
The third book in the tombs of Amalo trilogy is actually the best of the trilogy so far!
The third book in the tombs of Amalo trilogy is actually the best of the trilogy so far!
I adore the worldbuilding in this series. I adore Celehar—his innocence, his uprightness, his surprise that anyone should like him. I adore the plot of this book and how everything connected together.
But BOY do I feel bait and switched by the relationship between Thara and Iäna.
I really felt confident that we were in for a slow-burn romance! Friendship between men is great and underrepresented but it‘s not what I was looking for!
??
Celehar is so well liked and so bad at knowing when people like him. It‘s kind of adorable.
I would really love to read Katherine Addison‘s worldbuilding notes.
In many ways, this could be summarized as: Things happen to Celehar. People ask Celehar what happened. Celehar explains what happened. Which could have gotten tedious, but never did. I loved this. (Although I DID wish I‘d re-read the previous two books to refresh my memory first—there were too many character names and other references I needed to be reminded of!) As in previous books, Addison weaves together parallel plotlines, ⤵️
Overall I enjoyed it and would recommend for fans of the series. Esp since we get a little bit of Maia. But this is the book where her naming system defeated me. I was able to stay on top of it in the past. However this one has a lot of references to the previous books and characters. I spent a lot of time thinking, 'am I supposed to know who this person is?' When they were a minor character in a five year old book.
I never wanted to put THE TOMB OF DRAGONS down, so caught up was I in the minutiae of Celehar‘s ordinary, extraordinary life. I worried for him following his major life change at the end of THE GRIEF OF STONES, drank in the telling details that marked his various friendships, and delighted in the worldbuilding Addison packs into every book she writes. It left me that perfect mix of exultant and devastated that I spend my reading life chasing.
(Received to review via Netgalley.)
This didn't end the way I wanted it to, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I certainly enjoyed the read, and there were parts I thought were lovely, but... I'm not entirely happy about it. I thought things were going somewhere in particular, and I'm rather thrown that they weren't.
Finally getting really stuck into this. Bit surprised to find the story feeling like it is very much “no homo“ing Thara and Iäna's relationship. Wonderful to get a glimpse of Maia and Csevet.
I got so busy reading and loving THE TOMB OF DRAGONS that I never actually posted about it, so please consider this a prelude to the review I‘m still mulling over. In particular, I‘m thinking a lot about how Celehar is someone who always, always does the right thing in relation to his calling, even when it causes major problems for him, but who does the easy thing in his personal life, and how the series helps him learn to take more risks there.