944 ratings (3.59 avg)
547 reviews

Reading Through the Lists

Add friend

Reading Through the Lists’s currently-reading shelf

Dear and Glorious Physician by Taylor Caldwell

The Tomb of Dragons by Katherine Addison

More…

Reading Through the Lists’s Bookshelves

to-read‎ (3021)
currently-reading‎ (3)
read‎ (972)
catholic‎ (21)
7th-grade-ela‎ (14)

gold-rush-project‎ (13)
monastic‎ (12)
classical-school‎ (10)
great-books‎ (10)
discernment‎ (7)

one-day-i-shall-finish‎ (7)
6th-grade-ela‎ (6)
benedictine‎ (5)
tristran-legend‎ (5)
8th-grade-ela‎ (3)

cistercian‎ (2)
early-church-history‎ (2)
carmelite‎ (1)
jesuit‎ (1)
ocia‎ (1)

Stats | More…

Reading Through the Lists is Currently Reading

Reading Through the Lists is currently reading

The Tomb of Dragons (The Cemeteries of Amalo, #3)

by Katherine Addison (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

Reading for the 2nd time

read in April 2025

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Reading Through the Lists said:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

" Hmmm….I’m not sure how to feel about this one. Some of it is because I didn’t feel that The Grief of Stones necessarily needed a follow-up; the story felt like it had come to a fairly natural conclusion.

It has been the way of this trilogy to consist Hmmm….I’m not sure how to feel about this one. Some of it is because I didn’t feel that The Grief of Stones necessarily needed a follow-up; the story felt like it had come to a fairly natural conclusion.

It has been the way of this trilogy to consist of many disparate storylines existing separately from one another, only to all coalesce and be woven together in the last act. The Tomb of Dragons continues this trend, only here, I’m not sure all the parts mesh as well as before. The central theme coming through the various storylines feels muddied--there’s a meditation on generational injustice (the Clenvarada go so far to protect their own interests that they nearly murder Celehar twice); there’s a meditation on realizing your own worth to your friends and the people who care about you (but isn’t this the same lesson Celehar has been learning over and over again in every damn one of these books??); and finally, there’s a theme of being healed enough to let go and move on.

This last, I think, is meant to be the central idea. Everything up until this point (the audience with the dragon, Celehar being driven out of his home and forced to hide, Olgarege brought in as a guard) seems designed to help Celehar loosen his hold on Amalo--the city was a helpful stopping point on his journey of self-acceptance and renewal, but it was never home.

And yes, maybe it really did need three books to bring us to this conclusion. While I would love to see Celehar stay in Amalo for years and years with his best friends, it is also good (and more realistic) to see him strong enough to strike out for new horizons and new adventures.

As for his new companion…I mean, I don’t hate Olgarege, I just wish we’d gotten to know him better. I was genuinely stunned to see Pelthenior exit as a potential love interest because as soon as he and Celehar agree that they will just be friends, Pelthenior pretty much ceases to be important to the story.

I’m not particularly angry that Celehar and Pelthenior didn’t end up together--to be honest, I think Pelthenior is a bit too suave and worldly to make a good partner for someone as devout, earnest, and retiring as Thara Celehar. But if this was always the plan, then why was so much time devoted to their friendship in The Witness for the Dead and The Grief of Stones? We spent so long with these two, only for them to friend-zone each other, and then for Pelthenior to fade into the background so a new love interest could take his place. That does feel like a bait-and-switch, and I expect better.

Speaking of baiting and switching…I can shrug off the Pelthenior-Olgarege swap, but I really, really cannot support Celehar regaining his ability to speak to the dead. In my mind, this is a J.K. Rowling-=Crimes of Grindelwald-level retcon and no amount of justification makes it work for me. Losing his ability to witness for the dead was the pivotal moment for Celehar in The Grief of Stones and you’re just going to…erase that? For plot convenience? Say it ain’t so!! The only version I will accept is if Celehar is suddenly given the ability to speak to dead dragons, but no other type of being. A witness for dragons rather than the witness for the dead.

So, yes, a mixed bag all around. But maybe I’ll like it more the next time I listen to the complete Celehar trilogy.

3.5 stars. ...more "

Apr 16, 2025 05:33PM · see review

Reading Through the Lists is currently reading

Dear and Glorious Physician: A Novel about Saint Luke

by Taylor Caldwell

bookshelves: early-church-history, currently-reading, catholic

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Sep 07, 2025 07:19AM

Reading Through the Lists is currently reading

Tuck Everlasting

by Natalie Babbitt

bookshelves: 6th-grade-ela, currently-reading

Reading for the 3rd time

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Aug 04, 2025 01:30PM

Reading Through the Lists’s Notes & Highlights

Book cover for The Last Light of the Sun

The Last Light of the Sun by Guy Gavriel Kay

12 notes & 22 highlights

The last light of the sun.

Heyyyyy

See Reading Through the Lists’s 3 books with notes and highlights…

Reading Through the Lists’s Quotes

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

tags: love

20506 likes