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The Fall of Ile-Rien #3
The Gate of Gods
Tremaine Valiarde and a small, brave band of heroes ventured into a wondrous new realm on their desperate mission to save Ile-Rien from the conquering Gardier. Now, as a relentless enemy creates chaos and destruction -- with the fate of the magical city of Lodun hanging in the balance -- the last hope of a land besieged may rest on the far side of a secret portal. But the doorway leads to a mysterious ruin hidden behind the awesome Gate of Gods -- and to perils that dwarf anything Tremaine and her allies could have possibly imagined. . . .
496 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
178 people are currently reading
1493 people want to read
About the author
Martha Wells
109 books24.7k followersMartha Wells has been an SF/F writer since her first fantasy novel was published in 1993, and her work includes The Books of the Raksura series, the Ile-Rien series, The Murderbot Diaries series, and other fantasy novels, most recently Witch King (Tordotcom, 2023). She has also written media tie-in fiction for Star Wars, Stargate: Atlantis, and Magic: the Gathering, as well as short fiction, YA novels, and non-fiction. She has won Nebula Awards, Hugo Awards, Locus Awards, and a Dragon Award, and her work has appeared on the Philip K. Dick Award ballot, the British Science Fiction Association Award ballot, the USA Today Bestseller List, the Sunday Times Bestseller List, and the New York Times Bestseller List. She is a member of the Texas Literary Hall of Fame, and her books have been published in twenty-five languages.
She is also a consulting producer on The Murderbot Diaries series for Apple TV+.
She is also a consulting producer on The Murderbot Diaries series for Apple TV+.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 160 reviews
March 16, 2023
It was chilling, that it had taken only a generation to turn a society based on trade and exploration into a killing machine meant only for conquering.
The conclusion of the trilogy delivers everything I had hoped for: intense action, world exploration, mysteries revealed, great characterization and some moral lessons about power and responsibility. Even a bit of fun in the midst of wholesale destruction.
The series is called ‘The Fall of Ile-Rien’ because it deals with the collapse of this powerful empire, that has just gone through its industrial revolution phase, as a result of a sort of blitzkrieg launched by the mysterious Gardier.
The Gardier use sorcery to power their airships, but also to control the minds of its people, with the help of soul stealing crystals.
The Gardier used large crystals they called avatars in place of the spheres, but all were inhabited by the displaced souls of sorcerers, none of which had gone there by accident.
The Resistance against the Gardier invasion is led by a small group of scientists and navy officers, most of them aboard a huge cruising ship equipped with its own magic spells, powered by mechanical spheres inspired by Gardier technology, but without the imprisoned souls at their core.
After some successful commando operations in the first two books in the series, the band of guerillas hope to take the fight back to the Gardier’s power bases with a new spell that may allow them to control the portals for instant travel between worlds. But the Gardier may known all about their plans, thanks to an incredibly powerful spy network.
>>><<<>>><<<
This is the setting at the start of the final volume.
The main actors are known to us already, starting with Tremaine Valiarde – a suicidal woman at the start of the adventure who somehow finds herself thrown into the thick of the battle due to her three male relatives: her father Nicholas, a professional spy and assassin; her uncle Arisilde, a mad genius when it comes to spells, and the wizard Gerald who is her guardian while the other two are missing.
“... I have enough problems with trying to figure out who I am. [...] It might be nice to be the plucky little girl who is absolutely sure what’s right, who doesn’t have blood on her hands, who’s never made decisions that got people killed.”
Tremaine is largely responsible for my enjoyment in the series, a reluctant hero with a fine sense of humour, mostly directed at herself, and a quick decision maker when the situation demands it. Which happens sort of regularly all through the series, since everything that can go wrong, usually does so at the worst possible moment.
It’s a technique that feels borrowed from Lois McMaster Bujold: putting your reluctant hero through the most horrible situations in order to show off their true colors, but it works extremely well for both authors.
Tremaine is supported in her quest by fellow Rienish fighters, with Gerald and the young wizard apprentice Florian being her closest allies, and by a couple of wizard hunters from an intermediary world, Ilias and Giliead. In Cyneth there is no technology like in Ile-Rien, and neither magic crystals, like in the Gardier realm, but there are gods who make their presence felt to chosen vessels, like Giliead. There are also monumental ruins from a long gone civilization that may hold the answer to the riddle of the powerful crystals.
>>><<<>>><<<
“If you raise a daughter to be both independent and an excellent marksman, you have to accept the fact that your control over her actions is at an end.”
It would have been probably easy to write this as a classic fellowship on a quest fantasy, with plucky hobbits and their allies toppling the evil overlord, but I must give credit to Martha Wells for not going there, even when all the elements of the plot point in that particular direction. She went instead with a powerful female lead to show us that women are capable of taking their lives into their own hands, and don’t need men to control either their bodies or their minds.
Martha Wells has chosen to keep from the standard heroic fantasy the exploration part, done in underground tunnels in the first volume, on a luxury cruiser in the second, and through teleportation gates in this final volume. But she has discarded the easy heroic and the cardboard characters in favour of self awareness, soul searching and an anti-war message. With a touch of romance thrown in, because, what the hell, we’re taking the journey to have a bit of fun along the way, if possible.
“I don’t want to be a hero if this is what it means. Killing deluded men who were driven into battle like cattle.”
It’s a valuable lesson that today’s bloodthirsty chickenhawks, who urge total war from the comfort of their armchairs, should take notice of.
“His biggest rule was that you didn’t involve anyone who wasn’t already playing the game. Or, as he phrased it, if you have to kill innocent bystanders, then your planning is at fault and someone should best eliminate you.”
>>><<<>>><<<
Where do I go from here?
Until the next Murderbot story is published, I guess I must check out the one Ile-Rien book I apparently skipped: “The Death of a Necromancer”.
February 9, 2021
I'm disappointed in myself.
