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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
slow read, but interesting worlds and characters (but so many names!!!)
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
I hated this book. And Goodreads has crashed on me twice while trying to write this, so I’m going to make this version a bit shorter.
This needs a content warning. There’s a ton of rape, either implied or described. It sucks.
There’s a ton of misogyny. Every woman is either a servant or a sex object. Most of them are sex workers (always referred to as “whores” in the text).
There’s a godawful scene where a fifteen year old girl is described in extremely sexual terms in a way that I think Brent Weeks wants us to be on board with. I know it’s a fantasy setting and age gap arranged marriages are a common trope, but don’t describe her body to me, you creep.
Assassins are called wetboys. Or rather wetboys are assassins who can use magic. It’s stupid and sounds bad. I can only hear it in Matthew Berry’s voice.
None of the characters actually have decent scenes with each other. Durzo and Kylar end up described almost as father and son, but Durzo only ever treats Kylar like shit on page. Similarly, Kylar and his love interest have talked once since he was 11 and she was 7, but he remains obsessed with her, and she with him.
There COULD be something interesting with the magic system and the magic items, but it’s all introduced so late and is so opaque, there’s not much to actually like.
Same with the plot. There’s invasions and other governments, but we know so little of what’s happening, and the main location of the book seems like such a shit hole, that I don’t really care. Why do I want to preserve this place where everyone is starving and dying and being ruled by crime lords? Clearly the current government is not doing well.
Nothing about this book was satisfying. I absolutely hated it. It totally messed up my pacing for the year, but I couldn’t bring myself to not finish it. I will maybe look up spoilers for the other two books, but I will not be wasting my time actually reading them.
This needs a content warning. There’s a ton of rape, either implied or described. It sucks.
There’s a ton of misogyny. Every woman is either a servant or a sex object. Most of them are sex workers (always referred to as “whores” in the text).
There’s a godawful scene where a fifteen year old girl is described in extremely sexual terms in a way that I think Brent Weeks wants us to be on board with. I know it’s a fantasy setting and age gap arranged marriages are a common trope, but don’t describe her body to me, you creep.
Assassins are called wetboys. Or rather wetboys are assassins who can use magic. It’s stupid and sounds bad. I can only hear it in Matthew Berry’s voice.
None of the characters actually have decent scenes with each other. Durzo and Kylar end up described almost as father and son, but Durzo only ever treats Kylar like shit on page. Similarly, Kylar and his love interest have talked once since he was 11 and she was 7, but he remains obsessed with her, and she with him.
There COULD be something interesting with the magic system and the magic items, but it’s all introduced so late and is so opaque, there’s not much to actually like.
Same with the plot. There’s invasions and other governments, but we know so little of what’s happening, and the main location of the book seems like such a shit hole, that I don’t really care. Why do I want to preserve this place where everyone is starving and dying and being ruled by crime lords? Clearly the current government is not doing well.
Nothing about this book was satisfying. I absolutely hated it. It totally messed up my pacing for the year, but I couldn’t bring myself to not finish it. I will maybe look up spoilers for the other two books, but I will not be wasting my time actually reading them.
Ugh. Some of the action was written well, but sometimes characters would just blurt out everything that was going on with them and the women were written horribly.
There was no tension. I knew the main characters were going to be fine. I skimmed the rest of the book and was correct.
There was no tension. I knew the main characters were going to be fine. I skimmed the rest of the book and was correct.
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Gore, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Classism
I wasnt in love with this. It might be i've read too many like it and it wasn't the best of it's type. i didn't make it to 150 pages, so maybe i've just moved on from this end of the spectrum.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes