Kat's Reviews > Corambis

The Final Adventure of Two Redheaded Brothers Who Desperately Need Therapy and One of Them is a Wizard, with bonus Bitter Angry Blind Guy. I didn't find this tale as compelling as the previous volumes of the series, possibly because the pacing was super odd (it took about half the novel for the brothers' narrative to hook up with the third narrator's, and even then it took another long stretch before it became clear what they had to do with each other), and also because I didn't find the setting nearly as compelling as that of the prior books. Magic plus trains and murderous engines is pretty cool, but the culture of Corambis itself seemed much less complex and colorful than Melusine or even Troia, the Island of Magical Redheads.

Of course it's still a good read, most especially as Felix comes to terms with himself and his situation and starts to finally recover from his various traumas, and Monette is such a skilled writer that even the long stretches of not much happening are compelling and enjoyable. Yet, as a series conclusion it's so ... sort of odd and not what one would expect that I closed the book with a feeling of, "... huh. Was that it?"

Highlights for me included Mildmay learning to read, and the expansion of the magic system, which may be the best thought-out system I've read (or at least my favorite, and the one that makes the most intuitive sense). (I would still totally read a series about Mildmay the Sleuth solving mysteries and busting heads, though, I'm just saying.)