Beware,…
I must admit that I got to know the series about the Great Coats by accident. Oh, I took the first volume of her, Traitor’s Blade , for review , and it started. I will not say that these books captivated me with their linguistic layer or some great and surprising plot. Oh no, nothing like that. The Great Coats bought me primarily with extremely colorful and extraordinary heroes and a kind of mixing of old cliches under the sign of Mantle and Epee with new, purely fantastic. In other words, they are the Three Musketeers of the 21st century. And there is a lot of reason in this, because Falcio, Kest and Brasti have many features of Athos, Portos, Aramis and d’Artagnan. As I love Dumas’ novels (I didn’t get through the Viscount de Bragelonne), it is not surprising that I liked this series very much, and I waited for its finale like a kite rain.
… are coming …
Tyrant’s Throne is a book slightly different than the others in this series. You can see that the author realized that continuing to charge epicness could end in a disaster. So he chose something completely different. He poured hectoliters of pathos into the novel. There is probably no page where someone does not swear, performs heroic deeds and does not make pathetic issues. It should be irritating, but these are Greatcoats and such a procedure was really needed here. De Castell also bet on something that hardly anyone can think of. He used one of the side storylines for an almost amazing plot twist. What he served us in the other volumes took on a new meaning and neatly closed a seemingly insignificant, but still important thread, and at the same time created the foundations for the completion of all the others. Tyrant’s thronethe perfect crowning of the series. He gives us answers to many questions, such as the most important: How the hell did Falcio defeat Kest in the duel for the title of First Cantor? It does not leave any understatements or cut threads, which is a rarity for multi-volume series. De Castell squeezed the maximum out of history. He did not waste a page in the space of four volumes, and it is only at the end of the last paragraph that we can confidently say that. The Greatcoats may not be some outstanding literature, but it can lure you for long hours and make you laugh, happy and sad. More than once, I stopped reading when I had a sense of what was going to happen, more than once I read fragments several times to remember them even better or to pick up additional flavors. I really deserve a great deal of appreciation for that.
… Great Coats!
I described my feelings, but I did not touch on the plot issues and I will not mention them. It doesn’t make much sense considering I’d have to spoil the other three volumes and I won’t. I can only focus on the author’s workshop.
As I have already mentioned, both the linguistic sphere and the plot are not separate masterpieces, however, combined with incredibly created characters, they create a timeless story. All this is due to the author’s phenomenal ability to describe both the background of the events and the psychological dilemmas of the main characters. De Castell skilfully depicts the complexity of the relationship between the heroes, the impact that the hardships of their journeys have on them and the dilemmas they face each day. It was this approach to writing that won him my sympathy and love for his characters.
All in all, Tyrant’s Throne is the perfect ending to the entire saga. De Castell fired several bombs, none of which turned out to be unexploded. Each, however, increased the hunger for “one more side”. I recommend with all my heart.
