REVIEW: Tyrant’s Throne by Sebastien de Castell
Tyrant’s Throne—Sebastien de Castell’s finale in the Greatcoats Quartet—is a bittersweet ending that lands the plane and serves as a triumphant capstone of an incredible series. Witty, epic, rapidly paced, dark, and with the highest stakes that de Castell has given, Tyrant’s Trone sees Falcio off with an ending that delights.
“Any man who uses the words ‘politics’ and ‘trust’ in the same sentence has disqualified himself from talking about either.”
No one in the world makes me smile quite like Sebastien de Castell. His pacing is set so that you fly through the pages, his banter is laugh out loud funny, and his characters—despite facing immense odds in a dark world—have so much heart and grit that you can’t help but root for them.Tyrant’s Throne feels like all of those skills have been sharpened to a knife point and paint de Castell at the height of his powers.
Before digging into the contents of Tyrant’s Throne, I wanted to give a special shout out to the antagonist of the book. He’s so fresh and feels alive. I was looking over my shoulder as I wrote this review, expecting him to be in my shadow. While de Castell has always had exceptionally good character work, the antagonist of this one may be his best, most nuanced character to date.
Now, the journey of Tyrant’s Throne is classic de Castell. Twists, intelligent characters, two-to-three page chapters, and an avalanche of fun. There’s also some themes of depression and self hate, which, if you know Falcio, is also classic de Castell. The Greatcoats has gotten better with each book, and Tyrant’s Throne is a well done finale. If you’re reading this review because you found the first three decent-to-good, I highly recommend finishing the series.
Every de Castell book I’ve picked up ended up being read in under 48 hours, and Tyrant’s Throne was no different. He’s an absolute master at lacing humor into his dialogue and prose, as well as pacing the book to keeping readers invested. A personal inspiration to me as an author, he once again displays mastery of the quill, wit, and imagination.
“If they like stories about seven fearless warriors facing a thousand enemies, maybe they’ll appreciate one suicidal idiot running at them while screaming like a maniac.”
With the good parts handled, I did have one nagging issue: the climax. Of all four books, Tyrant’s Throne does have the weakest climax, which is a shame, considering it’s the finale. A lot of the cloying issues that you’d see in something like Dragon Age: Inquisition are on display for the last bit. The epilogue is rather nice and serves excellently as a good-bye to Falcio and his friends, but still, the after-taste of the climax is present.
Overall, Tyrant’s Throne sticks the landing to standing applause. Sebastien de Castell confirmed that The Greatcoats is always going to be one of the best, and most fun, fantasy series published this century.
Read Tyrant’s Throne by Sebastien de Castell
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