Thronebound

The Last King, Book 3

By: David Estes, G. D. Penman

Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds

Artemio Volpe has been crowned king of Espher, restoring his ancient line to power—and inheriting the worst crisis the kingdom has ever faced.

The Arazi Dragon Lords descend from the north. With flame and blade, they will purge all in their path to see the shadebound witch Orsina destroyed and their prophecies fulfilled. From the south march all the armies of the God-Emperor of Agrant, legions of soldiers backed by the unfathomable power of the living god himself.

Between them, at the point where hammer and anvil will meet, stands Artemio, his twin sister, an exiled Arazi prince, and a peasant girl with all the world's dead at her command.

Long live the king.

©2023 G. D. Penman & David Estes (P)2023 Podium Audio

Harmony ruined it

The voice actor is why I started and continued the series. interesting and unusual uses of magic. Use of politics was ok but leaves much to be desired. The character Harmony ruins the series. Her actions are almost always contrary to her back story and is generally insufferable. She and her antics only grow in annoyance over time.

I am not sure how to feel about this one… just sad.

Where to start… I really love the series. The first two books were great. Loved the characters. This third book was a bit disappointing to me. I feel like I missed something along the way somewhere. Who was the hero in the book? All the good things that I liked about the characters were taken away in this book. The climax and ending were lacking. I’m just sad I guess. Though, I will still go back and relisten because I am hoping to catch the purpose where I must have missed it. How can you go from such a good story to such a lacking story so quickly. Anyway, love the narrator and love the author David Estes. Great writer and huge fan of his work.

Good Book 3.

Overall, I like to book three better than book two. I had the same satisfaction from it as from book one, just about. I thought the ending was pretty predictable somewhat far out from the ending actually happening. I'll have to say that some of the characters had full story arcs across the three books. where I kind of liked Art in the beginning, I certainly hated him as a character by the end of the trilogy. I will say the ending fit, but it was not what I wanted as a reader. I don't really want to get spoilers, so I'll leave it at that. The trilogy is worth a read through. I did not regret my purchases.

Falls down hard with the third book

First two books were decent. Third book was rather bizarre, trying to decide between a fantasy novel and some kind of "All people with power are bad" populistscreed or something, honestly I couldn't figure out what the intent really was. The one character continues to be probably the most irrationally stupid conceived by an author to be sure (you know who she is if you've read) but takes it to new heights in this volume. I was really let down after the buildup with the first two books as the shift in tone to some kind of commentary on social hierarchy rather than following a storyline was disappointing..

The ending, I just... I don't know how to feel about it.

The entire series has felt like a character REGRESSION, as opposed to progression. Throughout, we begin to see as all their flaws compound and build to a point where by the end, I understand why it happened, but... damn, I feel just kind of hollow.