Wow. What a blockbuster ending.

The conclusion to this historical fantasy series held no punches in both its pacing and its brutality. The story drags you into the action right away and pulls you along the story until your breathless.

I love a historical fantasy. I love the blend of history and magic weaving together to create incredible possibilities. The magic really held the spotlight in this book, and I'm not complaining one bit. It was fascinating and exciting.

For this series, I feel like I was much more invested in the plot and the world/magic than I was in the characters, which made the story lose a bit of heart for me. I wanted greater connections and bonds between characters. But overall, it was filled with incredible storytelling and details.

The brutal conclusion to what’s been an entertaining historical fantasy. Stephen Aryan sticks the landing and ends things in a way that honor both the historic and fantastical elements of the story.

The Ilkhanate is now under the command of Temujin, and his time is already running out. Princess Kokochin finds herself on a mission that will take her far beyond Persia. General Kaivon has built a significant force, but as war threatens on the horizon, allies must be made from the unlikely places. For Timur is coming.

So this was an interesting finale. I haven’t read very many historical fantasy series, but this series is one of a few I’ve read recently and they collectively have made me realize how challenging a balancing act it must be when you’re putting together this kind of story. What side of the scale to you skew to? Do you try to keep it as true to historical fact as possible? Or do you dive headlong into the fantastical aspect and completely rewrite what the history texts currently say? Either way I think you go, you’re probably never going to please every body, but I think Stephen Aryan manages to find a solid path through that question, especially considering what he depicts is part of what’s ultimately a large story.

So of course I have to talk about the way the characters have been impacted by the previous book, and the two that standout for me are complementing scenarios that go to different ends of the sliding scale. On one side with have Kokochin. Where in the previous books she's had to harden herself to take on the tasks she sets her mind to, we see what that cost her in the previous book with the impact to her relationship, and in this book we see the way that bond helps her change once again to not only meet the demand but also retain a part of what made her who she is. On the opposite side of that we have Temujin. With the drastic challenges he faces and the lack of personal ties to ground him, we see him become warped by necessity into something that made for interesting reading.

And speaking of Temujin, I can't help but think on the way the fantastical conflict of this story gets wrapped up, and to be honest it feels a bit anticlimactic. One of the drawbacks of writing overpowered characters is that they have the ability to deal with most conflicts in a very easy, arbitrary fashion, and that's kind of what we see here as the conflict among the Kozan factions come to a head. For a group of people with a lot of history, you'd expect there to be ….. more, but instead things get wrapped up in a way I suspect a lot of people will find unsatisfactory.

As to how the book sets out to achieve the wrapping up of the story that Stephen Aryan has crafted so far, I think it does so in a satisfactory way. The book itself is fast paced, things happen rapidly and the word count is kept low which helps to accelerate the pace and tension between major moments. We get some very entertaining battle scenes I enjoyed quite a bit to close things out between the various human armies, and on the fantastical side the Kozan conflict gets strange and epic when the gloves come off. Its tightly written, and even with multiple arcs running concurrently it all wraps up and closes off in a way that makes it clear that this is an ending but not The Ending. After all, the Mongol Empire lasts for well beyond the time depicted in these novels, and the region will see much more conflict before that all comes to an end.

All in all, a fun installment to what's been a fun series. It does a great job of drawing on the history of the time to create an engaging story with some truly intense moments that make you realize just how far some of these characters have come, willingly or otherwise. A good ending.

NOTE: YT video review goes public on April 18th 2025

I have thoroughly enjoyed each book in this series and this latest installment was a great addition. The pacing is great and always catches my attention right from page one. Loved it!

I really love this series and have become a huge fan of the way Aryan writes.

The style is punchy, direct, and takes you straight into the action. I feel totally submerged into the story from page one, every time

This book is the finale, and Aryan sticks the landing. Everything that's come before has led to these grandstand moments.

The magic slightly takes over in this book, compared to the others. So, for those who love fantasy more than the historical, this will be the perfect blend.

I am now intending to work my way through all other Aryan books. A superstar in the making !

