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blodeuedd's review against another edition
3.0
I guess cops are the next big thing in fantasy ;) Here we got Narin who is a Lawbringer so when he "accidentally" knocks down a guy he sets out to investigate what on earth is going on. There are baddies, demons, poison and something that would rock the empire to it's core.
Narin was a good guy, sure he did not make the best of choices (one in particular), but that just made him human. And he really did love working as a Lawbringer and protecting the innocent. It was a true cat and mouse game. Luckily he had some help, very mysterious Enchei who was a tattoo artist. Kesh, a young woman on the run. Rhe, Narin's mentor, whom I really liked. And of course a strange assassin without any memories.
I think that what I liked most was that it was a world where some humans had found a way to ascend and become Gods. I would have loved to learn more. If they were really good at what they did, then they might just become the god of that, like the God Lawbringer. It was also a world that had known it's fair share of war and there empire was made up of powerful Houses who ruled.
And of course I must mention that it's gun powder fantasy. But yes some of the powerful are allowed to have guns. A world caught between the old and the new is always fascinating.
What I liked most was the end, do not get me wrong. There was a conclusion so I was all yay! But at the same time I now want more, so that was bad in a good way ;)
An interesting world, likable characters, and evil baddies ( I love evil baddies).
Narin was a good guy, sure he did not make the best of choices (one in particular), but that just made him human. And he really did love working as a Lawbringer and protecting the innocent. It was a true cat and mouse game. Luckily he had some help, very mysterious Enchei who was a tattoo artist. Kesh, a young woman on the run. Rhe, Narin's mentor, whom I really liked. And of course a strange assassin without any memories.
I think that what I liked most was that it was a world where some humans had found a way to ascend and become Gods. I would have loved to learn more. If they were really good at what they did, then they might just become the god of that, like the God Lawbringer. It was also a world that had known it's fair share of war and there empire was made up of powerful Houses who ruled.
And of course I must mention that it's gun powder fantasy. But yes some of the powerful are allowed to have guns. A world caught between the old and the new is always fascinating.
What I liked most was the end, do not get me wrong. There was a conclusion so I was all yay! But at the same time I now want more, so that was bad in a good way ;)
An interesting world, likable characters, and evil baddies ( I love evil baddies).
avis's review
Take this review with a grain of salt, im fairly new to epic fantasy. Either way I just don't like this book. It felt like the author was making the characters do what was convenient. It's confusing, poorly worldbuilt and the only saving grace are the characters. And even then they're not that good. Dnf
cupiscent's review
Noping out at page 28, due to style issues with which I cannot be having. I am quite liking the extremely feudal-Japanese setting (though it is laying on a bit thick), but the author's style is profligate with details, often to no apparent purpose whether narrative or rhythmic. There was a female character introduced that I liked the look of in general terms, but her introduction was half a dozen pages of nothing-happening and woffle.
Mostly, though, it's those style issues that are making me put the book down before I throw it down. The page that made me flip my lid includes:
- an info-dump about yet another element of the world (there had been a few of these already). It was about an order of warrior-mages who were "obliterated centuries ago", though a few sentences later the narrator noted that "Normal folk getting caught up in the machinations [of this bunch] rarely fared well". Does that happen often, when they were obliterated centuries ago?
- the sentence: "Like the rest of the city, everything Narin knew of the Astaren came through rumour and myth." Which I had to read twice because the first time my brain was trying to ascribe that everything to the like the rest of the city. You know, like grammar works.
- random moment of head-hopping
- and again, the sentence: "His curled greying eyebrows twitched as he thought, absent-mindedly twisting the bone fetish around his neck through his fingers." Those are some alarmingly interventionist eyebrows, dude, you should get that under control.
At this point, because I was ranting out loud about it, my weary husband (trying to read his own book) said, "Why are you reading this, then?"
Good point, Mr Dee. Good point.
(Am I overly pedantic about points of grammar? On the one hand, yes. On the other hand, these were genuinely impeding the flow of my reading, because every time I encountered a sentence that messed around like that, I had to read it twice because the first time through, my brain attached the grammatically-right though authorially-wrong object to the subordinate clause. Anything that impedes the reader's effortless flow through your story is wrong bad naughty. Grammar is there to help the reader get your meaning without even remembering there are rules about this. Grammar is the churning swan legs beneath the gliding elegance of your prose. Love it. Learn it. Fucking use it.)
Mostly, though, it's those style issues that are making me put the book down before I throw it down. The page that made me flip my lid includes:
- an info-dump about yet another element of the world (there had been a few of these already). It was about an order of warrior-mages who were "obliterated centuries ago", though a few sentences later the narrator noted that "Normal folk getting caught up in the machinations [of this bunch] rarely fared well". Does that happen often, when they were obliterated centuries ago?