I started this series fully invested and rooting for Tremaine's and Ilias's success. By this point, Tremaine's and her merry band of heroes were attempting to liberate the Gardier occupied city of Londun. I wanted a suspenseful adventure full of twist and turns where they find the magic key or in this case the magical sphere or portal that would lead to the devastating defeat of the Gardier.
But by the beginning of the third book, having had read the first and second books back to back, I was fully fully disappointed. Maybe it had to do with the pointless political conspiracies, another visit to another dangerous and unnecessary parallel dimension, and an incomprehensible but OP enemy, I was getting bored and really disappointed.
That's what I get for skimming rather than reading a book.
Mind you, there were plenty of info dumping and a little too heavy handed happy coincidences to be a completely satisfactory ending but it was good.
Things I liked:
• It was gratifying that the alliance between the three parallel worlds with the Reiners, Spyrians and Capidarans people united to defeat the Gardiers.
• The WWII blitzkrieg feel of the Reiners towns and the utter desperation of Reiner people, galvanizing three seperate worlds to destroy the Gardier's fascist regime.
• I loved Ilias and Gilead's utter devotion and brotherly loyalty to one another.
• I liked that the Spyrians who were highly paranoid and superstitious but had gods and Chosen Vessels as everyday occurrences.
• Termaine and Ilias's relationship was a little weird even accounting for the differing cultures. Termaine, yes practical and a little bi-polar for my taste could have expressed her love and devotion to her husband better, but I guess actions speak louder then words in this case.
The best part was being able to read such great world-building that wasn't overwhelming and detailed.
Happy I tried again!😄
I started this series fully invested and rooting for Tremaine's and Ilias's success. By this point, Tremaine's and her merry band of heroes were attempting to liberate the Gardier occupied city of Londun. I wanted a suspenseful adventure full of twist and turns where they find the magic key or in this case the magical sphere or portal that would lead to the devastating defeat of the Gardier.
But by the beginning of the third book, having had read the first and second books back to back, I was fully fully disappointed. Maybe it had to do with the pointless political conspiracies, another visit to another dangerous and unnecessary parallel dimension, and an incomprehensible but OP enemy, I was getting bored and really disappointed.
That's what I get for skimming rather than reading a book.
Mind you, there were plenty of info dumping and a little too heavy handed happy coincidences to be a completely satisfactory ending but it was good.
Things I liked:
• It was gratifying that the alliance between the three parallel worlds with the Reiners, Spyrians and Capidarans people united to defeat the Gardiers.
• The WWII blitzkrieg feel of the Reiners towns and the utter desperation of Reiner people, galvanizing three seperate worlds to destroy the Gardier's fascist regime.
• I loved Ilias and Gilead's utter devotion and brotherly loyalty to one another.
• I liked that the Spyrians who were highly paranoid and superstitious but had gods and Chosen Vessels as everyday occurrences.
• Termaine and Ilias's relationship was a little weird even accounting for the differing cultures. Termaine, yes practical and a little bi-polar for my taste could have expressed her love and devotion to her husband better, but I guess actions speak louder then words in this case.
The best part was being able to read such great world-building that wasn't overwhelming and detailed.
Happy I tried again!😄
March 8, 2019
Best book of the trilogy, wrapped up the epic in a very tidy way, consistent with the story and characters overall and it just read as “this is exactly what should happen”. Pleased I finally gave this series a try and I think it was this book that set the tone for Martha Wells’ exceptional storytelling and character-creating style.
September 10, 2013
When you find an author like this, you want to read all their writing you can find. I loved all of "The Fall of Il-Rien". There is such an amazing blend of world building (multiple worlds in this case) and character development that I found I was unable to tear myself away from the story the further I got into each book. This third book is an amazing finish to the whole story line. I appreciated the romance included within the sci-fi/fantasy framework and am going to read "Death of the Necromancer" which came out before this trilogy. It's already sitting on my nightstand, just waiting for me to dive in!
February 12, 2009
In the first book the characters are running in panic from the evil creatures of the caves. In the third book the very same characters are debating whether the aforementioned creatures would taste nice if properly roasted. You can really feel the story has progressed.
The heroine tended to overreact and grow hysterical, mostly whenever her father was concerned. Ah, that is to say she has evolved over time from crazy in a fun way to simply unhinged, which is not a path I like my heroes to follow. The buying a husband thing was a nice touch, though and the pace was good.
The heroine tended to overreact and grow hysterical, mostly whenever her father was concerned. Ah, that is to say she has evolved over time from crazy in a fun way to simply unhinged, which is not a path I like my heroes to follow. The buying a husband thing was a nice touch, though and the pace was good.
February 22, 2018
i wish the covers were better because these books are amazing and deserve less generic fantasy ones.
December 23, 2023
This trilogy ended furiously, just nail-biting shit all the way through. Phew.
December 16, 2022
So you can see that I've rated the third book one star, after rating books 1 and 2 four stars. Let's start with the things I liked, and then spend a lot more time on why this book is going to haunt me.
I appreciate the presence of Ixion. The Gardier are massive and evil and going to destroy the world, but in many ways the more frightening evil is Ixion. A smaller and less powerful evil: he almost certainly neither could nor wishes to destroy an entire country or planet, but he can destroy a much smaller world: your world. Ixion swans in with a sob story and a charming demeanor and ruins everything that made your one human life worth living for the sake of watching you suffer. Ixion is a petty, sensitive evil that is constantly among them, one who operates without guilt and desires power and pain at any cost. He is the source of much horror and death, cruel and self-serving even beyond the grave, and is a more immediate, day to day danger than the gardier. He can strike into the heart of them because he walks among them in the shape of a man, and ignorant people keep making the mistake of trusting him because they want his power while they ignore his overt evilness.
okay that's all I liked let's get to the problems I now retroactively have with the entire narrative:
Why didn't Tremaine make a scene and pay all of her father's gold for Ilias? Her entire city immediately got destroyed, and she's been all over dimensions and planets (never anywhere money is valuable) and the gold was never mentioned again in any meaningful context. Why did we make a point of being stingy? Why did she not give a pile? Why only 3 gold coins? Was it so Nicholas could buy the house in book 3, the house we spent a whole chapter in before it too was destroyed and abandoned? Was it so she didn't disrupt the trade of humans in Ilias's culture, so that she would appear as any other person who traded in human flesh? Don't want to make these people uncomfortable about the way they sell people, after all. Why would Tremaine care about this?
