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A review by yevolem
Crown of Shadows by C.S. Friedman
4.0
Around a year has passed since the events of the previous book because returning from the continent that no one returns from was much more difficult than getting there. The size of the planet is unclear, but six months to get there and ten to get back must involve considerable distances. It's good thing their travel time is skipped over between books because otherwise the majority of the time from the beginning of the first book to the end of the third book would be them at sea.
The enemy this time is what they consider to be an extremely powerful demon that they have no idea how they're going to beat. He's the guy behind the big bad of the second book who was the boss of the antagonists of the first book. Is there someone above this demon? It's as likely as you'd think. There's also a literally Unnamed manifestation of the all evil ever committed by humanity, which normally would seem like it'd be a big deal, but it never really is. Anti-climatic reveals and downplaying that which seems to be powerful happens a lot in this series. I thought it was just how it was written, but maybe it's meant to be subverting expectations. If that was the intent, then well, I don't know that it's advisable to do it continuously for all three books.
For the third time it's all about journeying. This time though the first half is a spiritual journey and the second half is a physical journey for spiritual reasons. That's not all though since there are several POVs this time. There's Damien and Tarrant who want to destroy what they see as the ultimate evil, the demon. Narilka and Andrys want to destroy the ultimate evil, Tarrant. Patriarch, who forever remains unnamed, wants to destroy the ultimate evil, the fae. There are a few other one-off POVs as well.
The primary theme is that through penance one can be absolved, if not redeemed. It leans heavily into the question of whether a few great deeds can mitigate a lifetime of evil. I'm not really much for heroic self-sacrifice as I think living is preferable, but as with some other ideals, I believe its arguments are presented here well enough. I'm skeptical of whether the character development was credible enough for what happens, but I'll allow it. I'm conflicted about the late story reveals and the epilogue, which were mildly to the detriment of my enjoyment.
I don't know what Friedman was going for with this series overall. I do know that I enjoyed most of it aside from the plot though. This is the end of the trilogy, but not the end of the works in this setting. There's still a work of short fiction and a novel left. The novel was published 28 years after this one, so I'm interested to see how much has changed in how Friedman writes in this setting.
Rating: 3.5/5
The enemy this time is what they consider to be an extremely powerful demon that they have no idea how they're going to beat. He's the guy behind the big bad of the second book who was the boss of the antagonists of the first book. Is there someone above this demon? It's as likely as you'd think. There's also a literally Unnamed manifestation of the all evil ever committed by humanity, which normally would seem like it'd be a big deal, but it never really is. Anti-climatic reveals and downplaying that which seems to be powerful happens a lot in this series. I thought it was just how it was written, but maybe it's meant to be subverting expectations. If that was the intent, then well, I don't know that it's advisable to do it continuously for all three books.
For the third time it's all about journeying. This time though the first half is a spiritual journey and the second half is a physical journey for spiritual reasons. That's not all though since there are several POVs this time. There's Damien and Tarrant who want to destroy what they see as the ultimate evil, the demon. Narilka and Andrys want to destroy the ultimate evil, Tarrant. Patriarch, who forever remains unnamed, wants to destroy the ultimate evil, the fae. There are a few other one-off POVs as well.
The primary theme is that through penance one can be absolved, if not redeemed. It leans heavily into the question of whether a few great deeds can mitigate a lifetime of evil. I'm not really much for heroic self-sacrifice as I think living is preferable, but as with some other ideals, I believe its arguments are presented here well enough. I'm skeptical of whether the character development was credible enough for what happens, but I'll allow it. I'm conflicted about the late story reveals and the epilogue, which were mildly to the detriment of my enjoyment.
I don't know what Friedman was going for with this series overall. I do know that I enjoyed most of it aside from the plot though. This is the end of the trilogy, but not the end of the works in this setting. There's still a work of short fiction and a novel left. The novel was published 28 years after this one, so I'm interested to see how much has changed in how Friedman writes in this setting.
Rating: 3.5/5