After centuries of hardship and tragedy, of struggle and toil, he’d finally reached the end of his journey. He’d never faltered, defying all who’d stood in his way. And now, the Seventh Heaven beckoned, the place where both the answers to his questions and justice for all those he’d been forced to leave behind awaited him.
Not once had he given in, regardless of the obstacles in his path. Even if all the Ancients banded together to oppose him, he would not yield. His will had been forged into something more than mere iron by the crucible of his life, and nothing would be able to break it. His sword would never be lowered in surrender, his stride would forever remain undaunted. He was Hadjar Darkhan, and he would see his goals realized, or he would die trying.
I don’t normally write reviews, but I feel like I should make an exception. This, by far, is the longest series i’ve ever read and likely ever will read. It’s been with me for a fair percentage of my life, I would go on reading sprees where I was always reading about the nameless world. It’s crazy that the series is over. In truth, for the lest few books, I felt lost, and it saddened me. The flowery language and long descriptions were hard to get through, and by a large margin, I remember far more of the first 15 books then the last 7, but I’m glad I read them, because I found the end to be amazing. I won’t spoil it, but it was worth it.
Sometimes it’s hard to stick to a story you feel so invested in. Half this series was pretty good. Then it went downhill. Just felt like a lot of nonsense slapped together to look profound and deep but really… it only confused me. Like the last few books I didn’t understand half…actually maybe 3/4 of the book. But to be fair, it’s what I expected. I had it on my kindle for a while now as I knew this was gonna be a painful read. Only finished it …to be done with this series. I’ll remember the first half of the series fondly . The end..not so much
The Final Book of the Dragon Heart Series by Kirill Klevanski is a bit of a mixed bag. There were times when I was left wondering "Why are we wasting time on this? Why spend several chapters exploring and seizing a city when you kill off major characters almost instantly and with very little closure?" The last book is bloody. Everyone is brought together in a way that seems forced and then everyone dies. Key antagonists are swept aside in a single chapter or less. Years of build up, moments of payoff. It leaves a little bit of bitterness after its all said and done. Of course there's still plenty to like about it, but when I started to take issue with the book by counting down the number of chapters remained until the whole thing was wrapped up, I wondered how it could be satisfying. Klevanski definitely did throw a curveball at the very end, and it did go a long way to making up for things, but I get the feeling that Klevanski himself wanted to reach his ending, but wasn't entirely sure how to do it in a satisfying way.
So... frustrating. Not terrible, but I would have liked it if not every single conflict was something to be solved with swords, and that swords were taken as action instead of dialogue. Not that things could be talked out, but that death by a sword is meant to cut and wrap up a plot point, rather than provide answers along the way. Only the Potter plotline seemed to be given everything it needed to breathe.
Ah well.
I don't regret reading it. And it opened a new world for me literarily speaking.
Genuinely what a ride. Started this series in 2019 while I was still in middle school and finished it flying out from my first year of college. I have so much emotional attachment to this series that I can't really rate this book as anything but 5 stars. If you get 22 books deep into a series I think it deserves at least that much from you.
Elements of this I really loved and sections of it weirded me out a bit. Hadjar's law is incredible and is such an excellent culmination of what the series has been building towards, and I like what it does for this book's narrative though I will try not to spoil. However the ending got a bit peculiar. A few reveals were awesome and explained a lot that I was rather confused about in the past, but some things just felt off?
Ultimately I still really enjoyed this and thought it was about as excellent as you could possibly expect given the amount of buildup and foreshadowing that each book did for this one. I still somehow didn't see multiple things coming despite the amount of times they clearly were outlined in retrospect.
i think there were 6 books out when i discovered this series and i read everything in less than 2 weeks. i've never read a longer series than this. i loved it not just for the xianxia elements but also for the underlying buddhist-like elements and philosophy that's carried on up to the very end.
i wish i could give this final book 5 stars... but frankly if it wasn't for the last quarter of the book, it would have been a 3. it was just too much stab, stab, flashback, stab, stab, dramatic scene, stab, stab, flashback, stab, stab, dramatic scene, rinse repeat. the action/war scenes were overly redundant and boring - i admit i eventually started skimming through them. it was so repetitive and depressing.
the backstory of the potter in the last quarter of the book was interesting - though a bit out of place considering the stabby theme of the book. not sure i liked the afterword, didn't make much sense... i mean how long was his lifespan that he waited out a city to built out of swampland??? wouldn't that make him super old by the time he met her? but whatever.
thank you for the wild ride hadjar. you will be deeply missed.
Ah.. finally over.. I pretty much read every book a day or two after release in English since book 4. I liked how the story progressed. I liked how it shifted towards more philosophy and prose ( I did get a degree in philosophy though). I think the last book was pretty good and that it did justice to the entire series. I definitely couldn’t put the book down the final 30 percent or so.
I kind of thought the story was going this direction for awhile, but there were still some cool plot twists and character developments that I didn’t see, so it was great to finally finish and see.
Thanks for a great story about a man and his sword.
Phenomenal series, took me a long time to get through all 22 books at least 7+months. The world building was unlike any other series I have read. At the end, reading about his journey of writing this series and where his thoughts/ideas came from was really cool. I was worried about how you can end a 22 book series, but he didn't disappoint. Although it was very long, every book/chapter/page kept me racing for the next one. With every series there are slow points, but what do you expect with 2000 chapters?
I've been following this series since the first translation was released on kindle. I found it randomly and started reading cause of "dragons, neat".
Thankyou for the amazing stories and the world you shared with us. Also damir! That afterwords was golden. I love what will does, and it made me laugh many times.
An epic finish to a series sitting at the top of this genre. The books covers a lot, very quickly, but after 22 books I think it's what both readers and the writer wanted. Unfortunately, the consequences to moving so fast is that certain critical points seem underdeveloped. I found myself left wanting for more numerous times. In any case, a crowning achievement.
What can you say about a series that spans 22 books and 800 years of the characters life? These books have everything, life, death, triumph, tragedy, mysteries and resolution. It is always hard for an author to stick the landing at the end and this book doesn't disappoint. If you have come this far, you need to get to the end.
I’ve read this series off and on for the last 4 or so years. This final book was a fun read because it brings back many of the characters I loved from the past books. It was nice to see all the books come together and get like the whole story from book 1-22 were tied together. If your working your way through this series don’t stop get to the end.
I’ve been following this series for so long and i’m really sad to see the conclusion of it, but this story will always hold a high place in my heart. Definitely one of my favorite stories i’ve ever read. Hadjar is one of my favorite characters too, seeing him through his journey has been amazing
This series really makes you think about how the story is shaping up. Usually I can figure out the way a story is going to end, not this time! I read a lot of fantasy stories usually everyone of them follow a predictable path,again not this time. This series makes you think about how it is shaping up. Really a great read!
As I said in the title it is a wonderfully written series and it has dearly touched my heart while reading. Although I would not recommend this series to the faint of heart and are afraid of tragedy.
What a ride! I want to congratulate the author on transitioning writing styles to show character growth, as well as making the readers themselves contemplate the inner meanings behind everything
This series...this finale... there are no words to properly express how emotionally cathartic the culmination of Hadjar's journey was. Rest well, Final General.
Worth a read. Started reading it after the release of the first book, it is incredible to see how far the journey has came. The last section was extremely well planned and the conclusion was perfect. A must read!
What a read, highs loss tests and eye rolls. One of the best series I have read and I'm 8k books in on my kindle. Thank you and I'll check out the wizard book.