[Cause]

I have literally just turned the last page this very moment. What a dissapointment to a series which I found to be so entertaining until now. It felt rushed things dangling out their for ages are suddenly wrapped up in a line. Mother uun is only shown to be a traitor on the last page by stephen seeing it in his histories. Stephen the black jester? No foreshadowing, no slow build up. One minute hes a nice guy the next the black jester who tortured and killed people for centuries of his immortal life? WTF.

Ane the great hero the one we were waiting on to save the world? Turns out shes the worst thing to ever happen to it. The entire series is turned on its end again with no apparent warning. The final climax, shes defeated by love for her maid austra. And while Im willing to admit that ane was shown to be selfish in previous books, the characters in this last suddenly turn her childish self centred view into full blown narcism in some kind of bad retcon.

The faiths, the were wrong. Died early on off screen. An those real questions remain unanswered. Origins reasons function of the sedoi, xanth and vren.

[Mentalist]

yep, it WAS definitely rushed

I liked most of it, though. Keys really went "dark" in it again after "the Blood Knight"

The faceoffs COULD have used a lot more work though

Stephen was NOT the Black Jester per se, just a possibility of one.

I really liked the Leovigild's story arc, though--probably the best one in the series.

[Cause]

Stepehen was the black jester. Couron and stephen are one and the same. Its a bit sketchy at best but in the world of the sedos time does not seem so solid. Its implied that the black jester is made from a combination of his past his present his future. The promise of what he could be with what he is. Anne was the same. Her arilic was her future, what she eventually became. Its said how when she was dead she felt rage and joined with her past and future selves in making the path she walked to that end. She was herself, the arilic and virgenya dare.

It was dark in that yes people died. Lots of people died. Yet Z'accato whose death I found most moving was so poorly done. My only emotional investment in his life was all from past books not this one. Also to continue my rant. Anne kills 50 000 men. Who cares it was so anti climatic this momentous utterly ridiculous display if power happens in a paragraph. Where he really had a chance to make the novel dark he shied away from it. Cazzio alive despite hinting he was dying. The excact same for merry.

I found the composers story arc to be one of my best as well. His part in book two was fantastic. Yet in book three his arc like the whole boook I felt just fell flat. He just picked up how to write his song. The hellrune and mary both just happen to suddenly be excactly what he needs. Someone who can hear the dead, somone whom the dead may hear.

I liked the story and read through it quickly but Im vastly dissapointed. Compared to his previous three books this one fell very short, the book which should have been the best!

[Mentalist]

well, Tbh, when I first finished "Blood Knight" and I heard that he was gonna wrap everything up in a single book, I had a hard time beliving it--and, unfortunately, it seems I was right to fear that. He just seemed to be in a hurry to tie up ALL the loose ends--and the actual intricate story got trampled in the process..