REVIEWS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: THE THRONE OF THE GODS (RAVEN SON BOOK 5) BY NICHOLAS KOTAR

Reposting from Amazon with minor edits

Abstract: A great ending to the series. While there were some instances where the exposition or the author breaking the fourth wall that pulled me out of the story and some aspects regarding characters and the ending were unsatisfactory, overall I really enjoyed this book and love how Kotar ended his series. Definitely worth the journey.

Content Warning (highlight to view): frightening scenes, violence

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I wish I could give a more accurate score. 4/5 just doesn’t look as good as an 8 or 9 out of 10.

When I read book 1 of this series, I seriously considered stopping there. Despite some interesting ideas and world building, there were a lot of issues with execution and clunky prose so that I wasn’t sure I wanted to continue. However, there were some parts, scenes or character choices, that spoke of potential yet unrealized, and I decided to give the next book a chance.

Boy am I glad I did!

Kotar has truly grown as an author over the course of this series. The story was never boring, even if I didn’t like a couple of the tropes he decided to use, and I came to really care about the characters. But what impresses me the most is his prose. How he describes and writes certain parts of this book are just amazing. There were hints in book 1, but here, the writing touches upon something deeper than the events, on truths of reality that resonate so deeply as to elevate the reader into a realm that is more than what we see and usually experience. There was one line in particular, which comes within the last few pages of the book, that made my throat tighten and emotions swell with a joy that is so hard to capture. But you have to read what came before to understand it. To know its significance. You have to go through Hell in order to reach the gates of Heaven. But it’s so worth it.

That’s not to say the book is perfect. I did say this is an 8 or a 9, after all. There were a couple questions at the end of the book that were unanswered, and I hope for future side stories to address them, and I while I like all of Kotar’s romances, they do tend to be pretty quick and underdeveloped. They aren’t bad. But I do like a bit more development of the relationship before the characters get together. Kotar also breaks the fourth wall once or twice and has a bit of clunky exposition, which broke my immersion. However, I understand both instances and the difficulty of what he was trying to do. He’s dealing with some pretty difficult concepts, especially regarding symbolism, that we’ve largely forgotten how to interact with and understand in the modern world, and while I can wish he had done a better job, I appreciate what he is doing and what he did with those things.

By the way, there is a LOT of symbolic language in this story, and it’s great! I wish I could go into my favorites, but that would be spoilers. ; )

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I’m not sure if I like this or Heart of the World best of the series, but either way, it was well worth finishing. I loved the characters, the story was interesting and had some good twists and turns, the prose was good and at times phenomenal, and the way certain symbols and themes and events played out was so good! I’m happy this series is completed, but I’m even more happy that I decided to stick with it to the end. Great finale, and I’m excited to see what Kotar releases next.