The first two books have a place of historical fantasy favourites for me.

Sadly, as you may be able to tell from my rating, this was my least favourite of the trilogy.
I think due to the nature of this historical, military fantasty, the ending would be explosive but risked becoming repetitive and predictable.

Temujin Khan, ruler of the Ilkhanate, killer of kin. What a turnaround his character has had - becoming the very thing he despised his father for.
Kokochin is working to disrupt the Mongol Empire from within, separated from Layla as she tries to find her way back after becoming someone she barely recognised. Capable of atrocious acts.
Kaivon and Esme support Temujin in a long-term plan to seek freedom for the nation states.

<b>“Think of them as growing pains,” said Kimya. “Even the bloodshed that is bound to follow.”
</b>
The narration felt more stilted in this instalment. Every sentence was short and snappy, but overly and repetitively so. It was matter-of-fact, tell instead of show, and gave it this emotionless tone.

The war between the two opposing factions of Kozan who support Order and Chaos felt like it should been the most explosive part of this yet I felt like this was sidelined and resolved too easily and quickly.

Perhaps this would have worked better as a more tightly compact duology, however I am always drawn in to Aryan’s writing and pacing. As I have said before, I don’t like action scenes but I enjoy Aryan’s!

This sounds like I hated it. I didn’t. I was just let down as I LOVED the first two.
P.S. if you haven’t, try his other books too!

Physical arc gifted by Angry Robot.

loved this book so much, one of my most anticipated reads of the year. really hoping stephen aryan publishes more stories set in this world/historical persia as it was honestly a straight 5 star read from the first page

- super fast paced straight from the start!! but easy to follow & the action scenes were well thought out in the way they were written. keeps you on the edge of your seat, no part of this book dragged
- loved all of the characters and POVs, they all felt like main characters with main stories into an overarching plot which was awesome. there wasn’t a single weak POV! they were also woven so well into each other.
- the magic system is just SO damn interesting in this book! it was easy to grasp yet still so mysterious, i’d love to find out more
- wrapped up the storyline’s really well, yet there was enough set up for future stories in this world

thanks to the publisher & netgalley for ARC in exchange for an honest review 🩷

Stephen Aryan has done it again. An excellent finale in what is a really solid historical fantasy series.

A satisfying end to Khans story and the conclusion had a bittersweet feeling that one enjoyed. I devoured this in two sittings as it was so exciting and filled with all the build up of previous fights and battles.

The Sorrow of the Sea by Stephen Aryan is such a good story. This book should be read by more people. It should be viral on socials. It was so so goog!!!

Having read the first two in the series, I was excited to see The Sorrow of the Sea! Excellent conclusion yet maybe leaving room for more?! Action, adventure...sorrow and tribulations. Fighting the Khans for freedom, love this period.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

The amazing conclusion to a story of war and magic on an international scale with a happy ending. I want more!

Mongol warriors led by the progeny of the great Genghis Khan, Persian rebels, networks of spies, mages that have their own conflicts and also interfere in human clashes, all this and more come together as history and fantasy cross paths in The Nightingale and the Falcon Trilogy. The Sorrow of the Sea winds up this trilogy in the action-packed story telling style of the prior two entries into this series. The book begins with a so far-summary that I always appreciate in fantasy series when I am not binging the entire set (but not enough that could replace reading the prior books). Then we return to the conflicts and trials faced by Temujin, Kokochin, Kaivon and their friends. We travel from battlefields in Persia to cities in what would be present-day Pakistan and Italy and meet characters whose names are familiar from history books. All the while, the tale of grand conquests and epic wars also remains that of this handful of persons that bring it to life. By the end, we get some sense of closure for the characters that we have come to know, but this is a wide world and history does go on...I'm sure that anyone who started this trilogy will be excited to read this ending and fans of historical fantasy that have not yet started the series will be excited at the opportunity at a completed trilogy to travel back in time with.
I received access to this eARC thru NetGalley (for which I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher, Angry Robot) for an honest review. The opinion expressed here is my own.