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monofred's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Violence, and War
Moderate: Alcoholism, Colonisation, Gore, Medical trauma, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cannibalism, Homophobia, Outing, and Sexual assault
wealhtheow's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
The Vordani empire keeps an army in Khandar just to install or maintain power over their chosen puppet monarch, and after the Khandar people revolt against the stupid and venal prince, the Vordani colonial army is sent in to break the revolution. Marcus d'Ivoire and Winter Ihrenglass both serve in the Vordani empire's colonial army. Marcus came to Khandar to accompany his old military academy friend, and has actually created a good life for himself. Winter is in Khandar because it's as far as she could get from the workhouse she escaped from, and no one here suspects she's a woman. They both assume their orders to restore the Khandar prince are impossible and they'll soon return to the Vordani empire. But then Count Colonel Janus bet Vhalnich sails in, takes control of the colonial army, and restarts a war everyone thought was over. Marcus and Winter each strategize to keep their respective forces alive while fumbling toward understanding of Janus's true purpose.
I really liked this for a few hundred pages, until I realized that Khandar was never going to be anything more than the coded-Middle-East ~exotic~ setting in which desert nomads ambush the heroes and practice a terrifying religion. (The Vordani empire has a terrifying religion of their own, equally blatantly coded Western European Christian.) The two Khandar characters I thought were view point main characters like Marcus and Winter actually aren't--they get 1-2 chapters in total and otherwise exist entirely in the background of the white Vordani characters' arcs. Even if I could put aside the uncomfortable feelings of colonialism and racism, I was frustrated with how Marcus was written. I think I was supposed to think he and Janus had this great beginning of a sort of Holmes&Watson friendship, but I was just endlessly frustrated with Marcus missing obvious things likeAdrecht being awful, every single one of Janus's plans, and Jen manipulating him and how the narrative kept telling me that Janus was super brilliant/inscrutable/impressive/smart/the best swordsman/so sophisticated/blah blah blah. After the first three hundred pages the only thing that kept me reading was Winter, who (unlike Marcus or Janus) we actually see be a good strategist and actually seems like a good person. In the end she gets magic! So that's cool.
I really liked this for a few hundred pages, until I realized that Khandar was never going to be anything more than the coded-Middle-East ~exotic~ setting in which desert nomads ambush the heroes and practice a terrifying religion. (The Vordani empire has a terrifying religion of their own, equally blatantly coded Western European Christian.) The two Khandar characters I thought were view point main characters like Marcus and Winter actually aren't--they get 1-2 chapters in total and otherwise exist entirely in the background of the white Vordani characters' arcs. Even if I could put aside the uncomfortable feelings of colonialism and racism, I was frustrated with how Marcus was written. I think I was supposed to think he and Janus had this great beginning of a sort of Holmes&Watson friendship, but I was just endlessly frustrated with Marcus missing obvious things like
Content Warnings
Moderate: Colonisation, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Rape
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