Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book
Rate this book
The powerful finale of the Paths of Lantistyne series, which returns us to a continent in the midst of an epic battle for salvation.

Imperator Elgar’s dire strategy for conquering the continent has finally been laid bare, and those who would stop him must prepare to make their final stand. The surviving rogues of the Dragon’s Head are split in half help dismantle Elgar’s plot from the shadows of their home city, while the rest chase down rumors and revolts in the east. Valyanrend’s rebels and thieves have made common cause for the first time in centuries, but they form only half of the resistance necessary to challenge the imperator. For the other half, they must look to the continent’s remaining royals for a foreign army.

Unfortunately, most of Lantistyne’s royals have seen better days. King Kelken is imprisoned in Araveil, at the mercy of the brutal Administrator Selwyn. And Arianrod Margraine, the brilliant marquise of Esthrades, left her own country open to invasion when she helped save neighboring Issamira from falling into ruin. Now Issamira and Queen Adora, long neutral in this conflict, must take up the burden of war.

Adora has reclaimed her crown and found her conviction, but fights to keep her army on a just path amidst the violence she abhors. Together, she and Arianrod have already toppled one power-hungry usurper, but the two of them are separated when a reckless sacrifice puts the marquise’s life in jeopardy. And the ancient spirits of Lantistyne, whose subtle machinations helped Adora survive to gain her throne, are ready to make their will known at last.

The Risen City is another example of Steiger's powerful writing, full of intricate characters and complex world-building.

560 pages, Hardcover

First published December 20, 2022

4 people are currently reading
3663 people want to read

About the author

Isabelle Steiger

3 books88 followers
Isabelle Steiger read her first novel at age five: THE BOXCAR CHILDREN, discovered on a shelf in her kindergarten classroom. By about page twenty, she'd decided upon two things: This is my favorite thing I've ever done, and When I grow up, I'm going to make these. She stands by those decisions to this day.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
36 (59%)
4 stars
20 (32%)
3 stars
4 (6%)
2 stars
1 (1%)
1 star
0 (0%)
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
Profile Image for THE BIBLIOPHILE (Rituranjan).
553 reviews86 followers
January 16, 2023
A good conclusion to the trilogy, and it kept me hooked throughout with subtle twists and revelations that were integral to the thrilling story. The characters were fleshed out pretty well, and I liked most of them, even the antagonist who is a morally grey character. Steiger have written an entertaining tale here which deserves more acclaim, faithfully retaining the trends of epic fantasy with a modernist twist that has politics, action, magic, and a host of intriguing characters that lends life to the story - the making and breaking of a nation.

The worldbuilding is excellent, and is filled with interesting bits of lore and history. If Steiger wishes, she could return to this world once again, probably with a series that covers the golden era of magic, or with a series that tells the tale of rise and fall of the Elesthenian empire, or she can develop a standalone on the Arunian kingdom with its master swordsmen and their Asian inspired Culture. I'll be the first to gobble that up. I would have liked a more detailed explanation into the magic system, the spirits/gods, but I'm content with whatever I got to read, because that's what magic is supposed to be - a little mysterious and incomprehensible.

The ending was satisfying, as everyone got to live, at least my favourite characters did so. I was expecting the death of one dear character, but although she went some through really rough situation, she did survive to the end. As the structure of the story goes, there are a lot of side narratives and multiple characters to handle, but, Steiger did balance them quite well without affecting the pace of the novel. Readers who want to read an exciting fantasy series which is finished, which has a good story, action, adventure, a little romance, and magic should definitely pick this up.
Profile Image for Kim.
791 reviews49 followers
December 17, 2022
The Risen City by Isabelle Steiger is the third, and final book, in the Paths of Lantistyne, and Steiger does a fantastic job tying up loose ends and giving the reader a solid conclusion.

If you read fantasy you know that there are so many characters and side stories that a reviewer can’t really go into it all if they want to keep any surprises. Plus since this is the last book in the series, I really don’t want to give any spoilers away.

I appreciated that Steiger has a list of characters at the beginning to reacquaint the reader with who everyone is, and Steiger is able to seamlessly bring the reader back into the story and her wonderful world building. Now that the story is finished, I know I’ll go back to them in a few years and read them one after the other to be able to dive more into various details that I may have missed having read them so many months apart… but that is one of the wonderful things about Fantasy series, if they are good then the reader wants to go back and read them again.

