As you might know by now, the Daevabad series by S.A. Chakraborty has been translated into Dutch. The final installment, The Empire of Gold, just has been released and therefore the series is now complete. I’ve reread all books in my mother tongue, I’ve read them in English in 2021. Be aware for spoilers of both The City of Brass and The Kingdom of Copper in this review.
- Title: The Empire of Gold
- Author: S.A. Chakraborty
- Series: The Daevabad Trilogy #3
- Publication date: June 30, 2020
- Publisher: Voyager
- ISBN: 9780062678164
- Number of pages: 766
- Genre: Fantasy
The final chapter in the Daevabad Trilogy, in which a con-woman and an idealistic djinn prince join forces to save a magical kingdom from a devastating civil war.
Daevabad has fallen.
After a brutal conquest stripped the city of its magic, Nahid leader Banu Manizheh and her resurrected commander, Dara, must try to repair their fraying alliance and stabilize a fractious, warring people.
But the bloodletting and loss of his beloved Nahri have unleashed the worst demons of Dara’s dark past. To vanquish them, he must face some ugly truths about his history and put himself at the mercy of those he once considered enemies.
Having narrowly escaped their murderous families and Daevabad’s deadly politics, Nahri and Ali, now safe in Cairo, face difficult choices of their own. 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. Ali, too, cannot help but look back, and is determined to return to rescue his city and the family that remains. Seeking support in his mother’s homeland, he discovers that his connection to the marid goes far deeper than expected and threatens not only his relationship with Nahri, but his very faith.
As peace grows more elusive and old players return, Nahri, Ali, and Dara come to understand that in order to remake the world, they may need to fight those they once loved . . . and take a stand for those they once hurt.
After the cliffhanger in The Kingdom of Copper, my expectations were quite high. That was already the case when reading the book for the first time, so that hasn’t changed one bit. The stakes were set pretty high and I was curious for my experience with this translation. The translation of the second book read more smoothly than the first one and I was hoping that this would continue. Well, it did.
In the previous book, the character development was clearly noticeable. This is no different in The Empire of Gold, but it’s les significant. This growth applies more to the group of characters as a whole and not really to them individually. Nahri, Ali and Dara are separated and have to save Daevabad as soon as possible. In order to do this, many people from different clans have to work together, despite different cultures and conflicts. Characters who barely could be in the same room with eachother are forced to look eachother in the eye and this leads to interesting developments.
The writing was again, okay. It was easy to follow. However, I struggled a bit with the middle part of the book. It somehow felt dragging. In fact, I already had this problem with the English book. So, it’s the book and not the translation. The translation read okay as well.
There is no denial of the fact that Chakraborty really took the time to map out and build this plot. It’s a complex, but interesting world. Even more so than we initially thought after the first 2 books. The way characters from different clans have to work together is interesting to see and shows how high the stakes re set. All remaining questions got answered and that is one very important thing for a series finale to include in my opinion.
Overall, I enjoyed my reread of The Empire of Gold. The translation read smoothly again and it was interesting to revisit this world. However, I still struggled with the middle part, it felt a bit dragging at times. All in all, this is a worthy conclusion to a great series.
Leave a Reply