#I remember reading it and being like huh. didn't drive me as feral as the others. but I still enjoyed that

[bookwyrminspiration]

i cannot lie, if i had to rank it i'd say book 5 was on the end of least favorite out of all of the ones in the series bc i just felt like. emotionally distanced from it? but that is also understandable due to um- the main character himself being somewhat distanced from the story in the sense that he can't touch anything or anyone, and is not experiencing everything else that's happening.... if that makes sense.... and ALSO just me being like oh the story is coming to a close. yk. BUT it was also a beautiful ending to everything i did get pulled back and at one point i was thinking it was anticlimactic/boring and then we got to the kihrin/relos var confrontation and i got to go "OHHHHHH" once more so it was indeed enjoyable!!! 7/10 might read it again

That is a very respectable answer and one akin to my own reaction! It's not my favorite book in the series, it didn't have the same oomph factor, but I still thoroughly enjoyed reading it and was already very attached to all the characters.

Emotionally distanced is a good way to put it. It's not that emotional things don't happen, but we're being pulled so many different directions and need to broaden our view to see it all, perhaps? And yes, stories almost always have that shift in tone at the end because you have to change your approach and manifest all these big concepts and conflicts into material, actual things happening.

The idea of "defeating Xaltorath", which is big and vague and ominously looming, becomes a fight between Kihrin and Ompher that lures her there so they can trap her with her tsali stone and Kihrin can drain its energy. Which is like. Solid plan! It worked! but it's so much more concrete and realized, and then you see the ways each author manifests these huge concepts in their story, and it's almost vulnerable, if that makes sense. To see what they choose to manifest it as, because everyone will think of something different as the optimal choice.

For me, the final book isn't a make or break situation. It is weaker (in my personal opinion) in terms of feeling, but it has enough intrigue and satisfaction in certain regards (e.g. that Kihrin/Rev'arric confrontation) that it's still solid. And alongside the rest of the series, it's still as a whole very much so up there for me. You know?