I do not like playing in spaces where we pay money for one another and do not much think about it. I do not like playing in spaces where Gilead says he will help Tremaine beat Ilias for the crime of ..... having another woman apologize once to him. What are we doing here? Just because the book has been written so that Ilias apparently has absolutely no internal problems with anything that happens to him, and he's pleased to be sold to Tremaine and happily sleeps with her immediately.... I don't like this space. I do not like all of these people who are playing fast and loose with the purchasing of people. I do not like the strong implications that Tremaine can do whatever she likes with Ilias, including hurting him physically, restraining him, raping him, or imprisoning him in a house for his entire life. I don't care that the narrative made him white, blonde, and passive, or that divorce is not a social death apparently: I do not have fun here.
When Ilias asked her, why does Tremaine not reassure him that she will take another husband and marry Gilead if the god, and therefore his society, rejects Gilead? What does it matter to her? Ilias is just looking for security for his friend, because a society that buys and sells people is inherently one that is willing to throw people away if they don't have resale value. Gilead is threatened with becoming socially worthless. We have already spent time discussing this in the book. Why does she not agree? When you are buying your spouses, there is no reason to think you must love them or have intimacy: they are property and Ilias is very afraid for his friend. Tremain is only willing to engage with the system as much as it benefits her to obtain a nice piece of property without needing to woo or work to make him like her in any way. Ilias just sort of makes himself ...for her. Yet Ilias continues to be afraid that his friend will have nowhere to live, no way to get food, that Gilead will be shunned. This is needless. Tremaine bought Ilias and she should have respected that this is a package deal, that he is a human being and he comes with a lot of baggage, and done what she could do to reassure her very stressed husband. It would cost her absolutely nothing except meaningless gold, and Gilead is the only actual hero in the story. Why doesn't she care at all about protecting someone that has done so much to keep her and everyone else alive, and asked for nothing in return?
There was one line immediately after Ilias and Tremaine were married and they barely knew each other where she thought to herself, "I'm not getting laid tonight" - indicating the man she had just purchased, and who has never shown any sexual interest in her. It was simply a case of: I purchased a husband, now I get his body. She didn't have sex with him in that scene, but she has sex with Ilias almost immediately after.
She didn't ask, she didn't even wonder internally, if he wanted to fuck her, or if he felt obligated, she just took what was there and has lost zero sleep over it. I dislike Tremaine immensely. She does not think about Ilias. She hilariously keeps thinking she is "in love" with him....girl you are in lust with him, you do not consider what he is going through or the multitude of ways he has made it obvious you could comfort and support him. You also never talk to him. You don't share stories or histories or hopes or dreams. She has shown no interest in getting to know him better.
I don't want to play here. There is a complete absence of meaningful examination of the system, no critique, and instead we just play around with this idea of buying a willing someone. The entire plotline for Cletia tastes awful to me. I do not like this fantasy playground anymore. Why could Cletia not desire Ilias's friendship at all, or actually wish to apologize - why is everything about "properly" owning people? Why did you bring me here, Martha Wells?
Let's return to the crystals and the spheres:
The Syperians, mostly Gilead, are the only ones who think about the trapped souls. Gilead is the only one who wonders what they want, who speaks to them, who acts to care for the person trapped. The narrative suddenly, without previous discussion, has now, in book 3, decided "there isn't enough of Arisilde left in the sphere to save." Really? What? How do you know? The narrative not only never once tried to communicate with him, the narrative explicitly declared Tremaine did not WANT to even try to speak to him. The implications are terrifying and do not leave the majority of characters looking like heroes. And also, this baseless assumption turns out to be wrong. A horrifying thing to be wrong about.
I read the first two books in a day each, and it's taking me a week to crawl through book 3. I have gotten the flavor of the story now and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I do not think I will be risking any more of her fantasy books, and I'll stay firmly in the Murderbot lane in the future.
I am not going to change or lower my ratings for the earlier books, because I was suspended in a place where I thought we'd eventually deal with these problems, or confront them in some way. Now I'm at the end and I don't want to be here anymore.
I think one of the worst things an author can do is write a book that people who are comfortable with slavery would feel right at home with. Ilias is a good, happy, obedient, loyal slave. Fuck you Martha Wells. Ilias deserved better than Tremaine. Everyone deserved better than Tremaine.
I only got about 80% of the way through, I think, and then I had something important that kept me from finishing the last bit, and my rental from the library expired. I wanted to finish the book, just in case somehow the narrative saved itself and made it all make sense in a new context, but I read a lot of pages to get here and got tired. That was many weeks ago. Even though the third book is one I can check out online on my phone and finish without ever moving from my chair, I just can't bring myself to renew that rental to finish it and give this author a fair chance. I'm tired. I can't stress enough how tired the last few years have made me. I have more hopeful things to read.
