This book greatly surprised me - and it's so nice to be able to say this about the final book in a series. As always, Jemisin's writing is beautiful and I constantly fall in love with the way she describes things. And the plot - wow, the plot. By the end of the book it had taken all my expectations, twisted them around, and entirely exceeded them by doing something better. 
 I didn't think it would pull that off. For two reasons, really. Firstly because the second book in the series was an unusual but interesting shift in the pattern, a step in a different direction, and I didn't know where it would possibly be going from there. And secondly because up until a certain point in the novel, I wasn't overly compelled. I was drawn in, yes, endlessly entertained by everything that was happening, but nothing really spoke to me of the story meeting all the (admittedly high) expectations I had for it. 
 But it did. It took a while to get there, but it was all the richer for it. Kingdom of Gods took so many things from both the first and second books and wove them into the next step of the narrative, taking the story to its final culmination and, in the process, making the entire journey worth far more than just the sum of its parts. It doesn't quite reach this until the end of the book, so if you reach a point part way through the book where you are disenchanted, well, I was too. For a long time I had dwelled on the opinion that the book was more "good" than "great", but the ending was everything I didn't know I wanted and blew me away. The ending surprised, which some endings never do, and then I was finally content. Until I read the epilogue and finally felt the entire thing was perfect. 
 This kind of sweeping, changing, pacing of the narrative might not satisfy everyone who wants to love it, but for me it was an impressive way to end things by using everything the first two novels had introduced. It was not a perfect ride, but it was a great ride, and I sincerely look forward to reading absolutely everything Jemisin produces in the future. 
 I'm going to be thinking about this for a long time.