Excellent conclusion to the trilogy, satisfying throughout keeping the high quality narrative and characterisations right to the end. Sorry it is done. Sophie Aldred's role as narrator is absolutely first rate, she manages the complexity of the various characters with seeming consummate ease. Work to create a wonderful experience. ( )

a lovely ending to a trilogy of rollicking adventures in the far future universe of the crew of the scavenger ship called the Vulture God. for which purpose the author invented a splendid bunch of characters, including many ingenious forms of aliens, as the worlds are threatened by some species of ancient life that is trying to destroy all sentient life to clean the place up a little. plenty of imaginative ideas to contemplate here, though the main point is the fun. there's a very nice After the Wars denouement too, during which i may even have shed a few tears for the heroes and antiheroes and even the villains, while wishing for more. ( )

Tried twice to read it, but after some hundred pages - no thanks. Book one was great, book two was ok, book three... too much. ( )

I have to admit I was wary about this book. First book was excellent, could stand on its own, it had that mystery ending that just felt satisfying. Then came sequel - also good but definitely not standalone and more oriented towards building to some crescendo but ending so abruptly that you had to produce book three, like, pronto. But this left a feeling uncertainty because .... well, will the author finish it [with that expected crescendo] or plan for further 2[,3,4,....] books and thus dilute the overall story?

And here is book three. The Crescendo. Book is now 608 pages (though 40 last pages are overview of races, characters and events so book itself is solid 570-ish pages), solid door stopper if there ever was one. But believe me, from start to end it is so finely written book that it will keep you glued to the pages until the very end. If it weren't for, you know, life!, I would have finished it in a day.

Story wise ...... how to say anything about the story without ruining experience for anyone ...... sorry, can't. I will just say that no character is safe, everybody is walking that thin line between life and death. Reason is simple - all the actions of all parties are believable (yes, even the Razor :)) and logical (of course not at the beginning but as they develop). Story flows and it is visible that everyone is basically racing towards their death, but with single goal on their mind - stopping the Architects and destruction they cause.

Main antagonists ...... man ...... in the first book I said that everything reminded me of Dragon Never Sleeps by Glen Cook, and I was right, to a degree of course, because together with that twist true nature of the Architects' masters is not that dissimilar to W40K Warp creatures. I think that in our times Emperor read this entire series and said - Aha! Now this book gave me some useful ideas! Need to see if it applies to what I know......

Ending is marvelously done. Author left (I think, might be wrong though) some elements to create more stories in this universe in the future (although I think that these three books are more than well rounded trilogy). Altogether all characters' story-lines are pretty much neatly ended. Man there is conclusion, truly a proper conclusion :) After almost 1700 pages :) I can't tell you how happy this makes me :)

Highly, highly recommended. Truly an epic. Don't let the sheer size of books frighten you - they look large and heavy but are so masterfully written that you will go through them in a couple of days and you will be able to see with your inner eye all the wonders of this strange universe, from strange and deadly aliens to Unspace and its wonders.

I will say again, highly recommended. If you are fan of space opera do yourself a favor, pick this series up and enjoy! ( )

The ‘Final Architecture’ trilogy of which this book forms the last part is easily the best thing Tchaikovsky has written in recent years. It has depth, plausibility, imagination and a set of varied, realistic characters the reader cares about. The narrative if perhaps slightly predictable is compelling enough to justify three books and for the most part this final volume delivers quite satisfyingly even if the final third of the book, is denser, overwrought and indeed slightly over written. Overall this is the best SF I’ve read for a while. ( )