Many forces converge on the great city of Triah, bent on its destruction. By sea, Empress Cova of Roden sails with her armada, determined to bring the rival nation under her yoke. From land, Winter, the Chaos Queen, brings her tiellan army, set on revenge. And their advance brings a yet more terrible army still: awoken by the Chaos Queen's powers, daemons mass on the border between worlds, waiting for a way in.
Caught between the encroaching foes, as mall group holds the key to saving the Sfaera from destruction: Knot, the former assassin, Cinzia, the exiled priestess; and Astrid, the vampire-child. But the only way to do so is to step into the Void beyond worlds--from which no one can return unchanged.
First, I love this series. I like the characters and the storyline. I think there's a lot of depth to the story and the characters. I see this as a story about racism and religious differences and how these two things can stoke fear, which in turn, foment hate and violence. Once again, we're left with cliffhangers and questions: Astrid, the Rodenese, the Coven, the Denomination, the Odenites, the Daemons, the Void, Winter, Knot and Cinzia, Code, Kali, Jane - who's right and who's wrong. What is evil? Who is evil? Can evil produce good and can good produce evil? Honestly, this story/series really gives you a lot to think about.
This book holds up so good in the series, kept me wanting to read as the first three did. Upset i have to wait a year for the fifth and final book. Constantly captivated by these characters. So in depth, so flawed but understandably so. Events went as i thought, but in a different way than i would have expected. A couple things were distracting (my copy had quite a few grammatical errors and some pieces were inconsistent) but overall a marvelous experience. This one made me start to cry. Absolutely in love with the series!
The fourth book in THE CHAOS QUEEN quintet is decidedly the most dramatic and intense. Demons, monsters, and gods show their power as our heroes race to stop them, all while waging wars of retribution and revenge.
Every character shows their power in battle and gets a time to shine. Nearly everyone has become a warrior now and it shows as the heroes battle against deadly enemies. I did feel this this story was more centred around Winter, Cinzia, and Astrid, though other side characters had their own stand out moments.
There were plenty of resolutions to some storylines, which will leave lots of space for the final book.
Some of the characters let their emotions get the better of them, which made for some dark turns in the plot. There is no question that while the heroes are way out of their depth, they will never give up, which makes for compelling action scenes.
There are many twists at the end, once all the epic action has wound down, and I think that the stage has been set for a truly awesome finale. I’m still a little heartbroken over a certain scene, but it will stick with me for some time.
Still a great series if you want to read more epic dark fantasy with powerful enemies and stronger heroes.
Phenomenal book in this captivating series. The story takes exciting turns and continues to develop and highlight the strong characters it has built up over the past 3 books. Such a great read and I reccomend this series to almost everyone I talk books with. This may be one of my favorite books in the series thus far too!
However, I think it's worth highlighting that there were a ton of typos, specifically in about the first and last 10% of the book, that really distracted from the story.
Looking forward to the final book next year... but please do a double check on the editing with that one.
Wonderful characters in this series! Start from book 1. Good exploration of deep topics through the lens of a different world. There is a clear culture and world beyond what we get in the specific story but it also doesn't throw you in too quickly to the fantasy world where you start to feel lost and overwhelmed. Wonderful!
This is the best book of the series since the first. All the story threads are starting to come together for the finale and, dang, that ending battle sequence had some serious gravity. Can't wait to see where things go from here!
The first three parts seemed to move more slowly, albeit with superb character depth and engaging plot threads. This book moves much more swiftly, twists and turns to reach a denouement that screams for the next part.
Were I to meet Christopher Hulbert in real life, I'd ask, "What's the religious theme that I should take away as applied to Judaism, Christianity or the Latter Day Saints?" There's a definite allegory, but I'm not making the connection, per se, to Christianity (formal or evangelical) that makes sense.
This is another solid entry, kudos to the author for keeping things running instead of getting stuck this late in the series. I enjoyed the delving into the mysteries of the vampires here despite it feeling like the revelations and developments came too quickly. The big reveal at the end was somewhat obvious and made little sense due to earlier actions but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Characters felt compelling here and the additional POV characters Alaina and Code felt like welcome additions, with the concept of Alain's condition being quite an interesting take. On to the final book!
The ending was easily four stars, almost 5, but most of the book was just plain good. I can't wait for the conclusion to this dark series. There were a handful of spelling mistakes, and there was even one in the first sentence of the entire book which kind of ruined the first experience, but good stuff overall.
Oh yeah... it was ok. I felt a bit more engaged than the previous entries as it seems to be getting closer to the 'point' of the series rather than just world-building and treading water.
Again, this series ventures into 'superhero' territory which I guess might be other people's cup of tea, but certainly isn't mine. I will finish out the series.
Alright I love how author put everything together in this one. Really was surprised by some aspects and it was done masterfully. Big plus for word building, big plus for character development it had some sad moments yet beautiful in their way. The ending was very satisfying even with the cliffhanger in it heels. Overall felt great to read recommend to anyone ^^
Fantastic. All the pieces are on the board. This book sets up, brilliantly, the finale, while not “just” setting up the finale if you know what I mean. The book stands strong on its own.
Demons, vampires, multiple large-scale battles….this book has a great mix of action, heart, and politics. If you were hesitant to read further into the series, getting to this volume is essential!