Reviews

“Fear teaches you caution, and respect for your enemy, and to avoid sharp edges used in anger… Every man who’s worth a damn feels fear. It’s the use you make of it that counts.”
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As with book one of the First Law trilogy, this was a potentially great book that suffered from writing that misaligned with the plot, character age, and overly prescriptive emotions/scenes/characters, and messiness.

The first chapter led with an odd and noticeable change to a character’s diction but then wasn’t consistent, so it was even more noticeable. Glokta’s internal dialogue was so distracting I actually began skimming it quite early on in the book. Quai read like an entirely new character. If I noticed that, how did the characters not also notice and respond to such an obvious change? It made no sense.

Some characters experienced surprisingly strong development while others stood still. I found the Longfoot character extremely perturbing because he would all but disappear from the book for dozens of pages even though he was very much a part of the group. It was like Abercrombie didn’t know what to do with him so he just ignored that he existed, which was so odd to read. Then he’d randomly pop up again 😂

The sex scene/physical intimacy read like a parody and was honestly just so offputting. I’m a completionist so I’ll finish the series but wow. Not that pleasant.

melarie's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad fast-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

4.75

kettyslibrary's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-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

4.0

rayanriri's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny tense medium-paced

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

5.0

brshaner's review against another edition

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4.5

Put of my enjoyment i probably would've rated this like a 4, however it really was such a good book, and I think it was a more of my mood issue than anything else. Hoping I'll enjoy the third one more

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