Tyrant's Throne (The Greatcoats Book 4) Kindle Edition

The fourth and final book in the Greatcoats Quartet, TYRANT'S THRONE gives us everything we have come to expect from Sebastien de Castell: friendship, love, and humor; tragedy, betrayal, and sorrow; despair, madness, guilt, hope, determination, valor (and Valor), impossible odds, and preposterous heroics. It is by turns dark, suspenseful, exciting, heart-rending, astonishing, and, as always, brilliantly written in its entirety.To reveal the plot would do the book and the reader a disservice. Be assured that it contains everything we could want, including, of course, some things we do not. There are tears, and laughter. And yes, there is an end. Not to the world--de Castell's new SPELLSLINGER series is set in another, unfamiliar part of it. Not to the Greatcoats--he promises they will reappear at some time in the future, though they will be different, younger Greatcoats. Whoever they are, we know they will be fully-realized characters, with layers to explore and reasons for what they do, because de Castell does not create one-dimensional characters (even his horses have personalities). The end is to the story begun in TRAITOR'S BLADE. And with the end, there are new beginnings.Whatever he chooses to write, I look forward to it. But I will miss them. I will miss quiet, stoic Kest Murrowson, who drove himself to learn and do and be everything; who would accept nothing less than perfection from himself while accepting a great deal less than perfection from others; and who did all that he did only and always for love. I will miss brash, handsome Brasti Goodbow, whose achievements were unjustly ignored (just ask him); who could see a budding idea or hidden sorrow in the face of one close to him as readily as he could find a far distant target; and who wept as easily as he laughed and opened his great heart to anyone in need, because he knew what it was to be downtrodden and to suffer loss. Finally, I will miss magnificent, damaged, sorrowful, faithful, haunted, inspiring, ingenious Falcio val Monde, who loved a woman, a king, a young girl, and a saint; who bore the hope of his people, the guilt of his faults--real or imagined--and the remnants of a dying dream on his shoulders; who was not and could never be perfect (only Kest could be that); who had his heart repeatedly torn from his chest, yet always, always got up to fight and love again; and who would never believe that he deserved the many people who were willing--glad--to help him rise and heal and go on.If we are very, very fortunate, I hope we may someday see Falcio, Brasti, and Kest again. Until then, I intend to re-read TRAITOR'S BLADE, KNIGHT'S SHADOW, SAINT'S BLOOD, and TYRANT'S THRONE annually. 

In the postscript, the author writes: "My ambition with the Greatcoats was to write a series of swashbuckling adventure novels that could sit on the shelf alongside Dumas’s Three Musketeers and C.S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower; that would speak to people whose hearts soared when they watched Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood or Captain Blood, and to those who discovered swashbuckling through The Princess Bride’s unparallelled homage to that remarkable heritage. Most of all, though, I wanted to write stories a reader would choose to go back to every once in a while, wanting to spend a little more time with Falcio, Kest, and Brasti in their moments of friendly banter, daring heroism—and yes, heartbreaking loss."He succeed in reaching his goal. In spades.

I enjoyed the entire series a lot although this last final stitch felt like the author had run out of clever plans. The first book I was drawn in greatly with the wit and cunning of the main character (Falcio val Mond). Alas it only went downhill gradually and I admit after the second book only motivation to continue reading was to find out the end to the intriguing primary plot point. Several things struck me as the worst. Namely irrational actions done by most of the characters, lazy writing in important areas, and the worst pitfall was probably the writer never answered what the king's plan was (talk about gulling). Although it was some saving graces. The asides, banter, and combat was still just as stunning as the previous books. The first couple chapters were remarkably well done and I just wish the rest of the book had the same fabric. I strongly suggest reading the first book in the series and not to read this series out of order. My hope is the next book is less like this one and more like the first.

One of the most satisfying conclusions to a series I have ever read. Tyrant's Throne was exactly what I wanted and more from a finally. Although it had a bumpy start in the first 100 pages or so, it immediately found its footing and the story and plot took off from there.I have said it since book one but De Castell really did his research for this series. It really made this series feel more real and vibrant. What also helped was the cast of characters. Falcio, Kest, Brasti, Valiana, and everyone else gave this story so much life and heart. I am truly sad to see this story come to a close but I am also excited that we may be coming back to this world very soon with the Our Lady of Blades series.