I appreciate the presence of Ixion. The Gardier are massive and evil and going to destroy the world, but in many ways the more frightening evil is Ixion. A smaller and less powerful evil: he almost certainly neither could nor wishes to destroy an entire country or planet, but he can destroy a much smaller world: your world. Ixion swans in with a sob story and a charming demeanor and ruins everything that made your one human life worth living for the sake of watching you suffer. Ixion is a petty, sensitive evil that is constantly among them, one who operates without guilt and desires power and pain at any cost. He is the source of much horror and death, cruel and self-serving even beyond the grave, and is a more immediate, day to day danger than the gardier. He can strike into the heart of them because he walks among them in the shape of a man, and ignorant people keep making the mistake of trusting him because they want his power while they ignore his overt evilness.
okay that's all I liked let's get to the problems I now retroactively have with the entire narrative:
Why didn't Tremaine make a scene and pay all of her father's gold for Ilias? Her entire city immediately got destroyed, and she's been all over dimensions and planets (never anywhere money is valuable) and the gold was never mentioned again in any meaningful context. Why did we make a point of being stingy? Why did she not give a pile? Why only 3 gold coins? Was it so Nicholas could buy the house in book 3, the house we spent a whole chapter in before it too was destroyed and abandoned? Was it so she didn't disrupt the trade of humans in Ilias's culture, so that she would appear as any other person who traded in human flesh? Don't want to make these people uncomfortable about the way they sell people, after all. Why would Tremaine care about this?
I do not like playing in spaces where we pay money for one another and do not much think about it. I do not like playing in spaces where Gilead says he will help Tremaine beat Ilias for the crime of ..... having another woman apologize once to him. What are we doing here? Just because the book has been written so that Ilias apparently has absolutely no internal problems with anything that happens to him, and he's pleased to be sold to Tremaine and happily sleeps with her immediately.... I don't like this space. I do not like all of these people who are playing fast and loose with the purchasing of people. I do not like the strong implications that Tremaine can do whatever she likes with Ilias, including hurting him physically, restraining him, raping him, or imprisoning him in a house for his entire life. I don't care that the narrative made him white, blonde, and passive, or that divorce is not a social death apparently: I do not have fun here.
When Ilias asked her, why does Tremaine not reassure him that she will take another husband and marry Gilead if the god, and therefore his society, rejects Gilead? What does it matter to her? Ilias is just looking for security for his friend, because a society that buys and sells people is inherently one that is willing to throw people away if they don't have resale value. Gilead is threatened with becoming socially worthless. We have already spent time discussing this in the book. Why does she not agree? When you are buying your spouses, there is no reason to think you must love them or have intimacy: they are property and Ilias is very afraid for his friend. Tremain is only willing to engage with the system as much as it benefits her to obtain a nice piece of property without needing to woo or work to make him like her in any way. Ilias just sort of makes himself ...for her. Yet Ilias continues to be afraid that his friend will have nowhere to live, no way to get food, that Gilead will be shunned. This is needless. Tremaine bought Ilias and she should have respected that this is a package deal, that he is a human being and he comes with a lot of baggage, and done what she could do to reassure her very stressed husband. It would cost her absolutely nothing except meaningless gold, and Gilead is the only actual hero in the story. Why doesn't she care at all about protecting someone that has done so much to keep her and everyone else alive, and asked for nothing in return?
There was one line immediately after Ilias and Tremaine were married and they barely knew each other where she thought to herself, "I'm not getting laid tonight" - indicating the man she had just purchased, and who has never shown any sexual interest in her. It was simply a case of: I purchased a husband, now I get his body. She didn't have sex with him in that scene, but she has sex with Ilias almost immediately after.
She didn't ask, she didn't even wonder internally, if he wanted to fuck her, or if he felt obligated, she just took what was there and has lost zero sleep over it. I dislike Tremaine immensely. She does not think about Ilias. She hilariously keeps thinking she is "in love" with him....girl you are in lust with him, you do not consider what he is going through or the multitude of ways he has made it obvious you could comfort and support him. You also never talk to him. You don't share stories or histories or hopes or dreams. She has shown no interest in getting to know him better.
I don't want to play here. There is a complete absence of meaningful examination of the system, no critique, and instead we just play around with this idea of buying a willing someone. The entire plotline for Cletia tastes awful to me. I do not like this fantasy playground anymore. Why could Cletia not desire Ilias's friendship at all, or actually wish to apologize - why is everything about "properly" owning people? Why did you bring me here, Martha Wells?
Let's return to the crystals and the spheres:
The Syperians, mostly Gilead, are the only ones who think about the trapped souls. Gilead is the only one who wonders what they want, who speaks to them, who acts to care for the person trapped. The narrative suddenly, without previous discussion, has now, in book 3, decided "there isn't enough of Arisilde left in the sphere to save." Really? What? How do you know? The narrative not only never once tried to communicate with him, the narrative explicitly declared Tremaine did not WANT to even try to speak to him. The implications are terrifying and do not leave the majority of characters looking like heroes. And also, this baseless assumption turns out to be wrong. A horrifying thing to be wrong about.
I read the first two books in a day each, and it's taking me a week to crawl through book 3. I have gotten the flavor of the story now and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I do not think I will be risking any more of her fantasy books, and I'll stay firmly in the Murderbot lane in the future.
I am not going to change or lower my ratings for the earlier books, because I was suspended in a place where I thought we'd eventually deal with these problems, or confront them in some way. Now I'm at the end and I don't want to be here anymore.
I think one of the worst things an author can do is write a book that people who are comfortable with slavery would feel right at home with. Ilias is a good, happy, obedient, loyal slave. Fuck you Martha Wells. Ilias deserved better than Tremaine. Everyone deserved better than Tremaine.
I only got about 80% of the way through, I think, and then I had something important that kept me from finishing the last bit, and my rental from the library expired. I wanted to finish the book, just in case somehow the narrative saved itself and made it all make sense in a new context, but I read a lot of pages to get here and got tired. That was many weeks ago. Even though the third book is one I can check out online on my phone and finish without ever moving from my chair, I just can't bring myself to renew that rental to finish it and give this author a fair chance. I'm tired. I can't stress enough how tired the last few years have made me. I have more hopeful things to read.
