Priest of Crowns is the fourth and final game in the War for the Rose Throne series, and picks up right where the third books leaves off. It is, for the most part, just as excellent as the previous books, and it wraps the story up nicely while leaving the world open for further stories in the future.

The writing is as utilitarian as ever; written from Tomas Piety's perspective as a memoir, it fits his character perfectly. That isn't to say the writing is simple or inelegant, not at all, but you won't find much flowery prose here and it works for the story being told. The story moves at a breakneck pace, with plotlines that were set in place in the first and second novels finally coming together.

Tomas Piety is not a good man, not at all, and it's a credit to the author that at points in this story I felt sympathy for him. He does despicable things, he reeks of hypocrisy, he betrays people and manipulates and uses and abuses them, and doesn't apologize for any of it. He becomes what he hates the most, does things he said he wouldn't do just a couple novels ago, and isn't nearly as clever as he says he is. 

But on the other side of the same coin, he feels like a real human. He's one of the most fully-realized characters in fantasy, and while his actions may be larger in scale and more brutal than what normal people do, his feelings and trauma are intensely relatable. He's a veteran with terrible PTSD, he had an abusive childhood, he's falling into alcoholism, and all the while his brother's a madman, his best friend doubts him, and his country's falling apart.

I do have a few minor issues with the book. I feel like Tomas should've seen the big twist in the last few pages coming from a mile away - a twist that was made expressly clear to the reader. That said, it was a clean way to wrap up remaining side plots and a fitting end to this chapter of the memoir. The same phrases I nitpicked in the previous novels are still used extensively here, but I found in this entry I didn't really mind it.

Great end to the series and I'm excited for what the author does next.