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haroldtheboogie's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gore, Violence, Body horror, Child death, Vomit, Cursing, Death, and Sexual content
cookiemonsterrr's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Child death, Death, and Violence
surdiablo's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
“I was more ass than assassin.” 😬
I unfortunately struggled a bit to get through this one, which is a shame since I really liked The Broken Empire series. Jalal, the cowardly reluctant 'hero' with fits of amnesiac rage and Snorri, the righteous nordic barbarian with a heart of gold, teaming up was definitely the most interesting aspect for me. Their interactions or banter in general carried my interest and I have grown to care for them. The story flows straightforward with only a bare amount of flashbacks unlike Broken Empire series with past and present timelines. However, it felt like such a slog to get through for the first half at least, with endless travelling where nothing substantial happened ( I usually don't mind travelling in books but here it felt rather uninteresting ). I did enjoy the humor but it can be a hit or miss sometimes. I think this book will be much more enjoyable if you read the Broken Empire series first, otherwise the events that take place or world-building in general might feel lacking perhaps, which I don't consider as a good thing. The section I loved most was Jalal meeting (view spoiler) but if you take that out, I feel like I didn't really care much about the rest of the events. Your experience may vary however since a lot of people seem to mention liking this over Prince of Thorns, and this one is comparatively less dark with more humor instead. I am planning to read the second book nonetheless since I am intrigued enough to find out where the characters will go. 👍
I unfortunately struggled a bit to get through this one, which is a shame since I really liked The Broken Empire series. Jalal, the cowardly reluctant 'hero' with fits of amnesiac rage and Snorri, the righteous nordic barbarian with a heart of gold, teaming up was definitely the most interesting aspect for me. Their interactions or banter in general carried my interest and I have grown to care for them. The story flows straightforward with only a bare amount of flashbacks unlike Broken Empire series with past and present timelines. However, it felt like such a slog to get through for the first half at least, with endless travelling where nothing substantial happened ( I usually don't mind travelling in books but here it felt rather uninteresting ). I did enjoy the humor but it can be a hit or miss sometimes. I think this book will be much more enjoyable if you read the Broken Empire series first, otherwise the events that take place or world-building in general might feel lacking perhaps, which I don't consider as a good thing. The section I loved most was Jalal meeting (view spoiler) but if you take that out, I feel like I didn't really care much about the rest of the events. Your experience may vary however since a lot of people seem to mention liking this over Prince of Thorns, and this one is comparatively less dark with more humor instead. I am planning to read the second book nonetheless since I am intrigued enough to find out where the characters will go. 👍
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Gore
Moderate: Grief and Body horror
Minor: Sexual content
michaelferlazzo's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Much better than his first trilogy, this one gives me all of the Mark Lawrence vibes. Which a witty main character, and an bad to the bone supporting character, I think this series has the potential to be better than his book of the ancestor series(my personal favorite). This is also his most fun book I’ve read so far, with lots of witty remarks coming from a certain morally gray character. Warning though, still a very dark book, with lots of mature stuff. In terms of this, not as bad as the Prince of thorns trilogy, but still prevalent in this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, Abortion, Animal death, Child death, Sexual content, Violence, Cursing, and Miscarriage
Moderate: Vomit, Death of parent, and Torture
estherurwin's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
slow-paced
2.0
I do not really like books that follow a journey. There are exceptions, of course, LOTR and HDMs are excellent. This was boring. Jal was funny at first but it soon wore off and the obsession with women and sex just got old. After that he was just annoying and I could not really bring myself to care about him. Other than that the book was a really odd mixture of unspeakably bleak and unrelentingly boring. I won't read the rest of the series, but will give Red Sister, etc a try. The main character there seems intriguing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
kiriikiri's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
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