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braugh's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
klancast's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
danae111's review against another edition
3.0
i feel neutral about this. for one thing it’s a very well written and in depth fantasy novel. i was very interested in the world that was being built and i do want to uncover all that has been alluded to thus far. however the pacing just seemed like it took forever. i wasn’t specifically enraptured in any part of it. nothing held a grip on me and made me think i need to keep reading and see what happens next, except maybe when malta was introduced as a pov character. i hope the second book is a bit more interesting. it held my curiosity enough for me to continue the series at least.
jjcraftsandbooks's review against another edition
3.0
Very simply, this book was just too long. I don’t mean books shouldn’t be this length, I’ve read some amazing, long books, just that there needs to be a reason that it’s this long. First off the ending wasn’t really an ending, it wasn’t a climax or resolution and the book could have been ended anywhere without making it that long but more than that the reason this book is so long is because each of the characters seem to go off down memory lane a lot. They have internal monologues pondering things that are just not relevant enough to include, some backstory and exploration of character is good but not when it adds a couple of hundred pages to a long book .
I DID enjoy reading this, it’s a very vivid world and characters all had distinct voices and were from different backgrounds and you always wanted to know what happened next. The characters are not perfect, they are flawed and they got MORE flawed as the book went in rather than better. Personally there’s only so many bad decisions for a character to make and things going wrong for them until I stop being invested. If the book had ended sooner maybe I would have still cared about the characters.
I DID enjoy reading this, it’s a very vivid world and characters all had distinct voices and were from different backgrounds and you always wanted to know what happened next. The characters are not perfect, they are flawed and they got MORE flawed as the book went in rather than better. Personally there’s only so many bad decisions for a character to make and things going wrong for them until I stop being invested. If the book had ended sooner maybe I would have still cared about the characters.
mattdavenport's review against another edition
4.0
7.5/10 - Good
Hobb's character-building can't be denied. The internal reasoning for every character's actions is believable, even the characters (like Malta) that you come to hate. Althea is a really good character, as are Vivacia, Brashen, Paragon, and Kennet. You come to care about all the characters, and the writing is very well done. The downside to this book is it is so slooooooow. Very few climactic moments happen, at all, until the very end (which is pretty good, but not game-breaking). So it's 300k words of development and slow story telling, that is only made bearable and enjoyable by the character development. That's a long book to rely upon just that. Nonetheless, it does that aspect very well, so I give it a middle-7 rating.
Hobb's character-building can't be denied. The internal reasoning for every character's actions is believable, even the characters (like Malta) that you come to hate. Althea is a really good character, as are Vivacia, Brashen, Paragon, and Kennet. You come to care about all the characters, and the writing is very well done. The downside to this book is it is so slooooooow. Very few climactic moments happen, at all, until the very end (which is pretty good, but not game-breaking). So it's 300k words of development and slow story telling, that is only made bearable and enjoyable by the character development. That's a long book to rely upon just that. Nonetheless, it does that aspect very well, so I give it a middle-7 rating.
hailey_mack's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
jeanvaljean1998's review against another edition
5.0
4.75 Breathtaking. Heart wrenching. So often, there was a pit at the bottom of my stomach, growing greater than I could ever have imagined with each passing chapter of the last third of the book.
The greatest theme in this book concerns the concept of human will. Who holds influence and control? What is the difference between the two? By what authority - their personality, law, society’s rules, their pasts? How can one person’s will impose on another’s - some comply, some cooperate, others consent. Many resist. Rebel. Revolt. How can we resist and what kind of resistance is right? Why do we fight back - anger, pride, greed, righteousness, fear, hope? The theme I took is that one’s will should never be imposed on another because it erases that person’s humanity and sense of self. Another is that society builds the foundations that allow for and justify the atrocities of control - slavery being the most heart wrenching example (spoiler: the scene with Wintrow and the pregnant slave woman broke my heart).
Wintrow is my absolute favorite character - the strength and principles he lives by - and his signature self pity and naïveté - make a compelling character. Althea and Brashen’s relationship is well developed - and I am excited for more of this. So many character parallels astound me, pausing me from passing judgement on even the most heinous characters - Maltha who parallels Althea in a perverse way especially intrigued me. Her selfishness manifests as what Ronica and Keffria feared Althea had been. Yet she is cunning and manipulative, determined and steadfast in her will. Uncaring of anyone other than herself. She has room to grow. Kennit is surrounded by lovely people who adore him… but is himself a bottom feeder - I enjoy reading his character and am especially in love with the potential story line for “his woman.”
The magic system and lore are stunning - I cannot wait to learn more.
I am most curious about the Paragon and his lady (the carver.) who is she who remembers? What happens to Keffria, the character with the most potential for growth. Rache?
The greatest theme in this book concerns the concept of human will. Who holds influence and control? What is the difference between the two? By what authority - their personality, law, society’s rules, their pasts? How can one person’s will impose on another’s - some comply, some cooperate, others consent. Many resist. Rebel. Revolt. How can we resist and what kind of resistance is right? Why do we fight back - anger, pride, greed, righteousness, fear, hope? The theme I took is that one’s will should never be imposed on another because it erases that person’s humanity and sense of self. Another is that society builds the foundations that allow for and justify the atrocities of control - slavery being the most heart wrenching example (spoiler: the scene with Wintrow and the pregnant slave woman broke my heart).
Wintrow is my absolute favorite character - the strength and principles he lives by - and his signature self pity and naïveté - make a compelling character. Althea and Brashen’s relationship is well developed - and I am excited for more of this. So many character parallels astound me, pausing me from passing judgement on even the most heinous characters - Maltha who parallels Althea in a perverse way especially intrigued me. Her selfishness manifests as what Ronica and Keffria feared Althea had been. Yet she is cunning and manipulative, determined and steadfast in her will. Uncaring of anyone other than herself. She has room to grow. Kennit is surrounded by lovely people who adore him… but is himself a bottom feeder - I enjoy reading his character and am especially in love with the potential story line for “his woman.”
The magic system and lore are stunning - I cannot wait to learn more.
I am most curious about the Paragon and his lady (the carver.) who is she who remembers? What happens to Keffria, the character with the most potential for growth. Rache?