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striker_ac's review against another edition
Bored and moved on. Shelved date is wrong.
guyro's review against another edition
5.0
i loved the book, this one felt like an interlude building up into something much bigger in the next book.
the story never gets bogged down, Miles really is a very good story teller
can't wait for Tournament of Fools
the story never gets bogged down, Miles really is a very good story teller
can't wait for Tournament of Fools
sonice's review against another edition
3.0
3.0 stars. In book 2 we have slightly better world building, and selective characters had a bit more development which was great. A lot of the cast continued to be very one dimensional however. I would love to learn more about Bad Tom, Sauce, Long Paw and others beyond simple traits like 'he's an angry hillsman who likes to fight' or 'she used to be a prostitute but not anymore'.
The editing....oh lord. I roasted 'The Red Knight' for its plethora of spelling issues, grammatical errors, sudden changes of characters names... could you believe it's actually worse this time around? This has been talked about in a ton of other reviews so I won't get into the weeds, but it is really quite hilarious.
The action is awesome, and the battle scenes really are the best part of the book. It's very well described and the author makes it feel very real. The magic system, while being as soft as a teddy bear, is actually quite likeable and never felt cheap to me.
Overall I'd say it's slightly worse off than the first one. I liked it well enough but might not be too quick to recommend it.
The editing....oh lord. I roasted 'The Red Knight' for its plethora of spelling issues, grammatical errors, sudden changes of characters names... could you believe it's actually worse this time around? This has been talked about in a ton of other reviews so I won't get into the weeds, but it is really quite hilarious.
The action is awesome, and the battle scenes really are the best part of the book. It's very well described and the author makes it feel very real. The magic system, while being as soft as a teddy bear, is actually quite likeable and never felt cheap to me.
Overall I'd say it's slightly worse off than the first one. I liked it well enough but might not be too quick to recommend it.
brightshiny's review
adventurous
dark
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
4.5
More of the first book, in a good way.
hbleakley's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
jaredwsaltz's review against another edition
4.0
The Red Knight continues to develop his Big Plans under the direction of a Dragon against the Powers that Be in Miles Cameron's sequel to the Red Knight. The world that Cameron has developed is good: setting an alt-history Europe from the time of the 100 Years War into the geography of the United State ("Nova Terra"), while still allowing for cross-continental travel (e.g., "Ifryqua" which is clearly Africa) is fascinating. Adding in a mixture of druidic and christian magic in such a combination as would have been well-known in the 10th century in England is a fascinating touch. The military tactics are sound (a rarity in much fantasy, in spite of how much the genre leans on military fantasy) and the characterization was good. And yet this didn't quite have the same spark as the first volume did, keeping it from five stars. Nevertheless, as time permits I still look forward to reading the next one.
pgforrest's review against another edition
4.0
I liked it in most respects, but this book - and the remainder in the series - suffers from an annoying proclivity of continuity errors. The names of countries change from one book to the next, as do the names of some of the monsters, towns / fortresses, and the gender of some of the minor characters (a baby girl is born, but in the next book, it turns out that it was a boy).
I'm also pretty convinced that the author struggles at times with the difference between East and West, making it impossible to visualise the journeys of some of the characters and some of the battles. He does seem reasonably solid on North vs South, though.
A deserved 4 stars. Without all the errors, I'd haver given it 5.
I'm also pretty convinced that the author struggles at times with the difference between East and West, making it impossible to visualise the journeys of some of the characters and some of the battles. He does seem reasonably solid on North vs South, though.
A deserved 4 stars. Without all the errors, I'd haver given it 5.
vespix's review against another edition
4.5
The hundred thousand PoVs of the first Traitor Son book are back with a vengeance. The Red Knight takes his company east to the Morean Empire, spawning twenty PoVs by that act alone, but we can't very well leave Alba unattended, can we know? Things are moving among the Sossag, and among the Jacks, at Albinkirk and at the Gallish court, and somebody's awful family are about to enter the scene as well. If you're here, you've probably read and enjoyed The Red Knight, or are a masochist. Either way, The Fell Sword will not disappoint you.
I liked The Fell Sword better than The Red Knight, if only because the latter took over 50% to reel me in. The Fell Sword had an easier job, because I already loved half of the characters (the other half were new) and had trust in Miles Cameron's ability to weave all of these PoVs together eventually. He didn't, not quite; this book is setting the scene for the future much more than the first, but the main Morean narrative was strong enough to support a few dozen lesser PoVs. It was fresh, completely different to the siege of Lissen Carack. I'm excited to see where the series goes in next volumes.
Now, downsides: I swear this book was never proofread. Names of the characters got mixed up on multiple occasions. Sometimes the names were spelled completely wrong, and I had to guess from titles and context whom the author meant. There were quite a few typos as well, but that's no fault of the author. It's hard to catch typos when your mind is reciting a familiar text rather than reading. I expected better from a publisher as big as Gollancz.
The only gripe I have with Miles Cameron himself is that he decided to expand terminology for the magic system in the second book, and it wasn't done smoothly at all. Suddenly there's ops and potentia and every character is using the terms, rather than perhaps limiting them to a certain community at first. And the worst of it? The terms weren't even put to any good use. Dear authors, changing worldbuilding stuff mid-series is never a good idea, but if you must, first double check if you must, then at least do it skilfully.
I liked The Fell Sword better than The Red Knight, if only because the latter took over 50% to reel me in. The Fell Sword had an easier job, because I already loved half of the characters (the other half were new) and had trust in Miles Cameron's ability to weave all of these PoVs together eventually. He didn't, not quite; this book is setting the scene for the future much more than the first, but the main Morean narrative was strong enough to support a few dozen lesser PoVs. It was fresh, completely different to the siege of Lissen Carack. I'm excited to see where the series goes in next volumes.
Now, downsides: I swear this book was never proofread. Names of the characters got mixed up on multiple occasions. Sometimes the names were spelled completely wrong, and I had to guess from titles and context whom the author meant. There were quite a few typos as well, but that's no fault of the author. It's hard to catch typos when your mind is reciting a familiar text rather than reading. I expected better from a publisher as big as Gollancz.
The only gripe I have with Miles Cameron himself is that he decided to expand terminology for the magic system in the second book, and it wasn't done smoothly at all. Suddenly there's ops and potentia and every character is using the terms, rather than perhaps limiting them to a certain community at first. And the worst of it? The terms weren't even put to any good use. Dear authors, changing worldbuilding stuff mid-series is never a good idea, but if you must, first double check if you must, then at least do it skilfully.