Reviews with content warning for War - Kriegsklingen

Vividly written, with an interesting world and characters. It's not for the faint of heart, however, and I think the harsh and pessimistic setting is too much to thoroughly recommend it to everyone. I enjoyed it, but I don't think I could ever read it again.

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josiah17's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense 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

5.0

Edit 8/10/24: I've gone back and forth with rating this 4.5 or 5 stars, but I'm firmly leaving it at 5 stars this time. I think about First Law too much. I love it, and this book is fantastic even though there's hardly a plot.

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This was great. The prose is wonderfully readable and fluid. The book starts very character focused with extremely well realized characters. Every POV is engaging. The plot is not the most captivating, but that doesn't matter when you write characters and dialogue like Abercrombie can. However, the plot does pick up near the end and there's a sense of direction for where this story is headed. And I'm very intrigued.

I also love the world Abercrombie has crafted here. It subtlety mysterious, and it feels vast and grand in scope, which is always something I want to feel when immersed in a fantasy world.

I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of Abercrombie's works in the First Law universe. He's instantly a new favorite author.

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foxmulders's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

i had fun but i am not super into trilogies that dont have much pay off within each book… this whole book felt like a lengthy exposition. love logen and bayaz tho.

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crownlullaby's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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mikariah's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The world is nothing special (yet), mainly a list of names and references that make me imagine a somewhat more Westeros-esque shaped landmass of medieval Europe analogs (there is a place called Angland and a shapeless and unknowable 'North.' I mean, come on). If you're coming into it expecting something groundbreaking on that front, you'll probably not find it. Of course, there are many more books in this world, and I can't speak for what they all add to it. However, I found that the worldbuilding included enough things that kept it interesting enough for the story's purpose.

Because the thing that really sells this book for me is the characters.

And I can accept a LOT if the characters are great, which I believe that these are. Now, I'm a little biased because 'just-a-little-too-fucked-up' is exactly how I like my characters in the morning. Exactly. They are all problematic faves. Even the least terrible of them have some mess they're going through, and it sucked me in, which is good because there is not much plot to speak of. Yet.

The prose is straightforward and practical. Perhaps a little too much at times, and I wished there was less psychological distancing in the flow, but overall it read quickly and painlessly.

As a side note: the content warnings aren't necessarily expressing some sort of validation within the text. The characters are just... well, they have problems. And they experience problems.

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