I do wish the Paths of Lantistyne got more recognition since I can see a lot of readers (and viewers if they were to make this into a TV show) enjoying it!
Profile Image for Megan W. (pnwbookworm).
740 reviews26 followers
Want to read
January 8, 2023
I am reviewing the entire series because I struggled through book one but was very glad that I continued the series because I really enjoyed books 2 and 3. I normally DNF books that I am struggling through but I really enjoyed the world building in this one and the writing is lovely. The issue I ran into in book one was that there were far too many POV's. While there are often a lot of POV's in fantasy books this one had too many too early, which meant I didn't care about most of them. I will also note that this is a series where you immediately need the next book because everything is left so open ended. Books 2 and 3 were very well done. The characters were far more fleshed out and had a lot more depth and likeability. I loved the world building, the intrigue and the writing. If you're a fan of fantasies this is a series worth checking out!
Profile Image for Stacia Vega.
1,279 reviews7 followers
December 16, 2022
The Risen City by Isabelle Steiger
.
The Risen City is the third and final book in the Paths of Lantistyne series. It continues the story of multiple characters who live on the continent of Lantistyne, most of whom are working to keep Imperator Elgar from succeeding in his plans to conquer the whole continent.
.
This was an excellent conclusion to the series and I’m very glad that I read it.
It’s hard to review the last book in a series without spoiling anything, but I’ll give it a try.
As with most stories of the fantasy genre, there are many characters. The author does a great job with helping to remind you who everyone is and where they are at in their part of the story in the beginning of Risen City. I had no trouble keeping everyone straight.
I enjoyed all of the history in this world. Learning about the previous kingdoms and rulers was very interesting and I was enthralled.
I really loved Arianrod’s character and was sooooo happy with her storyline in this book, no spoilers but I was stressed for a bit. 😅
I think if I could change anything it would be more of Roger, I really liked his charcter, he was too cool. I told myself that one of my hopes for the end of the story was for Roger and another character to meet and be fascinated with each and then be penpals. I was quite pleased with the end.
.
4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Excellent series, great characters, this series has fantastic reread potential.
Profile Image for Angela.
3,171 reviews12 followers
February 8, 2023
4.5/5. Usually bad weather that closes things down either motivates me to read or I just roll over and wait for things to clear up. After getting a few chapters in last night I was hoping things would be shut down and I'd be to binge read. I got my wish and managed to finish this a couple minutes ago. I was expecting a lot of deaths to happen with this book but there were surprisingly few. And that's not a bad thing. We've been bombarded by the darker grim fantasy books where almost everyone dies so this is a nice change. The big reveals I didn't see coming and tied into even little things that happened way back at the start in the first book and made me go "Oooh so that's why" and I loved that. It shows that the author remembers what they've written and either planned ahead remarkably well or things were there that could get wrapped up nicely. I like to think its the former but either way writing magic happened. There's more lore and history given in this book and I like how its happened in every book but never in a overwhelming way, things become necessary to explain for the sake of other characters and we the readers get taken along for the ride. I'm sad that the story is all done but hope that this isn't the end for this world as it sounded like there were other countries out there that could be interesting to explore. For now though this is the end I would 100% recommend the trilogy to slow burn political fantasy fans.
Profile Image for Jessica Reads It.
573 reviews43 followers
February 26, 2024
What a bittersweet ending!

I think it's safe to say you must read the first two books in this trilogy to fully appreciate the sheer brilliance of Steiger.

Once again, we return toLantistyne which is fraught with new betrayals and political espionage. Steiger continues to excel at writing flawless characters who are so tightly interwoven at this point they can only be called "Found family." The multiple POV is brilliant as each character maintains their unique identity but not in a way that's overwhelming to the reader. Steiger gives each facet of the realm a voice which is rare in fantasy but absolutely welcomed. To see how far some of my favorite characters have come from the beginning to now warms my heart.

This is the type of series that never really leaves readers and will have you revisiting them years after they've been tucked away on your bookshelves.

The many themes of war, politics, and the desperation of survival make for an intriguing ending.

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for my honest review. You can follow me on IG @JessicaReadsIt.












Thank you to the author and NetGalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for my honest review. You can follow me on IG @JessicaReadsIt.
Profile Image for Olivia.
3,764 reviews99 followers
December 14, 2022
THE RISEN CITY is a riveting and satisfying conclusion to an epic fantasy series. Rebellions and wars are brewing among the characters readers have gotten to know in the previous books in the trilogy. The story starts with a bang, bringing readers right back into the story and the action.

This series contains compelling characters and complex world-building, and this final installment is no different. Readers become easily attached to the people who appear in the story. With many characters, there is a lot to pull readers in as the book explores themes around power, politics, and war. The beginning of the book includes a list of characters, which is particularly helpful for readers who read the previous books as they came out, as a quick way to remember who is who. Readers will each have their favorites, and this final book brings their stories to a head.

With detailed world-building and consuming characters, THE RISEN CITY is a thrilling and fantastic conclusion to a compelling series. Highly recommend reading these epic fantasies!

Please note that I received an ARC. All opinions are my own.
Profile Image for Bree Pye.
578 reviews13 followers
October 14, 2024
This was a really enjoyable ending to a series. I am almost never satisfied with saying goodbye to beloved characters and places, but I feel we haven't read the last of these. One thing I particularly loved, was the fluidity of relationships with zero mention of taboo and the depth in which each was portrayed. Mad props to Steiger for her handling!

I also loved that l, for once, a fantasy series wasn't a build up to one big final battle. Instead it was a culmination of many small ones, as most battles are. The thread of each of these characters' stories ran to compliment each other and did so with a light hand in blood and gore while still keeping the story strong and interesting. I'll definitely be reading anything Steiger writes in the future, with much anticipation.

And a final note, BRAVO for an entire series without a single instance of or even allusion to sexual violence! Five stars for managing that alone!
50 reviews1 follower
November 11, 2022
This was a fantastic conclusion to a wonderful trilogy! I really enjoyed all the subplots and getting to reacquaint myself with all the different characters.

Character development was fairly strong, Isabelle Steiger does a wonderful job ensuring that the characters each have a distinct personality and motivation. My one criticism is that there are so many characters it really was hard to keep track of who was where and doing what. There was a character list and summary at the beginning of the book, and I was grateful to have that reference.

The world building is wonderful - descriptions and each country's history keep the reader in the world

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for this ARC in return for an honest review.
Profile Image for Cass (the_midwest_library) .
639 reviews45 followers
April 9, 2023
What can I say about this series, I loved it. Books 2 and 3 were spectacular and really just my brand of fantasy. These are character driven stories with a ton of political intrigue and really smart writing.

The ending of the trilogy was satisfying, the stakes felt high and I didn't feel like the author held back from providing our characters real consequences for their actions.

I truly adored this series and I would love more set in this world someday, I think this trilogy and world has set the foundation for other books that could explore new places and new characters (as well as old) and I would eat it up.

I'm glad I took a chance on this series and I'm only sorry I left it on my shelf for so long before reading!
Profile Image for Amarinske.
639 reviews14 followers
April 28, 2023
This was an amazing conclusion to the series. It kept me intrigued all the way through and I really like that the battles were such a small part of it. We saw more of the characters and the planning as well as the non-violent parts of the plans than we saw mass-scale battles.
There were some one on ones and fights with small groups but even those didn't take up much page space.
The character dynamics are great as is the fact that basically every character is morally grey. Some of them more than others.

This might be my favorite installment in the series

And I like that it seems to be setting up for .
Profile Image for ashe louise | la sorcière de fleur.
120 reviews3 followers
December 20, 2022
Overall I enjoyed the story, it was interesting and ambitious. I read the series fairly quickly but I actually think this would be great for when you want to really linger over a book. It is such a big world and there are so many characters that it lends itself well to being read over a longer bit of time rather than devoured quickly.

Seren was by far my favorite out of the MCs and I feel like she was the most developed character out of all of them. The struggles with the voice/tone of the writing being a bit inconsistent in the first book are definitely fully resolved by this one and it feels much more cohesive now. For all the buildup though, I felt like the conclusion was a little…underwhelming. It was ok, I felt like everything was explained and everyone’s individual arcs were wrapped up. it just wasn’t quite as satisfying as I would have liked. But overall, I did enjoy it and I would be interested in future books by the author.
Profile Image for Rebecca Westveer.
Author 1 book
June 28, 2025
To pull so many storylines, so many characters, together into one cohesive goal and narrative is admirable, and by the end of this trilogy, Isabelle had done it without losing sight of any single character's personality, personal goals, or arcs. An incredible and epic ending to this trilogy, with magic that felt real, tangible, and limited, and ways to overcome magic that were just as tested and reasonable, with payoffs for every quest and every goal.

