I almost put down the book when 3 paragraphs in the first 3 pages began with some version of this line:
"Shit," he said.
But I managed to slog through bI almost put down the book when 3 paragraphs in the first 3 pages began with some version of this line:
"Shit," he said.
But I managed to slog through because I was told this was a some genre-breaking novel that didn't rely so heavily on typical fantasy clichés and it was supposed to be really dark and gritty. Instead of gritty, it felt kind of like a teenager who swears a lot to try and sound like an adult: really forced and usually out of context. A lot of the writing in general seemed to trip over itself. Good editing would have helped a lot.
Luckily, it's a fast read and it only took a day to read it. Probably because I've read the books Abercrombie pulls from. Stop me if you've heard of any of these plotlines:
A powerful and mysterious wizard who reappears at various times through history reappears once again to put together an unlikely fellowship comprising of each of the major factions that we hear about in the novels and they have to transport an infinitely powerful magical item somewhere. They have to be on the lookout for a fallen wizard who wants said item and a bunch of magically created servants who are going to hunt them down.
An introspective torturer who's a shadow of his former self.
Invaders from the north who won't listen to others about the REAL threat coming from further north.
An unconventionally beautiful, plain speaking commoner girl, here to turn a certain nobleman's world upside down.
There's more I could list, but I'd rather talk about the last one for a moment. For the majority of the book, this down to earth girl is the only female character in the entire thing. And she's a victim of abuse. She's really only there to complicate things for the boys. About two thirds of the way through, we're introduced to our second female character who is also, surprise, a victim of abuse and a former slave. Neither of the characters seems to really have any depth, at all. One could be replaced by a pair of batting eyelashes and the other could be replaced by the word VENGEANCE....more
Better than I initially thought it was going to be, but suffered from being too long. Could have dropped all of the Dianora parts of he book and it woBetter than I initially thought it was going to be, but suffered from being too long. Could have dropped all of the Dianora parts of he book and it would have been the exact same book. Really, the women were so poorly written that all of them could be dropped from the book and it wouldn't change too much....more
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