I love this series! It’s a fantastic adult science fiction and dystopian read. The major characters are so great between Koli, Monono, Ursula, Cup, and Spinner. I will say this last book got a little slower to me than the first two and some of the adventures weren’t quite as interesting, but I still loved it and enjoyed the ending to Koli’s story. And it has quite the ending!

I really appreciate Cup as a main character that is Trans and well fleshed out and shown having made a new family that supports her. This is one of the very few books I have read with trans rep and to have it be in such a positive way that explores Cup’s options and thoughts and her support network is really great.

Some of the ideas throughout the series and how they culminate in this final book were really interesting. For one, I love how tech went through different forms of usage from showing who was supposed to be in power, to finding its own power through becoming AI, through being claimed as someone’s property by right, to making copies of people and used in political coups, to the final use of bringing people together again.

I listened to this whole series on audiobook, which kept the same narrator across all three books, while adding one at a point for Spinner and adding a third voice for a character in the final book. The narration was fantastic, particularly for Koli!

I think if you love a good science fiction, dystopian, speculations on AI, plants vs. people, some light political intrigue, diverse reading, and a typically faster paced read, you will certainly enjoy this series. ( )

https://tamaranth.blogspot.com/2023/03/2023038-fall-of-koli-m-r-carey.html ( )

Solid conclusion to a trilogy I enjoyed quite a bit! This was the only one from the series I did on audio, and the readers, Theo Solomon, Saffron Coomber, and Hanako Footman, all did a really nice job. I was bummed out at how Monono’s voice was portrayed once the Dreamsleeve was destroyed, since she sounded kind of unfeeling, but it was only right to change it as things progressed. To be honest, I had gotten used to the “manic pixie dream girl” voice, and it was an adjustment when it was mostly gone.
This series really had some twists and turns, and I was happy at how often it surprised me. I never could have predicted that perfect, fabulous ending.
I did feel like this could have been a shorter book. Koli and Monono’s narration of their time on Sword of Albion and Spinner’s narration of the lead-up to the war with Half-Ax dragged on a bit longer than I thought was necessary. I sure loved Monono’s POV chapters, though! The three POVs made the story so much more nuanced and interesting than it would have been with any one of these characters telling the whole thing alone.
Good stuff—I’m glad I finally got to book 3! ( )

Wonderful end to a great series. ( )

I am always worried when a series I am enjoying publishes its last book. I should not have worried here.

Just when you think that the world in this series cannot get weirder, we get crazy robots, clones and the Arthurian legends mixed in with everything else we already had. And despite that, Carey not just manages to close the story properly and clean up all the dangling threads but to find a finish which brings closure to everyone.

Koli and company finally find the truth about the signal that sent them on the whole adventure to start with - and despite their hopes, it turns out to be quite different from what they could have imagined. Before long, they get in trouble - except that this time it is not just Koli, Monono, Ursala and Cup that are about to lose everything - they manage to kick off a world invasion. And just when things look absolutely hopeless, our stellar team pulls another rabbit out from their collective hats and turn the tables on everyone. Meanwhile, back in Mythen Rood, things deteriorate even worse than they do for Koli - the chances of the village surviving seem to get lower by the day.

100 pages before the end of the book, I was not sure how Carey can get wrap up all the threads - he was still opening new ones at that point. And yet, he managed to - he even managed to pull a final twist which was unexpected but absolutely logical.

I really enjoyed the whole trilogy -- and I think that Carey found the perfect length for the story - maybe some parts could have been cut but... even the ones which seemed unimportant ended up helping in these last chapters and making the end possible. But you should not try to read this novel on its own - it will work even less as a standalone than the second one. ( )