Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsBancroft stuck the landing on this one.
Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2019
Let me start by saying I've been waiting quite a while, or what feels like decades, for this book. In reality it's only been a year or two. I also was under the misguided impression that this was the final installment in The Books of Babel, but apparently it's not. I'm not even sure at this point if that's a spoiler, or pure ignorance on my part (I'm leaning towards the latter). Lastly, I'm not going to reveal even one little thing that happens in it.
Going in, The Hod King felt like a book where there was no way it could live up to my expectations. How many times have you heard, "book one is the best!" Or, "the original was clearly superior to the sequels! They kept going downhill from there!" We've been baited with sequels, and next in series, etc. to the point that it's easy to set yourself up for disappointment. Let's be honest, It's hard to write a sequel, history is evidence. But somehow, Josiah Bancroft keeps getting better.
How? Well going in to almost any third or fourth book or movie, we generally feel like we know what will happen. And it usually does happen. I'll admit, I thought I knew what was going to happen in The Hod King. Pretty sure, at least (not that sure). Then I read the first and second books again, and certainty left. My favorite part about this series is after that, I conceded that I had no idea what would happen at all. And I kind of loved it.
If you've read Senlin Ascends and Arm of the Sphinx, liked them, and were wondering if you'd like the third? It is an absolute no-brainer. It's fantastic. So good that I've now written Josiah Bancroft a mental blank check, as it were. I'll read anything he writes going forward.