March 9, 2018
Martha Wells is a genuinely excellent writer. Having now read five of her books in the past several months, I find it mind-boggling that it took me this many years to become aware of her. Imaginative concepts. “Living,” compelling, unique characters — both male and female protagonists written with an impressive individuality.
This third in the Fall of Ile-Rien series was, in all honesty, my least favorite of her works I have read, but was still a very enjoyable read. It just lacked...enough of a dramatic build-up for me, and, while Wells’ instinct for understatement normally “works” for me, it left me wanting more this time out. Normally a good thing, but as this seems to be the end of the Ile-Rien stories, I’m left just slightly unfulfilled. So much left unexploited...
Anyway, don’t take my 3 stars as a criticism. I reserve 5 stars for books that truly changed my life in one way or another (Heart of Darkness, War and Peace, Dune, Lord of the Rings, etc...)...very once in a GREAT while, I’ll give it out for a book that is utterly unique or genre bending/inventing...but only very, very rarely.
4 stars from me is a rave review (“GREAT book! Couldn’t put it down! Recommend it wholeheartedly! Blew My Mind!”....that sort of thing).
3 stars is a good read. Worth reading. Fun. That’s part of thing...
This one deserves a 3 1/2 if there were such a thing....and Wells, overall, is a 4-star writer.”
Nuff said.
This third in the Fall of Ile-Rien series was, in all honesty, my least favorite of her works I have read, but was still a very enjoyable read. It just lacked...enough of a dramatic build-up for me, and, while Wells’ instinct for understatement normally “works” for me, it left me wanting more this time out. Normally a good thing, but as this seems to be the end of the Ile-Rien stories, I’m left just slightly unfulfilled. So much left unexploited...
Anyway, don’t take my 3 stars as a criticism. I reserve 5 stars for books that truly changed my life in one way or another (Heart of Darkness, War and Peace, Dune, Lord of the Rings, etc...)...very once in a GREAT while, I’ll give it out for a book that is utterly unique or genre bending/inventing...but only very, very rarely.
4 stars from me is a rave review (“GREAT book! Couldn’t put it down! Recommend it wholeheartedly! Blew My Mind!”....that sort of thing).
3 stars is a good read. Worth reading. Fun. That’s part of thing...
This one deserves a 3 1/2 if there were such a thing....and Wells, overall, is a 4-star writer.”
Nuff said.
July 28, 2014
This is definitely one of those trilogies where I started to wonder if they were leaving themselves enough time to wrap everything up. I think part of why the second book annoyed me so much is that I thought that was going to be the start of the Rien people bringing the fight to the Gardians, and instead, there's almost no fighting between them at all. They have a whole kingdom to win back - what are they waiting for?
I guess this trilogy is really about the characters, not the battles, anyways. I was happy to see Florian getting into the mix a bit more, and breaking out of the "plucky young sidekick" role that the other characters kept trying to relegate her to. Tremaine, Ilias, and Gilead stayed awesome, and I was happy with where they all ended up.
I guess this trilogy is really about the characters, not the battles, anyways. I was happy to see Florian getting into the mix a bit more, and breaking out of the "plucky young sidekick" role that the other characters kept trying to relegate her to. Tremaine, Ilias, and Gilead stayed awesome, and I was happy with where they all ended up.
Read
June 28, 2017So, man, did I love this series. It was so satisfying and so fun travelling with all these characters as they try to figure things out and make the world right again. In what feels like such a short time, Martha Wells has created a cast of characters that I've grown to really love -- Tremaine, Ilias, Gilead, Gerard (who reminded me of Giles from Buffy), Nicholas, Arisilde... I would love to read about all of them again.
There were some really humorous and comedic moments that I absolutely loved. I love the dynamic Tremaine has with Ilias and Gilead!! And I love how Ilias loves both Gilead and Tremaine. It's been days since I finished reading this series but I still miss it occasionally -- I can tell it's going to be one of those comfort rereads. There's so much to say about what I loved about this series that it's hard to put it all in words; suffice it to say I just had so much fun and enjoyed myself so much during the days I was tearing my way through the series.
There were some really humorous and comedic moments that I absolutely loved. I love the dynamic Tremaine has with Ilias and Gilead!! And I love how Ilias loves both Gilead and Tremaine. It's been days since I finished reading this series but I still miss it occasionally -- I can tell it's going to be one of those comfort rereads. There's so much to say about what I loved about this series that it's hard to put it all in words; suffice it to say I just had so much fun and enjoyed myself so much during the days I was tearing my way through the series.
May 26, 2022
I could not put this down. If RL had not been a concern, I think I would have read it in one go.
Everything about this book was exactly to my taste: the characters, the realistic approach to war, the aftermath of war and the happy-ending for only some individuals. I enjoyed every step of the journey, and I especially liked that all the characters got to display their agency and make an impact, for better or worse, in a manner consistent to their core identity.
I cannot praise this series ending enough - so much great material in such a (compared to other under-edited mammoths) small book. The best part, though, is that Martha Wells left us enough unresolved matters for all worlds involved to stimulate every reader's imagination into conjuring possible paths for resolution. I know I did imagine what Tremaine and Ilias got up to after returning to Cineth.
Everything about this book was exactly to my taste: the characters, the realistic approach to war, the aftermath of war and the happy-ending for only some individuals. I enjoyed every step of the journey, and I especially liked that all the characters got to display their agency and make an impact, for better or worse, in a manner consistent to their core identity.
I cannot praise this series ending enough - so much great material in such a (compared to other under-edited mammoths) small book. The best part, though, is that Martha Wells left us enough unresolved matters for all worlds involved to stimulate every reader's imagination into conjuring possible paths for resolution. I know I did imagine what Tremaine and Ilias got up to after returning to Cineth.
