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.

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.