As always with the review of the final book of a series, the burning question is: does the book stick the landing? Is the journey worth it? Happy to say that for the Final Architecture the answer is a resounding “Yes!”
Most people here have read books 1 and 2, so I’m going to assume you know the premise of the series and aren’t really looking for the sell.
I found the first half of the book rather slow, to be honest. It was mostly focused on squabbles among the assorted human and human-adjacent factions. There wasn’t anything wrong with it; it just wasn’t what I wanted. Yes yes, the nobles from Magda are bastards, there are competing factions within the Hugh, let’s just get on with the Architects, please.
Which we do, for the second half of the book, and I had a great deal of trouble putting the book down.
So there are two big challenges in any story dealing with eldritch horrors from beyond space and time. One is the problem of explaining the unexplainable. A balance has to be struck between providing enough explanation for the readers to be satisfied but leaving enough unknown to preserve the mystery. The other is providing a way for our relatively mundane protagonists to fight back without straining credulity. Happy to report that Tchaikovsky manages to pull off both. There’s a good ending for the story, and the characters get endings that all feel well-earned.
All in all, another good one from one of my favorite authors.
Comes out May 2.
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