July 7, 2021
A solid conclusion to The Fall of Ile-Rein story arc
I simply love Martha Wells' writing. Her characters are protagonists that I like, and wish I could get to know in the real world. I've read lots of stories from other authors where I didn't like the protagonist at all. Her settings are rich, and the plot keeps me up reading long after I should have gone to sleep. In this third book in the story arc, things get dire for our heroes, but most of them win through. By three-fourths of the way through the book, I just couldn't see how Martha Wells could wrap up the story in the pages remaining. But she does it, and without making the ending feel rushed. I'm only sad the story is over. But I will look forward to the next title from Martha Wells that I find!
I simply love Martha Wells' writing. Her characters are protagonists that I like, and wish I could get to know in the real world. I've read lots of stories from other authors where I didn't like the protagonist at all. Her settings are rich, and the plot keeps me up reading long after I should have gone to sleep. In this third book in the story arc, things get dire for our heroes, but most of them win through. By three-fourths of the way through the book, I just couldn't see how Martha Wells could wrap up the story in the pages remaining. But she does it, and without making the ending feel rushed. I'm only sad the story is over. But I will look forward to the next title from Martha Wells that I find!
March 2, 2018
This was a good series. Interesting characters and plot, good dialogue.
It was long and dragged at points, but overall very satisfied.
My only disappointment was
It was long and dragged at points, but overall very satisfied.
My only disappointment was
December 30, 2017
When can we get this series on tv? Or do we not trust television people enough to not wreck it? You're right, they would probably ruin it. But come on, visually it wouldn't be anything that hasn't been done on telly before, it's just never happened in the same tv show at the same time.
May 18, 2021
All in all this trilogy was very satisfying. The characters were interesting and complex. The relationships were not cookie cutter and the world building was great. Action, fantasy and some romance. Highly recommend 👌
January 15, 2018
A tour de force ending for a brilliant cohesive trilogy. Just about perfect in every way.
If you enjoyed the first two you have no fear of disappointment.
If you enjoyed the first two you have no fear of disappointment.
February 19, 2025
The ending of a series is often a rather tough affair to experience, as grief sneaks in with your goodbyes, even if it's only now that you've fallen in love with it.
My experience with The Fall of Ile-Rien has been a rocky road. A first novel I found somewhat mediocre, second I considered quitting before beginning to see its value, and now the third that has finally made the series worm itself into my heart (or perhaps it's the Stockholm syndrome after so many pages but either way), so that I feel sad now saying goodbye to these characters, this world, this series; even if there's a short story collection to read, their timeline has finished and all that's left to do is peek between the cracks.
The third one has finally culminated in the full complexity of the world and its characters, and if you didn't love them before, three books worth of adventure and character building later, you just might. The finale itself, with its answer to the mystery of why any of this is happening at all, isn't as strong as I'd like it to be. Some novel ideas, sure, but also a bit too much reliance on defeating a nefarious villain or two in order to win a war. In real life, defeating the “villain” (if there even is one, and not just the name on the posters) has come after the war has already been won; but it's quite understandable that Wells can't take the long road in a fantasy adventure novel, the best she can do is hint towards the possibility of a prolonged conflict even after the characters have achieved their goals, before pulling out a finale ex machina to tie it up more neatly.
The final novel also further solves the problems of the first one - the faceless villains have become human (or, well, human-like); and the story can have an actual ending. It's still the characters we already know who primarily dominate, and Wells is harkening back to the very first Ile-Rien book, The Element of Fire, with a few noticeable character deaths my heart would rather have not had, but she has also learned her lesson (of writing popular genre fiction, for good or ill) and hasn't gone as dark & bloody again.
Perhaps I've also been too harsh with Wells’ handling of the matriarchy as with the increased contact with the members of more sexist communities the more nuanced differences between how the different men look at women have started to reveal themselves (though presented with the subtle strength of a sledgehammer). Primarily in the way men in non-Cyprian communities see women as inherently lower, even when they act like they treat them equally (sounds familiar?), while Cyprian men follow the women without questions because that's just how it is and the opposite seems wild to them (I guess as wild as their predisposition to (many of?) us?); basically - they literally don't see women as lower than men, because their society, culture, and language don’t see women as so; while if you look at any aspect of our cultures, languages, etc, well … You know.
In short, the third book is an enjoyably gripping adventure through the world Wells has been building up for three books, with new twists & reveals & final answers & a bit of contemplation on the nature of war, autocracy, colonialism, morality, and gender; with the bonus of a lot of cosying up to the people we like and love and sometimes love to hate (y’all who I'm talking about, Ander). And speaking of cozy, everybody living together in an old broken down house? I loved it more than I should have, and would have loved more of that, just as I would have loved more of this series, and if you had told me that after I had finished the first book, boy, would I have been more excited about starting the second.
My experience with The Fall of Ile-Rien has been a rocky road. A first novel I found somewhat mediocre, second I considered quitting before beginning to see its value, and now the third that has finally made the series worm itself into my heart (or perhaps it's the Stockholm syndrome after so many pages but either way), so that I feel sad now saying goodbye to these characters, this world, this series; even if there's a short story collection to read, their timeline has finished and all that's left to do is peek between the cracks.
The third one has finally culminated in the full complexity of the world and its characters, and if you didn't love them before, three books worth of adventure and character building later, you just might. The finale itself, with its answer to the mystery of why any of this is happening at all, isn't as strong as I'd like it to be. Some novel ideas, sure, but also a bit too much reliance on defeating a nefarious villain or two in order to win a war. In real life, defeating the “villain” (if there even is one, and not just the name on the posters) has come after the war has already been won; but it's quite understandable that Wells can't take the long road in a fantasy adventure novel, the best she can do is hint towards the possibility of a prolonged conflict even after the characters have achieved their goals, before pulling out a finale ex machina to tie it up more neatly.
