My thoughts about The Pattern of the World are incredibly mixed, and I'm honestly not sure if it is a me thing or an actual deficit in the story. Maybe it's a bit of both. There was plenty to like, especially if you enjoyed the first two books, but I just never wanted to pick the book back up. It took me over a week to finish it, which is a really long time considering how quickly I usually read.

I'll start with some of the things I enjoyed. First, The Pattern of the World added so much to my understanding of the world-building of this series. I now have a much better grasp on how the magic works, and this story provided some fascinating information about the history of the gods, their origin, and the seemingly endless war they've raged. Some of the descriptions did get a bit too cerebral at times, which made it hard for me to picture some of the magic and events, but the writing, in general, was superb, which should come as no surprise.

The Pattern of the World also continued Greathouse's beautiful examination of these characters. Just like the second book, this one follows multiple POVs, and each of them had a significant arc with a great deal of growth. Alder was still my favorite, and I liked that he had learned from his mistakes but also still struggled to go against his nature to implement those lessons. He had to accept the sacrifice of the things he wanted most in the world to fix the horrible consequences of his previous actions. Pinion's journey of dealing with his grief and desire for revenge and Koro Ha's road to accepting his new power and role of hope-bringer to his people were also both compelling.

The place where The Pattern of the World fell short was the story and its pacing. There was so much philosophizing, and it seemed like the entire book was spent on characters talking about deciding what they should do. The world was literally falling apart around them, but we only got a few glimpses of the mayhem because they just sat in a safe city and squabbled. I kept waiting for the characters to come together and DO SOMETHING, which didn't happen until the very end. When it finally came, the end made sense, but it was definitely lackluster. I also wish anyone else had helped Alder because my least favorite character played a larger role than I'd have liked.

Overall, there were things I liked and disliked about The Pattern of the World. It definitely wasn't my favorite book in this series, but it brought the character arcs to a logical and mostly satisfying conclusion. Make sure to read the epilogue. The ending was way too abrupt without it. I just wish there had been a little less talking and a bit more action in this one. Therefore, I rate The Pattern of the World 3.75 out of 5 stars.

I really liked this series. I thought this one dragged in spots, but still enjoyed it. I was happy with the ending. I won't go into any details since it's the final book in the series.

Now that I look back at my reviews of the first and second book of the trilogy, my initial enthusiasm with this story has apparently worn off of a bit but not disappeared completely. And this may not be the book's fault.

If Book 2 was slow at some points, Book 3 took me ages to read. I felt that the story has run out of action and adventures, and has become dilemma-heavy by the end - lots of thinking and struggling going on in the characters' heads but only a few real events. Some readers may prefer this but I'm more like the action-lover type.
I have always had difficulty in grasping some of the abstract concepts the plot is built on, and when reading recurring expressions like "separating layers of the pattern", "phantom limb" and "building walls in the labyrinth of the mind" I wanted so badly to visualize and understand what they looked like. And I couldn't.

My favourite chapters were definitely those of Koro Ha, followed by Pinion, however I still prefer the single POV used in the first book to the multi-POV of the other two novels. I was at a loss with Ral: she popped up in Book 2, out of the blue, and to me was an odd one out ever since.

Greathouse's prose is as beautiful as ever and he has created an immensely complex world in this series. For this he deserves all the praise.

Thank you NetGalley and JAB Books for an Advance Review Copy.

Pact and Pattern closes out a solid 4-star series with another strong entry. Thanks to JABberwocky for the ARC. I had some issues with the book that I'll discuss here, but it is a very good series, and I do recommend it highly.

Now, I was not a huge fan of one aspect of how the series ends, but this is a matter of personal preference. I thought that the plot point was well-executed--I just wish it had gone a different way. I don't think that's a real criticism. Some people are going like the way it goes, and telling you that it wasn't my favorite thing to have happen--well, that doesn't really tell you much. The ending is certainly appropriate to the series.

That aside, I think The Pattern of the World's biggest weakness is how it functions as a single volume. The first book is all Wen Alder/Foolish Cur, and then book 2 opens up the narrative with more POVs. That didn't work for every reader (though it did for me), but regardless, there is no comparable evolution, moving into book 3.

We have the same POVs as in book 2, and The Pattern of the World is mostly about cleaning up the mess they made there. As a result, while The Garden of Empire works very well as a single volume--reading it on its own and not in close proximity to other volumes in the series--book 3 works best as part of the whole. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, in the context of a trilogy, but it does make The Pattern of the World a slight disappointment, as compared to how book 2 lands.

That's really not a very strong criticism. I think that, if I had read all three books in a row instead of reading each volume as it came out, I would not have had any such issues. Book 3 is a great second half to book 2, in a sense. Reading it this way was a bit like waiting a year between reading the first and second halves of The Once and Future King (well, if the Sword in the Stone part was also depressing lol).

Greathouse's writing still meets the fine standard he set for himself at the start. I find that it works best in Foolish Cur's first-person retrospective chapters and Ral Ans Urrera's often dream-like present-tense chapters. But Pinion and Koro Ha's more standard 3rd person limited chapters are good, too. As in book 2, I like the effect of the varying POVs on how the narrative comes together.

I'm not entirely certain how I feel about the handling of theme in the series. I'll have to think about it more. For example, colonialism is a major theme, but in this world, it exists as a direct response to a very real magical threat. To some extent, those kind of plot elements muddle up the messaging. And that's fine--you don't want it to be too on the nose, after all--but I am still on the fence about what it seems like Greathouse is saying, here. But even if I end up deciding that I don't like it, the fact that it has me thinking is enough to count the themes as a positive.

Overall, Pact and Pattern is very good contemplative fantasy series that clips along at a faster pace than some other famous examples of the same. If you like Robin Hobb, Ken Liu, or even Steven Erikson, I'd recommend giving it a try. It's short enough to not be a huge commitment, after all. I will definitely be purchasing a physical copy in August so I can give the complete trilogy a home on my shelves.

”I don't hope simply for a better world,” he said softly. “I hope for a good one.”

Thank you to JAB books for providing me with an arc in exchange for a review.

After ripping the pattern by wielding forbidden magic against the emperor, Foolish Cur gave the gods access to the world. Now the unwoven, monsters set on ravaging the people, stalk the earth, accompanied by by uncertain weather, time, and magic.

To save the world, our characters must grapple with what they are willing to do, what they are willing to give up to rectify their mistakes, to remember the past, to fix the future.

Always I had longed for some third path through the world, neither the empire's grasping cruelty nor my uncle's fatalistic resistance. I had long hoped that magic would provide such a path, but of course magic was only a tool, not an end in itself.

This is told from the perspectives of Foolish Cur, Hand Pinion, the old tutor Koro Hu, and a new main addition of Ral the stormbringer.
Through them, we are shown how the end of the world is felt to those with different pasts, cultures, motivations, and ideas of the future. What the empire has meant to them, done to them, drives the way they want to shape the new world.

As an infected body burns with fever, so a suffering people burns with rage, which builds and builds until it can be contained no longer and must burn out the oppressors like the sickness they are a terrible thing to witness, a painful thing to do, but necessary if the body is to survive.

Sadly, I think this is my least favourite of the series. It was a lot more moralisingly pressurised and felt almost indoctrinating in its own means at times.
Also the end… I had to reread it a few times thinking I didn’t have the full copy until the next page titled epilogue. Whilst it felt like a just ending and an epic wrap up to Cur’s character growth, it also felt quite predictable and rushed compared to the languid slowness of the other arcs.

If you enjoyed this, I would recommend The Hands of the Emperor and the Dandelion Dynasty.