While I will always have fond memories of this story as a whole, I do think the third book lost steam as it went along. I've been thinking about it, and I truly think this could've worked better as a duology. There was just so much repetition in this series. The first book is still really strong for me. But the second and third just seem to recycle a lot of the interactions and themes and situations. There are still moments that I enjoyed, but I had a really hard time focusing on this final book for the most part. Almost nothing stood out.

I think that if I hadn't read these back to back I would've appreciated this more, because the author does refer back to events that happen in previous books to get us caught up to speed, but for me, someone who read the books one right after the other, it just read as boring exposition to something I'd just read. I appreciate when authors have summaries of previous books in the series, and I'm not even saying you can't refer back to events/history of your world. But when the pacing of the story is affected as we get a full rundown of different characters, groups, and their motivations, it makes it difficult to stay connected. Just put a two-three page summary at the front of the book and call it good!

Still, I really enjoy the discussion of AI and what makes someone alive/what is a soul. There are so many things that this series does right. I just wish the ending was as strong as the beginning.