The final novel also further solves the problems of the first one - the faceless villains have become human (or, well, human-like); and the story can have an actual ending. It's still the characters we already know who primarily dominate, and Wells is harkening back to the very first Ile-Rien book, The Element of Fire, with a few noticeable character deaths my heart would rather have not had, but she has also learned her lesson (of writing popular genre fiction, for good or ill) and hasn't gone as dark & bloody again.
Perhaps I've also been too harsh with Wells’ handling of the matriarchy as with the increased contact with the members of more sexist communities the more nuanced differences between how the different men look at women have started to reveal themselves (though presented with the subtle strength of a sledgehammer). Primarily in the way men in non-Cyprian communities see women as inherently lower, even when they act like they treat them equally (sounds familiar?), while Cyprian men follow the women without questions because that's just how it is and the opposite seems wild to them (I guess as wild as their predisposition to (many of?) us?); basically - they literally don't see women as lower than men, because their society, culture, and language don’t see women as so; while if you look at any aspect of our cultures, languages, etc, well … You know.
In short, the third book is an enjoyably gripping adventure through the world Wells has been building up for three books, with new twists & reveals & final answers & a bit of contemplation on the nature of war, autocracy, colonialism, morality, and gender; with the bonus of a lot of cosying up to the people we like and love and sometimes love to hate (y’all who I'm talking about, Ander). And speaking of cozy, everybody living together in an old broken down house? I loved it more than I should have, and would have loved more of that, just as I would have loved more of this series, and if you had told me that after I had finished the first book, boy, would I have been more excited about starting the second.
June 18, 2020
Greatly enjoyed this story.She sets up such fascinating worlds and then puts characters in them that have problems in their lives just as us. Oh we don't fight to many wizards!Anyway great story once again.
July 31, 2023
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 17, 2021
Delightful! This final book of the trilogy is filled with action and adventure. The trilogy built up over the first two volumes and reaches a very satisfying denouement.
A very well rendered set of fantasy worlds!
A very well rendered set of fantasy worlds!
May 2, 2023
Fun series. I would recommend it for easy reading. Great world-building.
June 16, 2012
Premise: Sequel to The Wizard Hunters and The Ships of Air. Definitely start with book one. Some small spoilers for those books follow. The war moves into a new phase as the refugees on the Queen Ravenna finally come to Capidara, a country ostensibly allied with Ile-Rien. There are new dangers in a new city, though, and time is running out for Loudon, the only city on Ile-Rien not yet overrun. Will a new variation on the gate spell allow them to rescue the people of Loudon, lead Tremaine and the others to an ancient city that might reveal the final secrets of the Gardier, or just lead them into a trap?
I found this to be a fitting conclusion to a thoroughly enjoyable series. The first section of the book brings the cast to a new city, where they have to struggle with new political angles and new spies. Now that they are reconnecting with a government in the world of Ile-Rien, as well as some of the Rienish ministers in exile, Tremaine has to find her balance. Is she still important as the main link to the Syprian alliance? She finds herself tired of fighting with men for political influence she doesn't really want, just to stay involved in missions where she can make a difference, and to stay informed enough to help her Syprian friends.
I like Tremaine so much. She might not be a hero to everyone's taste, but I love her cold anger, her practicality, the way those close to her can read her even as she hides everything but efficiency behind a wall. I even like the way she's occasionally ambushed by her feelings, but doesn't allow them to affect her purpose. She skirts the edge of self-pity, but is just too realistic and grounded to really indulge in it. She's one of my favorite characters I've discovered in some time.
The characters spent quite a bit of time figuring out tactics and being on the run before the final plan is put into place, so then there was a bit of a rush to get to the final confrontation. The last sequence seemed a bit more like luck than like anything planned, but it didn't really bother me. The final reveals worked with everything that had come before and still managed to be surprising and exciting.
We don't end up learning everything that happened to bring the three worlds to this point, but that keeps it from feeling too pat.
I continued to enjoy all the characters, but I liked that for the final sections the group had dropped back down to just Tremaine, Florian, Gerard, Ilias and Giliead; the same group that initially came together in Book One. The denouement centers on wrapping up the emotional plotlines, and I found it to be a very fulfilling and sweet ending.
I highly recommend this series. It is a wonderfully done fantasy adventure with complex characters and a plot that is nicely complicated without being confusing.
4 Stars – A Very Good Book
I found this to be a fitting conclusion to a thoroughly enjoyable series. The first section of the book brings the cast to a new city, where they have to struggle with new political angles and new spies. Now that they are reconnecting with a government in the world of Ile-Rien, as well as some of the Rienish ministers in exile, Tremaine has to find her balance. Is she still important as the main link to the Syprian alliance? She finds herself tired of fighting with men for political influence she doesn't really want, just to stay involved in missions where she can make a difference, and to stay informed enough to help her Syprian friends.
I like Tremaine so much. She might not be a hero to everyone's taste, but I love her cold anger, her practicality, the way those close to her can read her even as she hides everything but efficiency behind a wall. I even like the way she's occasionally ambushed by her feelings, but doesn't allow them to affect her purpose. She skirts the edge of self-pity, but is just too realistic and grounded to really indulge in it. She's one of my favorite characters I've discovered in some time.
The characters spent quite a bit of time figuring out tactics and being on the run before the final plan is put into place, so then there was a bit of a rush to get to the final confrontation. The last sequence seemed a bit more like luck than like anything planned, but it didn't really bother me. The final reveals worked with everything that had come before and still managed to be surprising and exciting.
We don't end up learning everything that happened to bring the three worlds to this point, but that keeps it from feeling too pat.
I continued to enjoy all the characters, but I liked that for the final sections the group had dropped back down to just Tremaine, Florian, Gerard, Ilias and Giliead; the same group that initially came together in Book One. The denouement centers on wrapping up the emotional plotlines, and I found it to be a very fulfilling and sweet ending.
I highly recommend this series. It is a wonderfully done fantasy adventure with complex characters and a plot that is nicely complicated without being confusing.
4 Stars – A Very Good Book
July 5, 2015
Tremaine has already done far more for the Ile-Rien war effort than she ever expected: discovering other worlds and finding the Gardier who are bombing Ile-Rien are world-hoppers, hunting down the Gardier where she finds them, and even marrying Ilias to secure an alliance between Ile-Rien and the native Syprians, whose world the Gardier are using as a staging ground for their attacks. But when talk turns to freeing the locked-down city of Lodun, she's at a loss. This is more a job for the sorcerers. But nothing goes as planned, and soon Tremaine and her friends are caught once again in the machinations of enemies on every side.
This is a bit of a hard book to summarize, since much of the plot is focused on character, and on unraveling the way the world-gates work so the Rien can (eventually) free Lodun. Actually Lodun is just a set of bookends on most of the plot, as it's mentioned early on and then by time it comes up again I'd quite forgotten that was the reason all of this started.
Like the rest of the series, this is well-written, although for some reason the plot just never grabbed me as much as other books I've read by Wells. Tremaine remains an interesting character: ruthless with her enemies and herself, but falling in love with the man she married. The subtle character details are excellent. And I still really enjoy Giliead and Ilias's brotherly relationship. The cultural distinctions between the Rien, the Syprians, and the Aelin are shown instead of told.
Overall this was a good cap on the series. The mysteries resolve in a somewhat surprising fashion, a few villains like Ixion get long-awaited comeuppance, and there aren't any loose ends. If you've read the previous two books, I'd recommend this one, but I certainly wouldn't start here if you haven't, as much of the conflict and drama grows organically out of everything that happened in the first two books.
This is a bit of a hard book to summarize, since much of the plot is focused on character, and on unraveling the way the world-gates work so the Rien can (eventually) free Lodun. Actually Lodun is just a set of bookends on most of the plot, as it's mentioned early on and then by time it comes up again I'd quite forgotten that was the reason all of this started.
Like the rest of the series, this is well-written, although for some reason the plot just never grabbed me as much as other books I've read by Wells. Tremaine remains an interesting character: ruthless with her enemies and herself, but falling in love with the man she married. The subtle character details are excellent. And I still really enjoy Giliead and Ilias's brotherly relationship. The cultural distinctions between the Rien, the Syprians, and the Aelin are shown instead of told.
Overall this was a good cap on the series. The mysteries resolve in a somewhat surprising fashion, a few villains like Ixion get long-awaited comeuppance, and there aren't any loose ends. If you've read the previous two books, I'd recommend this one, but I certainly wouldn't start here if you haven't, as much of the conflict and drama grows organically out of everything that happened in the first two books.
January 28, 2020
I think this is the best of the three, but the first is a close second. The characters get much more emotional opportunities in this volume. The writing is beautiful and the ideas vast, as usual.
Read
July 6, 2019This trilogy is SO GOOD. You meet Tremaine as a young woman in a world that resembles WWII in the Blitz. She's from a wealthy family, she had been driving an ambulance for the aid service, and she's thinking that there's not much point left in life, when she's dragged into helping with a military project. It's a magical project -- both the invaders and her country use magic as part of their arsenal -- and she finds herself traveling into a very different society and adventure.
She's not what you expect a young woman from a wealthy family to be like, and you gradually learn that her father was not all that he should be, and he trained her up to be able to take care of herself, and her brains and ability to use a gun come in handy. But it's the tight-knit team that battles incredible odds that wins my heart. There's a down-to-earth, get it done quality in Tremaine that kind of reminds me of Cordelia from the Vorkosigan books?
She's not what you expect a young woman from a wealthy family to be like, and you gradually learn that her father was not all that he should be, and he trained her up to be able to take care of herself, and her brains and ability to use a gun come in handy. But it's the tight-knit team that battles incredible odds that wins my heart. There's a down-to-earth, get it done quality in Tremaine that kind of reminds me of Cordelia from the Vorkosigan books?
April 21, 2022
!!!!
Top tier audiobooking experience. I'd fallen for all the characters, and it was wonderful to see them coming together and triumphing. I'm excited to go back and read the first Ile Rien series, which is apparently about Nicholas, which makes the most sense because Nicholas has the most "returning protagonist" energy EVER.
I love Tremaine!! I love her constant need to be calculating, I love her failed attempts at emotional intelligence, I love every time she's like "i should kill someone about this and solve my emotional problems. wait. that's not right." She's my favorite and she deserves the world(s). <3
Top tier audiobooking experience. I'd fallen for all the characters, and it was wonderful to see them coming together and triumphing. I'm excited to go back and read the first Ile Rien series, which is apparently about Nicholas, which makes the most sense because Nicholas has the most "returning protagonist" energy EVER.
I love Tremaine!! I love her constant need to be calculating, I love her failed attempts at emotional intelligence, I love every time she's like "i should kill someone about this and solve my emotional problems. wait. that's not right." She's my favorite and she deserves the world(s). <3
February 20, 2022
I appreciated the climax of this book - but I can't remember much of the rest of it. As with the rest of the series, mostly a let down in comparison with Martha Wells's other work. I never grew to like Tremaine or to find her particularly believable or interesting. And the way she relates to others . . . she seems more like an obnoxious child than a fierce and competent adult (esp. when relating to her father). This is stronger than The Ships of the Air, but that isn't saying much.
July 18, 2021
I haven’t read a fantasy novel that made me cry in a very long time, if, in fact, ever. I’m startled because the first novel in this series left me dry, and the second novel excited me but in a typical way. This, the third and last installment of the trilogy, thrummed with life and action, thrilled with adventure and mystery and ended with a simple, non-dramatic shock to the heart.
August 26, 2014
Finished in a day. Yeah, it's one of those.
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