Hello everyone. Welcome back to Bibliophilia Book Reviews. Today I am reviewing The Grave at Storm’s End by Devin Madson. This is the third book of The Vengeance Trilogy. Read my review for The Blood of Whisperers (Book 1) here and The Gods of Vice (Book 2) here. My review for the prequel In Shadows We Fall is found here. Visit the author’s website here. My review has spoilers.
The Grave at Storm’s End (TGaSE) is one of those books that is both a satisfying end to the trilogy and unsatisfying in my personal experience reading it (this may be different for someone else, however). In truth, the ending of this book made me mad even though it was, at the same time, a satisfying ending for the story. Simply put, I didn’t like where any of the characters ended up. And after having loved the second installment of this trilogy The Gods of Vice, the third book was a little bit of a let down and disappointment. I do want to point out however that this book is not bad; I will readily recommend The Vengeance Trilogy to anyone wanting to read a story of this kind. It’s just that the story did not end as I was expecting or hoping. Devin Madson however is an underrated author worth reading. Her writing is superb.
At the end of TGOV, Endymion promised to kill Malice and Darius and then himself, Hana agreed to marry Emperor Kin, and Darius became Emperor Kin’s enemy and converts Katashi into a Vice, Vengeance. Honestly, that was quite an unexpected ending, and I was fortunate enough to have TGaSE ready at hand, so I picked it up right after finishing TGOV. And though TGaSE is a solid book with a satisfying ending, there were things about it that didn’t sit well with me.
“You are the only one you have the right to judge.”
For starters, Endymion. I did not like the ending of his character arc at all. The best word that describes what I was thinking when I was reading his final chapters was…what? Endymion, obviously the most powerful Empath in Kisia, the Blood of Whisperers, becomes inconsequential. Throughout the entire trilogy Endymion is fighting to control his powers and he never really achieves this; instead in the last chapter he is miraculously healed of his empathy when his soul fuses with Brother Jian’s and he becomes more like the priest (and ends up becoming a priest when he did not want to become one at the beginning of the trilogy) instead of finding out who he really is. I felt like his character didn’t change all that much from the beginning of the story, and I felt rather cheated and dissatisfied by the conclusion of his storyline.
Next, is Hana and we all know I have a lot to say about her so here goes: I stand by what I said before. I do not like Hana, and I still did not like her in this book. She’s annoyingly whiny and too quick to find faults in her own sex. She wants to be a man and doesn’t stop complaining throughout the entire series that she isn’t one. Personally, I do not like characters like her from the get-go (as you can probably tell by now). And then there’s the fact that this book suddenly became all about her, and I felt that the author did all the other characters of the trilogy an injustice because of it. Most specifically, Emperor Kin. I think that the author didn’t give him the depth that he deserved and that he just ended up being a means to an end, to make Hana Empress. He has no agency and ultimately becomes a cardboard character. He is just there to make other characters reach the end of their own storylines. Frankly, Emperor Kin deserved better, both in storyline and in a wife. Ultimately, he just lived (after almost being burned to death) to allow Hana to become an Empress, and one that didn’t love him to boot and who is sleeping with his general. This really made me angry (I didn’t see a point to it). I really did not like Hana. I admit that I am a romantic at heart and was hoping that she might actually learn to love Kin, even though I know she was in love with Katashi. I don’t know why but I was always rooting for this pairing even though I know that Hana and Katashi fall in love. Maybe I thought that Kin would help Hana grow up, I don’t know…God knows she needed it. But no, that did not happen. And ultimately that is okay. It is not a reason why I was disappointed in this book so much. Hana’s love for Katashi, however, is probably her only redeeming quality. And she fought for his revenge when he couldn’t fight for it of his own accord anymore after Darius turned him into Vengeance but that was not enough for me to tip the balance in my dislike of her.
I liked Katashi and I was saddened when Darius turned him into a Vice because his will is taken away from him at this point. Everything is taken from him. His family, his inheritance, the woman he loves, his will… Poor Katashi. For me, he was the main character of the trilogy, after all, it is named after him, but I felt that the author reduced his importance in the story when he becomes a Vice. After this, he is no longer the exiled heir to the Crimson Throne and Emperor Kin’s enemy in the war but Darius’s tool in avenging the royal family. The story is no longer a fight between Kin and Katashi but between Kin and Darius. And I did not appreciate such a drastic change in the story so late in the telling. To add to Katashi’s injustice, he is dying. Why aren’t all the other Vices dying? The fire inside him is consuming him inside out. Geez. (Katashi dies.).
Finally, there’s Darius. Darius was my favorite character, and I was very saddened when he died. I also think that he too was another character, along with Emperor Kin, Katashi, and Kimiko (I will talk about her later), that the author prejudices in trying to get Hana to the forefront, and I was not happy about this either. All of my favorite characters die, and the ones I didn’t like or was indifferent to didn’t. Nice. All of these characters deserved better, honestly. Kimiko fared no better when she too is turned into a Vice and loses her own will (even though she manages to break her bond with Malice later) and then loses the love of her life, her brother, and finally her own life when she gives birth to her and Darius’s daughter. Wow.
By the end of the book, Hana is sole Empress of Kisia (because Kin is still convalescing from his burns and cannot rule), Endymion becomes a priest, and Katashi, Darius, and Kimiko are dead. No, I did not like how this book ends. That is why I gave it an Okay rating. However, I still recommend this trilogy to anyone who wants to read it.
Devin Madson’s new trilogy The Reborn Empire, set in the same world as The Vengeance Trilogy, is out now and I will definitely be reading it.
