The Tomb of Dragons

The Tomb of Dragons by Katherine Addison.

There's a point at which humility ceases to be a virtue

A satisfying end to Thara's saga, assuming it continues to be that. The stakes are raised yet again, this time resulting in the animosity of a Shell-level corporation and providing an even scarier dead thing for Thara to send off into the ether. All the characters we've come to know and love (or be annoyed by) make appearances in addition to a dashing goblin principate guard, a bumbling prelate and the kafka-esque bureaucracy of the Catacombs Guild.

It's essentially the same vibe as the preceding books but with considerably higher stakes, to the point where the resolution feels quite a bit too neat. The initial solution seems a reasonable enough compromise but it sure is helpful the big bads also happened to be fans of treason in addition to genocide, giving the emperor an excuse to take all their shit a few pages later. Celehar's quite competence was as entertaining as it was previously, but I'm glad the series is (hopefully) ending here as I get the impression the author's a little more comfortable with personal stories. Even The Goblin Emperor was mostly about Maia's internal struggles and relationships with those around him, more than the business of running an empire.

Worth a read if you enjoyed the rest of the series, but doesn't break the mould.