We become Grimnoir in order to become heroes, to sacrifice our lives in the pursuit of a higher cause, to defend the defenseless . . . I’ve found that means attending a lot of funerals.

[b:Hard Magic|8643407|Hard Magic (Grimnoir Chronicles, #1)|Larry Correia|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327951330s/8643407.jpg|13514467] was a magical detective / spy story. It was a lot of fun, but there were only a few hints of the bigger story behind the story.

In [b:Spellbound|10822283|Spellbound (Grimnoir Chronicles, #2)|Larry Correia|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1313446621s/10822283.jpg|15736027], things took a turn for the powerful as we learned more about what the Power was and just how crazy a Spellbound could be.

[b:Warbound|16130317|Warbound (Grimnoir Chronicles, #3)|Larry Correia|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1359402972s/16130317.jpg|21955621] ramps it up another level, with the rise of a false Chairman, and the Enemy's Pathfinder bringing war to Actives all over the Earth. It's a well deserved and well written conclusion to the story.

The worldbuilding is just as interesting as it ever was, especially now that we see a lot more about how the Power and its magic actually work--particularly as we see how the rules we thought we knew can be bent and broken.

The characters are great as well. The relationship/counterpoint between ex(ish) Iron Guard Toru Tokugawa and Jake Sullivan is pretty great, especially their final confrontation in the epilogue. Faye is a wonderful, crazy girl with just the right combination of innocence, spunk, and flat out power. All of the other Grimnoir and pirates and Iron Guard? Great.

About the worst I can say for the conclusion is it seems to end too quickly. I wish I could have spent just a little while longer in the world. Perhaps the short stories?

Overall, one of the better series I've read in a long time. Give it a read. ( )

Mostly killing well narrated ( )

What a ride this was. All three books were fantastic and tight, but this one felt absolutely gorgeous. I can't say that about most books, urban fantasy or otherwise, but I can with this one. It had the perfect joy of ups and downs, subtle magics and a mind-blowing over the top epic space monster battle. It had enemies turning into friends. It had the struggle of ultimate evil in a woman's heart.

This might have been the last of the hugo nominees for the year that I've read, but I have to admit to myself that it was probably the very best of them. That's a tough call for me. I really enjoyed the others a lot. There wasn't a choice that I didn't enjoy.

I was even a little biased against this one because I had read a few of this author's MHI books, and while they were quite fun and interesting, they didn't have near the same polish as this series.

All three books belong together, but I suppose people could read this one out of sequence without too much difficulty, but they run the risk of not enjoying the characters quite as much.

This was a very fine book. ( )

Conclusion to this very engaging series. The Actives are the worlds only hope from the Enemy even though most don't believe the Enemy exists. Highly recommend, even if It's not my usual genre.
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Read as part of 2014 Hugo Packet. Rather hackneyed steam-punk supernatural tale, complete with airships and loads of gunporn.
Slow to begin, full of clunky prose and outclassed in this field. Gave up about 100 pages in. ( )