- the sentence: "Like the rest of the city, everything Narin knew of the Astaren came through rumour and myth." Which I had to read twice because the first time my brain was trying to ascribe that everything to the like the rest of the city. You know, like grammar works.
- random moment of head-hopping
- and again, the sentence: "His curled greying eyebrows twitched as he thought, absent-mindedly twisting the bone fetish around his neck through his fingers." Those are some alarmingly interventionist eyebrows, dude, you should get that under control.
At this point, because I was ranting out loud about it, my weary husband (trying to read his own book) said, "Why are you reading this, then?"
Good point, Mr Dee. Good point.
(Am I overly pedantic about points of grammar? On the one hand, yes. On the other hand, these were genuinely impeding the flow of my reading, because every time I encountered a sentence that messed around like that, I had to read it twice because the first time through, my brain attached the grammatically-right though authorially-wrong object to the subordinate clause. Anything that impedes the reader's effortless flow through your story is wrong bad naughty. Grammar is there to help the reader get your meaning without even remembering there are rules about this. Grammar is the churning swan legs beneath the gliding elegance of your prose. Love it. Learn it. Fucking use it.)
dr_matthew_lloyd's review
2.0
I ought to start this review by saying that I don't normally like fantasy. That clause is largely reserved for epic fantasy, as there are many more urban fantasies that I do enjoy ([b:The Lies of Locke Lamora|127455|The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard, #1)|Scott Lynch|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386924569s/127455.jpg|2116675], [b:Perdido Street Station|68494|Perdido Street Station (Bas-Lag, #1)|China Miéville|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1393537963s/68494.jpg|3221410]), but I consider these to be exceptions. The only reason I was reading this book is because I entered a giveaway on the Gollancz website and this was the book they randomly sent me, perhaps because I mentioned The Lies of Locke Lamora as a book I'd read, rather than the dozens of SF Masterworks, or because my surname was the same name as the author's.
And I also ought to add that when you hover over the stars when giving a book a rating on Goodreads two stars is "it was OK". This is precisely the comment I would like to make about Moon's Artifice - it was OK. There was a lot of detailed world-building, descriptions of settings and events which read as if Lloyd is picturing the book as a film or television show in his head (and why not?) - the first couple of pages are a clear and open example. I found these passages a little boring, but if that's your thing then go for it. I didn't quite follow all of the social set-up (who were the goshe, for example? Are they a religion or something?). it didn't help that both the higher-tier houses and their subordinates are all called "Houses". Furthermore, I have no clue how the set-up of the Imperial City (the most imaginatively named city in literature!) works with the set-up of the rest of the empire.
The world is somewhat Manichaean, with fairly obvious goodies and baddies; or, rather, it's clear that someone either is a goodie or a baddie, there's no shades of grey. There are hints that, in the future books of this series, there will be a few more sides getting involved but as I don't really expect to read any of those I don't know if that's true. On which, there are a few too many characters, some of whom don't get anywhere near enough air-time, which is quite good in the sense that it gives the world a slightly larger feel, but pretty bad in other cases, especially in the case of Kine.
Reading chapter 1, one might have the distinct impression that Kine was going to have a major plot role, and perhaps become a developed character (to the extent that such creatures exist in fantasy novels). But what you will actually find is that no chapter after about 2 passes the Bechdel test, the woman who exists only to be pregant no longer appears, and the entirety of the experience of being the parent of an illegitimate child in this world as presented to us is through the eyes of a man.One might argue that the pregnancy storyline is clearly going to be more important in subsequent books, and that this storyline takes place over only a few days, but if that is the case then it would have been more sensible to have the development of their relationship happen in real-time during this story, so that we could understand Kine as a well-rounded character rather than something Narin used as a semen recepticle that one time . Inceidentally, Enchei tells Narin that he has nine months to prepare for this child - how spectacular must the technology of this empire be if they can detect a pregancy that quickly?!
I got somewhat lost over the plot towards the end, but it didn't seem to matter as the whole thing raced towards a dramatic conclusion over the last five chapters or so. Which was OK. If you like reading about this sort of thing, then I think this book was probably one of the not-terrible ones.
