u/Successful_Try7012

5/5 ⭐️

I thought I could do anything. And maybe I could have, but I tried to do everything, and that isn't the same.

I’m in absolute awe of this whole series but especially of this book. This is not your usual fantasy, it’s full of original ideas and very well thought out execution. It is as character driven as plot; one not compromised for the other. I want to write a proper review but I’m still shaking from that conclusion.

&gt;!for some reason, not the deaths. Not the Price. Not the breaking of relationships. But the destruction of that last library and Otah making up stories to read to his sick son because he didn’t have books anymore hit me the worst. It reminded me of the Library of Alexandria and I’m just sitting here in heartbreak over those books.!<

I really don’t know how to describe it in a way to give it justice but it’s one of the most underrated gem I’ve read and I would like more people to read it. Every single decision these characters make has a price to pay. Even the first chapter of the first book had consequences and pay offs here. This story doesn’t feel very fantasy, it doesn’t feel like happening in a far off place. These characters feel very very real, their motivations understandable, their fears valid.

Otah has grown so much from that first book but at his core he is true to himself. Maati’s story hurts me and at the same time I still understand why everything that has to happen, happens. Kiyan and Liat shine in this book (I really didn’t like Liat’s character in book 1), the children a reflection of their parents’ decisions. This book has one of the best antagonist (is he even an antagonist) I’ve read in a while. Balasar Gice does what he thinks is right and most of the time it IS right. He’s such a breath of fresh air. The one character I never thought I’d love as much as I did was Sinjas’. His and Balasar’s moments were some of my absolute favourite of this book.

"For her sake, sir, I'd betray the gods."

I would also like to appreciate just how beautifully and full Of details Daniel had chiseled this world. As someone living in a place with harsh winters, Machi was straight put of a fairytale. With it’s high towers rising above the clouds, it’s carnival filled streets, it’s maze of tunnels and underground city, the bathhouses, the river that freezes enough in winter that an entire army could pass through, it’s bird songs, mines and so much more. I felt like I was living there with all these characters and it was a lovely time.

After binging the first three books in 2 weeks, I think I’d now like to pause and give this book the breathing and contemplating space it deserves before starting the last one. But it really has been a great journey.

Bingo Squares:

vacation spot (definitely Machi), older protagonist, non human protagonist (the andats: stonemade-soft was definitely my favourite), muder mystery(book 2), political and court intrigue

I was making my way through Chris Carter’s Robert Hunter series but I’m finding Carlos Garcia’s character a little naive and dull in the starting books.
Most of the books with partners usually make the other a side kick. Are there any good thrillers or mysteries where the partners are both competent (each in their own way I guess) and one is not merely a sidekick of the other?

Every once in a couple of years, usually when I'm struggling with reading, finding it hard to complete books, getting frustrated because of my slump, there comes a book that reminds me just why I love reading so much and why reading is a big part of who I am. The Lions of Al-Rassan was one of those books.

I started the audiobook, ordered the physical copy after that first chapter and knew, immediately knew this was going to be an experience like no other.

For me to truly enjoy a book, it requires at least one of these things, 1) characters that I can love even when they are doing something as mundane as drinking chocolate and 2) prose. Prose that flows like it's poetry but doesn't feel just a combination of pretty words.

The Lions nailed both of those things. From the first chapter itself, I took an instant liking to Jahane, being a doctor myself with a doctor father, I was able to immediately relate with her and her cause. Ammar's charm bled from the starting chapters and his character just continued to grow throughout the pages, surprising me at times. Rodrigo was that constant star in this story (the sun maybe) whose set list of morales and actions were banks against which the other characters measured their worths. Alvar and Husari provided a much needed POV of people other than the commanders and courtiers affected by events as big as these. Every single POV was there for a reason. Nothing was just for increasing the length of the book. Prime examples, we get the king and the queen's relationship which was used to drive the motivations further down the road, King Badir and Muzer's story and motivations met their end however devastating, the governor of Fezana was the link for that one important chapter, Ishak's backstort not just for the sake of a tragedy long past, etc. Everything was put there for a reason and I love GGK for it.

You touched people’s lives, glancingly, and those lives changed forever. That was a hard thing to deal with sometimes.

Even when the fantasy aspect of this book which was flimsiest at best, the real magic of this book was in it's prose. Like I said, lyrical writting without it being pretentious. Conversations, philosophies and theologies traded in a voice stitched for that character and time. Atmosphere built to maximise the effects of certain mundane moments. Poems used to convey feelings sentences couldn't. The symbols used to convey meanings deeper than anything else ever could. Just beautiful. I kept rereading paragraphs and conversation while reading the book, cherishing some moments before moving to the next and that's something that rarely happens. Usually I just want to get to the next page and then the next.

Don’t you understand? Rodrigo, you of all men must surely understand.” They heard his small, known, self-mocking laugh. “I’m the man who killed the last khalif of Al-Rassan.”

(I still don't think I'm understanding the meaning of this right. I'm sure there are many things in the book that I'm not getting but I really want to know if I understood this statement properly. So if you could plz share your thoughts on it)

The relationship between the characters? Between Jahane and Rodrigo, between Jahane and Ammar and the center of all, between Ammar and Rodrigo had me in it's clutches. These two men, who from that first day in King Badir's court knew their destiny was tangled with each other. The way they respected each other, learnt from each other and overall understood what drives their actions. There's a sense of loneliness, especially in Ammar before he was understood by Rodrigo. And Rodrigo for his part, >!upon being asked by his dearly loved and terrific wife upon whether he was in love with Ammar answers with a thoughtful, "I think I was, in a way."!<

The small moments shared between them made the ending that much bitter. You see it happening, maybe from the start itself. You see the whole book is built around the end. But you still dread it. You are still provided with options. Very plausible options and paths that could have been chosen to a very different end. And that's the grief of it all. There were better options but because the characters were what they were, they couldn't take those. That epilogue would definitely stay with me for a very long time. I teared up for a lot of reasons throughout the book >!but that end poem and the lament of not only losing a dear friend but his whole history truly hit the right places!<

There are books you read, love, give five stars, even gush about them in reviews like this and move on to the next best thing. Then there are books like this that breaks you, makes you open the author's backlist and piece you together from the sheer praise and enorminity of it. I feel like me and GGK are going to have a very long run.

What are some of your thoughts on this book? And which GGK book is your favorite?

Bingo Square: Politics and Court Intrigue

Currently reading The Lions of Al-Rassan and am utterly in complete awe of everything about this book. The prose, the world but above all else, the characters. They are the heart of this story. All of them.

Are there any other books with competent men who are on the opposite side of a conflict. Where nothing is black or white. Really loving Ammar and Rodrigo’s dynamics here.

in a really bad slump. Havent been able to complete a book in quite a while. So can you let me know some fast paced books, the ones that don’t go through the first-book-is-just-world-building and go right into the chaos and still be interesting? Bonus if the chapters are short.