The Spider's War

I’ve gushed about the Dagger and Coin series to everyone that I’ve met that showed an interest in epic fantasy. It delivers the strengths of the genre (imagination, transport, awe) while avoiding the weaknesses (glacial pace, irrelevance).

Now I can also assure them that it avoids the infamous pitfall of modern epic fantasy stories: neglecting to actually end at some point.

This series ends, and it’s a good ending. It’s epic and conclusive without being too pat. It resolves most of the drama and gives the characters a chance to flourish. It leaves loose ends, but in the same way that life does, and it’s more believable for it. I hope a certain author whose blurb tops the cover of every volume takes inspiration.

I know that the most common feeling when finishing something you love is to want more, but I don’t. This series is great the way it is.

My complaints from previous books still hold here. The writing is occasionally clunky. There are a few sentences that just don’t scan right, and a climactic action scene uses some jarringly disconnected logic.

As well, I’m still not sold on the idea of banks saving the world with monetary policy, since the consequences of that here in the real world are starting to look questionable.

But those are just blemishes on what is otherwise a wonderful (and complete!) work of epic fantasy.

You can't change a man's mind when he's lost the capacity to see he's wrong.

The Spider's War is a satisfying end to an excellent series. At this point it is a challenge to separate one from the other but neither disappointed.

He's a small man in a large position

The characters were wonderfully written and up until the end I still struggled if I sided with the villain. Geder was a true tyrant and acted beyond the truths of Basrahip and the goddess, but even in his most vile (the children and the Division) he did so to prove a point and maintain the fear he established.

Here lies a vicious, petty tyrant who damn near broke the world. He did one brave thing at the end.

Geder only wanted to be loved and even that was falsely given in this finale. Geder saw himself as a hero but the rest of the continent saw him as a tyrant and he couldn't reconcile the two sides of himself.

The war was over, but humanity was still itself. The hatred might last forever.

The underlying theme of the series is that humanity is flawed and even with evil purged the ugliness still remains. Discrimination and intolerance are not new elements introduced by the Spider Goddess, they were exploited and amplified. The series walked that fine line and at times a fantasy story didn't feel that fictitious.

I didn't think I'd have to mourn my victories.

I enjoyed that the totality of war wasn't sugarcoated. There are generations impacted by the battles waged and that peace is an illusion. The high points of battle are outweighed by the mundane, the fatigue of survival or the march for survival through the mountain pass up to Bellin. The mundane was made interesting and between climactic set pieces Abraham was able to hold my attention and bring me along for the grind of existence.

"Mercy has no reason", Inys signed. "Mercy justified is only justice."

"Deep," Marcus said.

Inys was perfectly handled. He continued to be a threat but a moody one that laments the loss of the dragons, his false claims and struggles with the expectation of working with slaves. Everything is below Inys but he cares enough to help when it's convenient.

Things are difference since the bankers took over.

Dagger and Coin was a beautifully crafted world with a rich history. Each region had their own inhabitants, stories and unique elements and through the books we experienced a little bit of everything but for this story less was more. The Drowned are a mostly unknown race, what do the inhabitants of Far Syramis call their land, do they still call it "Far"?

I always associate fantasy stories with the use of magic but what was used in Dagger and Coin was minimal and used for mundane items like healing or communication. There was never a showdown between one mage and another and that left our heroes to rely on their own wits for survival.

As the case with the last few books I highlighted more pieces of text than I could use in the review so here are some of the other noteworthy quotes I captured along the way.

"It isn't mercy if you deserve it. Mercy justified is only justice."

Clara laughed once mirthlessly. "That has all the virtue of being true and none of the comfort."

"It wasn't mine. Someone told em it once. I don't remember who."

"Someone with more mind than heart," Clara said

---

The adulation of the court washed over him, warming him, cleaning him, forgiving him his failures or else denying they existed.