And I also ought to add that when you hover over the stars when giving a book a rating on Goodreads two stars is "it was OK". This is precisely the comment I would like to make about Moon's Artifice - it was OK. There was a lot of detailed world-building, descriptions of settings and events which read as if Lloyd is picturing the book as a film or television show in his head (and why not?) - the first couple of pages are a clear and open example. I found these passages a little boring, but if that's your thing then go for it. I didn't quite follow all of the social set-up (who were the goshe, for example? Are they a religion or something?). it didn't help that both the higher-tier houses and their subordinates are all called "Houses". Furthermore, I have no clue how the set-up of the Imperial City (the most imaginatively named city in literature!) works with the set-up of the rest of the empire.
The world is somewhat Manichaean, with fairly obvious goodies and baddies; or, rather, it's clear that someone either is a goodie or a baddie, there's no shades of grey. There are hints that, in the future books of this series, there will be a few more sides getting involved but as I don't really expect to read any of those I don't know if that's true. On which, there are a few too many characters, some of whom don't get anywhere near enough air-time, which is quite good in the sense that it gives the world a slightly larger feel, but pretty bad in other cases, especially in the case of Kine.
Reading chapter 1, one might have the distinct impression that Kine was going to have a major plot role, and perhaps become a developed character (to the extent that such creatures exist in fantasy novels). But what you will actually find is that no chapter after about 2 passes the Bechdel test, the woman who exists only to be pregant no longer appears, and the entirety of the experience of being the parent of an illegitimate child in this world as presented to us is through the eyes of a man.
I got somewhat lost over the plot towards the end, but it didn't seem to matter as the whole thing raced towards a dramatic conclusion over the last five chapters or so. Which was OK. If you like reading about this sort of thing, then I think this book was probably one of the not-terrible ones.
ianthegreen's review against another edition
4.0
Thoroughly enjoyable- a world of Empire, Gods, & Demons. A promising start to the series, I will certainly check out what is next. R.A Salvatore style action combined with a unique world and fast paced story.
I'd recommend this to fans of Brandon Sanderson. Cool book!
I'd recommend this to fans of Brandon Sanderson. Cool book!
jamesnotlatimer's review against another edition
4.0
I'm torn with this one, so I'll only give it a short review. On one hand, the worldbuilding is deep and different and drip-fed so that you immediately get the sense of the scale of the world and very few common reference points to hang it on (no generic fantasy here), so that was great. And on the other hand, you have a plot that promises to take you on a whirlwind journey through the vast city at the heart of this complex world, meeting all sorts of interesting types and solving some great mystery. Unfortunately, despite having all the right components the plot just didn't do it for me, and I think a lot of that had to do with the weight of this very dense world dragging it down.
As a result, this suffered in comparison to the somewhat-similar [b:City of Stairs|20174424|City of Stairs (City of Stairs, #1)|Robert Jackson Bennett|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1394545220s/20174424.jpg|28030792] (which is brilliant and outshines most things), which had as much complexity but delivered it without losing its pace and verve. Key to that could have been the choice of characters and perspective. I suppose I really could have done with reading this almost exclusively from Narin's perspective, more like the detective story it seemed to promise from the blurb and set-up. But then, maybe that's just me--it's still a very good, book. "Accomplished" is what the cover review says, and that seems the best way to describe it--all the right elements but it just didn't captivate like I hoped.
As a result, this suffered in comparison to the somewhat-similar [b:City of Stairs|20174424|City of Stairs (City of Stairs, #1)|Robert Jackson Bennett|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1394545220s/20174424.jpg|28030792] (which is brilliant and outshines most things), which had as much complexity but delivered it without losing its pace and verve. Key to that could have been the choice of characters and perspective. I suppose I really could have done with reading this almost exclusively from Narin's perspective, more like the detective story it seemed to promise from the blurb and set-up. But then, maybe that's just me--it's still a very good, book. "Accomplished" is what the cover review says, and that seems the best way to describe it--all the right elements but it just didn't captivate like I hoped.
wyvernfriend's review against another edition
4.0
Hard-boiled detective fiction meets fantasy and some excellent world-building. I'm left at the end with more questions than I had answers and I'm not disappointed with that, in fact I'm quite satisfied and looking forward to more.
An interesting ensemble cast of different castes and ages and with different motives in the story. Mostly they're just trying to survive but they also want their world to survive.
Investigator Narin has mostly had an unremarkable career but when he knocks a man out this starts a chain of events that will change him and his life utterly.
I found it a very satisfying meaty read.
An interesting ensemble cast of different castes and ages and with different motives in the story. Mostly they're just trying to survive but they also want their world to survive.
Investigator Narin has mostly had an unremarkable career but when he knocks a man out this starts a chain of events that will change him and his life utterly.
I found it a very satisfying meaty read.
thetainaship's review against another edition
3.0
I like that there are gods who actually interfere with life.
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