This review includes spoilers for this book, so please skip this review for now if you'd rather read the book first
I had to immediately read this third installment in this trilogy - I needed closure! And I certainly got it - moreso than the second book. I believe we saw what happened to all of the main characters from Sea of Poppies. The setups in River of Smoke mostly paid off as well. We see up close the horrible cost of war on the humans who are caught up in it, willingly or not. I loved getting to know Deeti's brother, although I missed Deeti. I also would have loved to see a certain horrible person get their comeuppance, although I suppose it's more realistic that that didn't happen, and to learn what happened to Kabutri.
I will say that the plot around Zachary puzzled me greatly. I could not easily or readily connect his behavior in this book with his behavior in the first book - it seemed like such a character change. But thinking it over, maybe not? And also, when we have access to Baboo Nob Kissin's thoughts, it makes it more clear that Zachary is now the embodiment of the greed of this era, of the willingness to cause whatever harm is necessary to make money at the end of it all. Sadly, it seems like this era of evil greed is ongoing. Will it ever end?
This line caught me entirely off guard and brought tears to my eyes and I had to pause my reading for some minutes to process it: "'Raj Rattan, sir,' he said in a clear voice."
All in all I am immensely happy that I stumbled on that copy of Sea of Poppies on the Library Sales shelves all those years ago. While I did love seeing the story play out across three books, that first book will always be one of my very favorite books of all time and I will never stop recommending it.
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