Thronebound

The Last King, Book 3

By: David Estes, G. D. Penman

Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds

Length: 14 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

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.

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..

Great performance of an OK finish

I really enjoyed the previous books from this series. I was very much looking forward to this book. Tim Gerard Reynolds does an amazing job as always and adds a lot of gravitas to everything happening. Unfortunately, the story really seemed to need it. It felt like most of the character interactions were completely irrational screaming sessions; everyone is just constantly talking past each other. You could tell that the author wanted everything to end, but it felt accomplished by first destroying everything we thought we knew about the way the characters previously behaved. Some of the changes are earned, but others seemed crazy. Harmony, in particular, spent most of the book having childish tantrums. Her brother has turned into a complete sociopath and had just lost any semblance of good that might have been there. Maybe I just missed a lot, but something felt off.

If you love arguments where neither person can effectively articulate their position and are willing to completely abandon previous feelings of love and respect in order to callously gaslight each other, this book is for you!

Was Artemio the "pro"tagonist all along?

*Some indirect spoilers*



A bleak finish

Characters: Kagan stayed the best of them. Orsinia's outcome seemed inevitable. Harmony was more out of control. No one improved. The most twisted was the closest to an effective hero, preventing the end of the world.

Writing: The writing was still far above average, but there were more plot "divots" in this book than in the first two. The characters made worse decisions, and the rationales provided were shallower.

Story: In the end, the story belongs to the author(s). They obviously wanted it to end this way. However, it feels a little disingenuous to so completely change the tone of the series with the final book. Unexpected hope turned to inevitable despair. The type of people that would love the darkness of this third book would have probably been annoyed by the hopeful trends of the first two books.
I really think the authors enjoyed manipulating our expectations through playing with the characters' expectations, like they were trying to write a thriller filled with plot twists.

Performance: Tim Gerard Reynolds' performance is, as always, a masterpiece.

Summary: I'm left feeling unsatisfied, and a little betrayed by the apparent manipulation

hard to get through

The reader is great and saves the day. I could listen to him reading a dictionary. The story leaves much to be desired. None of the characters are likeable. it's very hard when you find yourself rooting for no one.