It isn't often I give 5 stars, but the epic that Isabelle crafted in this world deserves it.
Profile Image for Permanently_Booked.
1,119 reviews61 followers
December 28, 2022
The Risen City by Isabelle Steiger takes the proverbial cake for me. Paths of Lantistyne is a sweeping epic fantasy trilogy that has sadly drawn to it conclusion. But ohhhh was it utterly satisfying.

I appreciated how Steiger sets the stage at the beginning of each book with settings and the characters. Having such an intricately woven cast of characters can make it difficult to recall where each one left off. Steiger effortlessly brings you back into each subplot and character happening.

I'm not one for politics in my books but this is so well done that even I was riveted for the next move. Its seriously one of the most well rounded trilogies I've read on a long time. It's chonky too!

Like I mentioned with the previos two,
this is told from multiple POVs from rulers to common folk. The world building is excellent and easy to follow and not once did I feel this dragged. These will soon be gracing my shelves for future rereads!

Thank you St Martins Press for the gifted digital copies! You've given me a new author to call a favorite! True rating 4.5/5.
Profile Image for Joy Whiteside.
4,895 reviews114 followers
December 18, 2022
I really enjoyed this book, from the moment that I started reading I knew that I was in for something special. It moves along at a pace that is perfect for the flow of this story. The characters are amazing and you feel as though you have known them forever and you want to be there for them, no matter what happens. This book is a must read that needs to be on your TBR list, no doubt about it.
Profile Image for Jesse Claflin.
568 reviews
December 12, 2023
4.5 stars rounded up to 5 because this was an enjoyable fantasy read— and bonus there were some queer characters. I was nervous going into this book because I read the first two in 2020 and wasn’t sure how much I remembered. But the story was easy enough to pick back up and it’s a truly epic fantasy series. I love that it spans POVs of royals and thieves and meshes them wonderfully.
Profile Image for Lovely Loveday.
2,887 reviews
Read
December 22, 2022
The Paths of Lantistyne trilogy by Isabelle Steiger is a fantastic series that ends with a solid conclusion. Steiger does a great job tying up loose ends and giving the reader a satisfying ending. I would definitely recommend this series to anyone looking for a well-written fantasy adventure.
67 reviews
March 17, 2023
Great trilogy with memorable and relatable characters. I'm excited to see what this author comes up with next!
Profile Image for Hn.
40 reviews
November 12, 2023
Perfect ending to a wonderful series. I’ll miss all the characters a lot. Arianrod is a badass I love her so much 😭 I hope Isabelle will write more books, I’ll definitely read them.
Profile Image for Bookish Selkie.
797 reviews54 followers
December 23, 2022
The Risen City returns to Lantistyne amidst numerous challenging political battles. I appreciated the character guide to refresh my memory at the beginning of this book. You absolutely should read the first two books before picking up The Risen City. While I usually give a bit of a recap at the beginning of my reviews, I would recommend reading the official synopsis for a refresher.

The Risen City is a delightful high fantasy read. There is a truly impressive ensemble cast in this book, as characters from every level in the nation are incorporated into the story. At times this was difficult to follow, as there were so many people to keep track of efficiently. The characters have come so far from book one and Steiger’s writing has grown as well. From the royals, the thieves, the guards, the exiles, the betrayed etc, readers will not struggle to find at least one character who they are interested in seeing through to the finale. There is subtle queer rep, though romance is not a focus in these books; which I honestly think makes sense. It would be too much to include into an already action-packed book!

While there is still a good amount of telling not showing, Steiger navigates extremely tricky political situations and battles with ease. Her characters tend to be filled with honor, strict morals, and fighting for a cause that they are willing to risk it all for. This create compelling characters, sky-high stakes and tense politics. The Risen City is the perfect book for readers who seek complex writing that challenges them to unravel chaotic politics. I would recommend it for fans of Game of Thrones and Jenn Lyons.

Thank you so much to Isabelle Steiger, St. Martin’s Press, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Profile Image for Monique Euqinom.
98 reviews1 follower
January 2, 2025
Really hard to rate this one. The pacing has improved over the trilogy. The characters are still incredible and the storytelling remains well edited and mature. I'm reading a hard copy and having trouble putting it down. I look forward to her next. Brava.

NB. I just read the acknowledgement and I love it even more knowing she used a homemade computer "planned obsolescence be damned" indeed!
Profile Image for Karis!!.
161 reviews14 followers
February 26, 2024
Update: I got an ARC!! I'm not ready for the finale 😭😭
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.