A perfectly acceptable conclusion to this trilogy, but I found this one supremely less enjoyable than the other two. The plot wrapped up in interesting ways, and I loved seeing how the Givan society created itself and progressed. But I found the reading of this book more tedious and sometimes felt like a chore, rather than an enjoyable romp. Starting several years after the 2nd book was a fascinating choice. Dear reader, we’ve been in a war for 8 years (surprise!) and here’s where things stand. I was totally hooked. But the execution left me wanting. Partly it was the varied narrative view points and where characters stand now. Everyone is, understandably, older and more tired and more world-weary. But reading beaten down internal narrative after beaten down internal narrative just felt plodding and not enjoyable. I missed the zip and sass of these characters in their younger selves. The places the plot takes us felt interesting and believable within the world created. But they weren’t fun. And also, somehow all the scriving rules and inventions in this book…they felt tedious to read about and long complicated sentences describing kind of boring things. Whereas I’d really enjoyed the novel approach and world-building discussing scriving (this world’s version of Magic) in the previous two books. But this felt like way more technical sci fi (the kinds of books I do not enjoy. I don’t want to read endless paragraphs describing how a robot works). It felt CLUNKY!! Overly complicated and tedious. And because the character’s narrative states are so world-weary and sad and beaten down, I wasn’t emotionally connecting. So plot points that were supposed to have Big Emotional Weight to them were just things to read past on my way to finishing the book. It’s much of the same ingredients as the first two books, but this version was a slow bummer. Not sure if it’s actually longer than the others, but it felt So Much Longer! Finished it because I felt committed after x number of pages, but if this had been a first book, I’d have abandoned it. And it was an interesting plot idea and some cool character reveals. But I just was waiting for it to be over.