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A review by dranostaj
First Watch by Dale Lucas
3.0
An interesting start to a series, but a little lacking in the end. The premise for the series grabbed me at first: what if COPS was set in a fantasy setting? Billed as a seedy and gritty fantasy series, at times felt a little above the top or average. The two main characters (who hate each other at first) become partners (I wouldn't say friends but they had something of a working relationship at the end) while solving the mystery of who killed a member of the watch. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.
The story opens with Rem in a jail after a bar fight. He wakes up, pleads his case, and viola! Becomes a member of the watch in one of the roughest sectors of the city, Fifth Ward. He's paired up with a Dwarf Torval; a tough talking and tough hitting no nonsense Dwarf. The story quickly evolves into a fantasy who dunit after Torval's last partner is killed, complete with corrupt officials and assassins coming into the night trying to kill both Rem and Torval.
One of the more interesting aspects of the story is Rem. It's all from his point of view, and he tries to hide his past and why he came to Yenara. But there is the rub: There are two mysteries: Who is Rem (what is his past, why did he run) and who killed the member of the watch? Some of those are answered, but I'll leave that to the reader to figure that out.
Leaving out details, as to not spoil the story, I would say the story has a nice ebb and flow to it, however, I really didn't get a sense of feeling satisfied in the end. The author had nice discroptions and characters, but there wasn't anything over the top or unique about this book. As a reader I like to be Jerry McGuired, in other words: Show me the plot! Was there some nefarious plot between the Orcs and the other towns? Would this explain why and how Torval's family was murdered? Maybe that's how and why he came to the town to begin with...
Alas, I don't mean to rewrite the series, but my greater point is I didn't see enough meat and potatoes to this story. It would have been great to have some large revelations that the characters uncovered trying to discover the one who murdered the member of the watch (which gets further confusing with a young elf noble that is murdered along the way).
All in all I'd say this is a good read, but I don't think (as a reader anyway) I was heavily invested in the series to read the next one.
The story opens with Rem in a jail after a bar fight. He wakes up, pleads his case, and viola! Becomes a member of the watch in one of the roughest sectors of the city, Fifth Ward. He's paired up with a Dwarf Torval; a tough talking and tough hitting no nonsense Dwarf. The story quickly evolves into a fantasy who dunit after Torval's last partner is killed, complete with corrupt officials and assassins coming into the night trying to kill both Rem and Torval.
One of the more interesting aspects of the story is Rem. It's all from his point of view, and he tries to hide his past and why he came to Yenara. But there is the rub: There are two mysteries: Who is Rem (what is his past, why did he run) and who killed the member of the watch? Some of those are answered, but I'll leave that to the reader to figure that out.
Leaving out details, as to not spoil the story, I would say the story has a nice ebb and flow to it, however, I really didn't get a sense of feeling satisfied in the end. The author had nice discroptions and characters, but there wasn't anything over the top or unique about this book. As a reader I like to be Jerry McGuired, in other words: Show me the plot! Was there some nefarious plot between the Orcs and the other towns? Would this explain why and how Torval's family was murdered? Maybe that's how and why he came to the town to begin with...
Alas, I don't mean to rewrite the series, but my greater point is I didn't see enough meat and potatoes to this story. It would have been great to have some large revelations that the characters uncovered trying to discover the one who murdered the member of the watch (which gets further confusing with a young elf noble that is murdered along the way).
All in all I'd say this is a good read, but I don't think (as a reader anyway) I was heavily invested in the series to read the next one.