Book Review: Tyrant’s Throne

Would you – could you? – uphold the law at the cost of those you love?

After years of struggle and sacrifice, Falcio val Mond, First Cantor of the Greatcoats, is on the brink of fulfilling his dead King’s dream: Aline, the King’s daughter, is about to take the throne and restore the rule of law once and for all.

But for the Greatcoats, nothing is ever that simple. In the neighbouring country of Avares, an enigmatic new warlord is uniting the barbarian armies which have long plagued Tristia’s borders – and even worse, he is rumoured to have a new ally: Trin, who’s twice tried to kill Aline to take the throne for herself. With the armies of Avares at her back, she’ll be unstoppable.

Falcio, Kest and Brasti race north to stop her, but in those cold and treacherous climes they discover something altogether different, and far more dangerous: a new player is planning to take the throne of Tristia, and the Greatcoats, for all their skill, may not be able to stop him.

As the nobles of Tristia and even the Greatcoats themselves fight over who should rule, the Warlord of Avares threatens to invade. It is going to fall to Falcio to render the one verdict he cannot bring himself to decide: does he crown the girl he vowed to put on the throne, or uphold the laws he swore to serve?

-Goodreads

Book Information

• Title: Tyrant’s Throne
• Series: The Greatcoats #4
• Author: Sebastien de Castell
• Page Count: 608
• Genre: Fantasy
• Rating: 5.0/5.0
• Date Read: July 13th, 2024

Opening Thoughts

I’m at a bit of a loss on where to begin this review. This is the final full length story of The Great Coats by Sebastien de Castell. I have fallen in love with this series and book 4 Tyrant’s Throne followed that trend. I still have the fifth book in this collection which his a collection of stories regarding The Greatcoats but the main story has come to an end with this one. It was fantastic, yet bitter sweet to see it end. This series was my entry into this author and I already know it won’t be the last readings from his works. I was also made aware fairly recently that there is another series within this world but a different focus and a different time. I’m anxious to get to the Court of Shadows in due time.

Pacing

The pacing of Tyrant’s Throne stayed fairly consistent throughout the first four books. This one might have kept me a bit more on edge simply due to knowing this story was working its way to a conclusion. I’m not sure if that is more my own view of things or if it was written with that kind of vibe. Not issue with names of characters or places this late into the series. I do want to mention that I have continued to listen to the audio versions narrated by Joe Jameson. Due to his performance with The Greatcoats he has become one of my go to narrators. I recently picked up a new listen on sale strictly because he was the narrator.

World Building

Now lets get into the meat of this book and series with the World Building aspects. As mentioned above this one just seemed to bring so much of the world together. The locations, politics and history of this world converge to give us an exciting end to a great story. All of this along with the magic and faith of the people in this world just add such a richness to enjoy. I feel that Sebastien does a great job in give us a solid mix between feel good and dark in this series. This book is not without tragedy, but at the same time he provides that feeling of hope and reason behind these moments. It’s not just dark to be dark.

Character Development

As deep as the world building has been, the character development is simply tremendous. Falcio and crew will always stick with me but so many of the supporting characters have their moments front and center as well. These have become some of my favorite characters and I will certainly miss them until I get a chance for a reread sometime in the future. That is saying a lot as there aren’t many books that I’ve ever read more than once. The fact that the author’s notes at the end mentions the fact he hoped to create a story that readers would want to return to reread was very fitting.

Roundup & Recommendation

To begin my closing comments I want to mention the few books or series that I have reread simply for pleasure and nostalgia over the years. I’m not saying this series or any one of these are master pieces to the masses but they have brought me a lot of joy over the years. The Greatcoats will be added to this list for sure. The short list is The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, Dune by Frank Herbert, The Dragonlance Chronicles by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, and most recently The Faithful and the Fallen by John Gwynne.

I really can’t recommend this series enough if you’re looking for an exciting swashbuckling epic fantasy adventure. I’m guessing if you’ve already read at least the first book in the series and enjoyed it, just keep going, this story has only begun to shine! If you haven’t dipped your toe into The Greatcoats waters yet, what are you waiting for?!

Scoring

World Building 5/5
Pacing 5/5
Character Development 5/5