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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Well.. Not the best or the worst. I'm planning to read the next book
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I hated this. The premise was interesting and the book built an interesting world up quite quickly with snippets of varied magic, cultures, etc.
But the characters suck. Their decisions suck. The author doesn't give any of them time to develop meaningfully, which is probably the main reason this failed for me so completely. The sappy romance parts that were done weirdly didn't help either. And the POV's journey was frustrating. I get that this is supposed to be grimdark, but the shark jumped way over into edgy territory for me.
1.5/5
But the characters suck. Their decisions suck. The author doesn't give any of them time to develop meaningfully, which is probably the main reason this failed for me so completely. The sappy romance parts that were done weirdly didn't help either. And the POV's journey was frustrating. I get that this is supposed to be grimdark, but the shark jumped way over into edgy territory for me.
1.5/5
Repetitive and Navel Gazing
I enjoyed a lot of the aspects of this book. It leaned into its grimdark nature giving us a character who is pretty much a murderous asshole from page 1. I also enjoyed the magical elements in this world.
However, both of those things were kind of dragged down for me by the execution of the story. The narrative is overly repetitive where it feels like it hits the same story beats over and over and over again. Ditto for the characterization. I don't know how many times we had to get inner thoughts from the main character about his conflicted nature. My best estimate is approximately 10,000. I found myself saying "Dude you murdered someone in cold blood right at the beginning. You're a homicidal maniac. Just embrace it." Fletcher had a similar issue with how often we are told people at large dislike the main character because of his skin color. It feels like he belabors this point to absurdity.
Overall I would say I liked this more than I disliked it but just barely. The magic and world are pretty cool as well as the backstory we slowly learn, but the plot and characters seem pretty thin. Add in the writing tics that annoyed me and I don't think I'll be picking up book 2.
I enjoyed a lot of the aspects of this book. It leaned into its grimdark nature giving us a character who is pretty much a murderous asshole from page 1. I also enjoyed the magical elements in this world.
However, both of those things were kind of dragged down for me by the execution of the story. The narrative is overly repetitive where it feels like it hits the same story beats over and over and over again. Ditto for the characterization. I don't know how many times we had to get inner thoughts from the main character about his conflicted nature. My best estimate is approximately 10,000. I found myself saying "Dude you murdered someone in cold blood right at the beginning. You're a homicidal maniac. Just embrace it." Fletcher had a similar issue with how often we are told people at large dislike the main character because of his skin color. It feels like he belabors this point to absurdity.
Overall I would say I liked this more than I disliked it but just barely. The magic and world are pretty cool as well as the backstory we slowly learn, but the plot and characters seem pretty thin. Add in the writing tics that annoyed me and I don't think I'll be picking up book 2.
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
To me, the premise of this story is unique, as I don't recall reading anything quite like it before, It's also told in the first-person perspective, which adds to its distinctiveness as the narration pulls you in.
The story is fast-paced and engaging as you follow Khraen as he searches for the pieces of his shattered heart, with each piece restoring portions of his previous life's memories, but with each new fragment, he is forced to battle his twin desires, to find more pieces thus gaining more power so he can exact his revenge on the Wizards, but also to try and resist using that power and the evil in entails so that he does not become the same man he was before.
Khraen is a character you can both feel sorry for and despise equally, as the story progresses, which swings between light-hearted humour and extremely dark deeds as it unfolds.
This is additive reading.
The story is fast-paced and engaging as you follow Khraen as he searches for the pieces of his shattered heart, with each piece restoring portions of his previous life's memories, but with each new fragment, he is forced to battle his twin desires, to find more pieces thus gaining more power so he can exact his revenge on the Wizards, but also to try and resist using that power and the evil in entails so that he does not become the same man he was before.
Khraen is a character you can both feel sorry for and despise equally, as the story progresses, which swings between light-hearted humour and extremely dark deeds as it unfolds.
This is additive reading.
It doesn't excite me like it did in the very first chapter or two. I love the idea of a character waking up/crawling out of their own grave and slowly rediscovering who they are/were, but it also just feels so unnecessarily dark? Like, I get that it's grimdark, but come on, a little levity would be nice.
I'm also not so sure about the fantasy racism. It feels icky.
And I don't like the main relationship I've read so far. It's all just drinking and sex, like every night. And the constant references to hangovers and shitting turns me off. It all does, really, and I hear that it doesn't really get any better, and that the main character doesn't really develop. So I don't see a point in me continuing if it's all going to be the same. Now I just keep wondering where all the femme/non-binary indie fantasy authors are, because if this is all I'm getting from the masc-folk, it's kind of sad to be in the indie space.
I'm also not so sure about the fantasy racism. It feels icky.
And I don't like the main relationship I've read so far. It's all just drinking and sex, like every night. And the constant references to hangovers and shitting turns me off. It all does, really, and I hear that it doesn't really get any better, and that the main character doesn't really develop. So I don't see a point in me continuing if it's all going to be the same. Now I just keep wondering where all the femme/non-binary indie fantasy authors are, because if this is all I'm getting from the masc-folk, it's kind of sad to be in the indie space.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Racism, Murder, Alcohol