up for a program or make a purchase using my link.

Chakraborty has the same gift Melissa Caruso does for making political conversations thrilling, and there’s a lot of fascinating worldbuilding to explore as the main action (by which I mean Nahri) leaves Daevabad for the first time in one and a half books. A richly imagined, stunningly immersive book that takes you into a world of darkly alluring djinn, terrifying monsters and beguiling magic. But the death of his people and loss of his beloved Nahri have unleashed the worst demons of Dara's dark past. Whereas Dara is questioning what is morally right, and whether his actions at the behest of Manizheh are morally right, Ali and Nahri spend most of their time together, ignoring the fact that they have feelings for each other.And these two characters were so different from the last time that they saw one another that they would need time, but it appears that time was not on their side. However, his delving into the Marids and his relationship with Sobek was fascinating, and I could honestly have read a lot more about it. However, saying that I do feel in places, this book was weaker than the previous ones for all that it wove the narrative threads and characters arcs together beautifully. But she is only at the very beginning, so it will be a good long while before her next trilogy appears.

It only works when characters have been hiding stuff from the reader the entire time, not just at the end when it’s convenient. And the notion that a rightful heir is ordained by a higher power and will rule wisely if only he or she can assume their rightful place. Seeing those come to fruition here is the main reason I couldn’t put the book down; it kept drawing me back, forcing me to read “just one more chapter” — and we all know how that turns out. The Daevabad trilogy up till this point has been largely confined to either Daevabad or Egypt, so it was pretty cool to get to see Ta Ntry in this book and discover more of the world Chakraborty has created here. I would have liked a little more time with some of the characters post story but I guess that’s what fanfiction is for haha.I dove into this one almost immediately upon release, and I am pleased to say that the last Wayfarers book is just as good as its predecessors. Chakraborty has built up many plot strings, posed a lot of questions, and set up certain situations that all wanted to be resolved. One of the things I loved most about The Empire of Gold, is how it explored the impacts of a ‘rightful’ leader taking back their city.

There’s a lot of similarities between them in this respect, they both straddle two distinct worlds (Ali with the Marid and the Djinn, Nahri with her human and Daeva heritage) so it was interesting to see them embracing the sides of their heritage that they’ve not necessarily ignored but been unable to explore fully up till this point. In Empire of Gold, the (current) final book in the Daevebad trilogy, Chakraborty combines the intrigues of empire with the lasting antipathies and injustices of history, the complication of assumptions confronted by revelations and the traitorous depths of our own imperfect hearts. Reading the ending of this book got me doing something I have not done in an age: staying up past 2AM alternating between crying my eyes out and smiling with glee. And, most importantly, he finally decides that he doesn’t want to be the terrifying afshin; he doesn’t want to be a weapon.Dara isn’t innocent, but what he goes through is cruel, and you can tell that his viewpoints change, but nothing can be done. PICTURE THIS: Dara dropping off slave vessels to the cave, Nahri showing up at the same time to check if some have been left - either alone or with her children (or maybe it’s just her children, oh my gah) (I also don’t even know if this is possible with the veil up, ha). While Nahri finds peace in the old rhythms and familiar comforts of her human home, she is haunted by the knowledge that the loved ones she left behind and the people who considered her a savior are at the mercy of a new tyrant.