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tagoreketabkhane31's review against another edition
5.0
I have to agree with Sanderson about Nick Martell - this was a fantastic debut in the fantasy realm for 2020. It was truly different from many of the fantasy debuts of 2020, and indeed from previous entries. I think one of the things about The Kingdom of Liars that I liked was that Martell was able to strike was that while the world building was intricate, Martell did not reveal everything about the world all at once to the reader. As Michael relates his story to someone, Martell gives enough that the reader is able to understand enough in the moment, especially to understand the power players in the context of his story.
From the Hollow as a nation state, the surrounding cities, the various institutions that hold power, to the Endless Waltz as their "Selection" for the next generation of nobility and alliances, Michael was an interesting narrator, at times shifting between being a reliable and unreliable narrator because of the holes in his memories, and because he wasn't focused on his surroundings as much since he hated the nobility and the lifestyle that they lived.
Martell does a great job weaving a captivating story (even within a first person POV which I normally can't stand in fantasy) and also leaves the reader guessing for many of the mysteries in the first book (any author that can keep me guessing for most of the book is doing a good job) and I highly recommend this to fantasy fans! Even the diversity among the main characters and side characters (both ethnicity and sexuality wise) was better compared to other fantasy novels, and its not surprising seeing that its from Saga Press.
From the Hollow as a nation state, the surrounding cities, the various institutions that hold power, to the Endless Waltz as their "Selection" for the next generation of nobility and alliances, Michael was an interesting narrator, at times shifting between being a reliable and unreliable narrator because of the holes in his memories, and because he wasn't focused on his surroundings as much since he hated the nobility and the lifestyle that they lived.
Martell does a great job weaving a captivating story (even within a first person POV which I normally can't stand in fantasy) and also leaves the reader guessing for many of the mysteries in the first book (any author that can keep me guessing for most of the book is doing a good job) and I highly recommend this to fantasy fans! Even the diversity among the main characters and side characters (both ethnicity and sexuality wise) was better compared to other fantasy novels, and its not surprising seeing that its from Saga Press.
sarahmismash's review against another edition
1.0
Could not get into it, unfortunately. Between the characters, plot, and magic system there wasn’t anything that held my attention at all
annchen_23's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
mortalnexus's review against another edition
Didn't really connect with any of the characters and the pacing is too slow for me to have the patience to listen to the last bit; read a spoiler review and that sated my interest. The writing is good. There just is not enough there to hold my interest and is probably geared more for people who like MCs with a strong sense of honor as their motivator with little other nuance to their personality.
booksarebetter's review against another edition
3.0
Heavy in politics, lots of rebellions, death, and intrigue. After a while I lost interest though that's through no fault of the books. Michael Kingman is a fascinating character and I will be seeing where this story goes later on. DNF at 54%.
manjala's review against another edition
3.0
What a chaotic and entertaining story! It was a lot of fun reading a fantasy novel that leaned more towards the mystery genre; something I haven't read much of before.
I had some (minor) issues with the writing, but that didn't hinder my enjoyment too much. Besides that I never really got attached to any of the characters or the plot, but it was very easy to read and fast-paced. I will read the next one in this duology!
I had some (minor) issues with the writing, but that didn't hinder my enjoyment too much. Besides that I never really got attached to any of the characters or the plot, but it was very easy to read and fast-paced. I will read the next one in this duology!
timinbc's review against another edition
3.0
First book? OK. Second will be better, there's a good base here.
Slow start, but picked up well.
Running fake duels to make a living is maybe a tribute to Dumas but it's still ridiculous.
Page 35: Angelo has grey eyes; oh no, my pet peeve; but it wasn't for the usual reasons (i.e. to signal that This Is The Good Guy), and actually turned out to matter.
Michael keeps meeting people at random just when he needs them. That happens in first books.
What's with Dammit paying him 5 suns a day to say hello?
If you are going to have magicians breaking a moon, YOU HAVE TO TELL US WHAT THEY DID! Especially when you don't otherwise show any evidence of magic that works much beyond arm's length. And the crashing moon pieces didn't matter, except for one being used as a plot point that could easily have been handled 20 other ways.
We never find out why his memories are shredded, just hints. This feels like one of the things that should NOT be held back for the next volume.
Big buildup re the Girl in Red, and when we get the reveal, meh.
The Mercenaries are implausibly strong. This could lead to plot problems later.
Amazingly incomplete with a dozen pages to go, but he pulled it off decently, even if it was a bit of a rush, and nothing he did there was too much of a stretch, although it was one of MANY occurrences of Michael making a split-second decision with no prior thinking.
Despite crediting two copy editors and two proofreaders, there are some oopsies. "Lead" for "led" twice, some misplaced apostrophes, and several occurrences of "me and my friends went ..." from a narrator whose grammar is otherwise perfect. Is this a tribute to Ben Aaronovitch's Peter Grant, who does exactly the same thing?
Martell's going to be good, but he's not there yet. I'll read #2 to see if he is progressing.
Slow start, but picked up well.
Running fake duels to make a living is maybe a tribute to Dumas but it's still ridiculous.
Page 35: Angelo has grey eyes; oh no, my pet peeve; but it wasn't for the usual reasons (i.e. to signal that This Is The Good Guy), and actually turned out to matter.
Michael keeps meeting people at random just when he needs them. That happens in first books.
What's with Dammit paying him 5 suns a day to say hello?
If you are going to have magicians breaking a moon, YOU HAVE TO TELL US WHAT THEY DID! Especially when you don't otherwise show any evidence of magic that works much beyond arm's length. And the crashing moon pieces didn't matter, except for one being used as a plot point that could easily have been handled 20 other ways.
We never find out why his memories are shredded, just hints. This feels like one of the things that should NOT be held back for the next volume.
Big buildup re the Girl in Red, and when we get the reveal, meh.
The Mercenaries are implausibly strong. This could lead to plot problems later.
Amazingly incomplete with a dozen pages to go, but he pulled it off decently, even if it was a bit of a rush, and nothing he did there was too much of a stretch, although it was one of MANY occurrences of Michael making a split-second decision with no prior thinking.
Despite crediting two copy editors and two proofreaders, there are some oopsies. "Lead" for "led" twice, some misplaced apostrophes, and several occurrences of "me and my friends went ..." from a narrator whose grammar is otherwise perfect. Is this a tribute to Ben Aaronovitch's Peter Grant, who does exactly the same thing?
Martell's going to be good, but he's not there yet. I'll read #2 to see if he is progressing.
not_theonlyme's review against another edition
3.0
I skim read this and definitely want to read the sequel but I wasn’t too keen on the writing
tanishamahajan's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
sandy292love's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75