Syl

Gods, I thought this was a trilogy, I fear I might not have it in me to see this series to the end.

I don't like first person narratives, so reading these books is a little draining, and this frustrates when combined with Darrow's as a single figurehead who can do no wrong.

I'm here for the excellently battles and dystopian, and these are well executed.

For that reason, I was having a good time before the gambit with Cassius in the final act... it was fine after the reveal, but I ended up speeding thru the rest of the book after that. It's not that I was frustrated out of care for the charecters, this is not a series in which I get attached to the individuals, but the sheer naivety and reactions to Cassius fake-betrayal were infuriating on a narrative level.

I'd much rather have been in on the plan, as it would have made me abandon the book if I was quicker to mark as DNF. It's a potentially interesting (if a bit unbelievable) play, but Cassius's redemption didn't sell me and the seeping frustration soured an otherwise well-executed ending.

I guess it's on me to assume the series would end here, and I may come back to the series after a few months. but ugh, I going to need to detox from that ending, not just my normal break to get over the first person narration.