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ngreads's review against another edition
3.0
More of a low 3.5/5.
So...I read this because I really enjoyed the Shadowdance series, and was curious about what the rest of David Dalglish's world had to offer.
Let's get into it...
The Good:
- The concept of two half-orc brothers just trying to survive is quite fun. We don't often see orcs in leading roles in fantasy, so it's always nice to see it pop up.
- As with Shadowdance, there's a fun, dungeons and dragons kind of feel to the world. Magic is big and mystical, the classic races are all here and accounted for, with ancient rivalries and alliances, that kind of thing. The mythos in general is really solid.
-I like the dynamic between Harruq and Qurrah, as well as their backstories. (Qurrah's backstory was particularly interesting, and I look forward to seeing more of him as he develops.
- The ending was actually surprising to me. Beyond just a solid battle sequence, I had honestly thought it would end differently, and it took me off guard. David's writing shines in his fight scenes, and this book (early in his career as it is) holds to that.
The Rough:
- The biggest hurdle for me with this was the prose itself. It's a debut novel (I believe), and it reads like one, with a lot of characters being referred to as their descriptors (the big half-orc, the little half-orc, the slender elf, the elf scoutmaster, that kind of thing. I know there's a proper term for this, but can't remember it at the moment.)
It was also written in third person omniscient, but not quite executed in a satisfying way, making scenes feel kind of clunky and disconnected rather than flowing from character to character. HOWEVER...I know that his writing evolves past this, since I've read some of his later work. If I had gone in blind, I would have had a harder time with it, but since I know where his writing evolves, it wasn't too hard to get past.
OVERALL:
This was a fun enough read, with some writing issues that brought it down, though I'm sure the series improves as it goes along, so I'm not too concerned.
Also, from the description of book two, it seems that our leads run into a certain band of mercenaries that I have been waiting to read again for quite some time, so I'm very excited for the sequel...
So...I read this because I really enjoyed the Shadowdance series, and was curious about what the rest of David Dalglish's world had to offer.
Let's get into it...
The Good:
- The concept of two half-orc brothers just trying to survive is quite fun. We don't often see orcs in leading roles in fantasy, so it's always nice to see it pop up.
- As with Shadowdance, there's a fun, dungeons and dragons kind of feel to the world. Magic is big and mystical, the classic races are all here and accounted for, with ancient rivalries and alliances, that kind of thing. The mythos in general is really solid.
-I like the dynamic between Harruq and Qurrah, as well as their backstories. (Qurrah's backstory was particularly interesting, and I look forward to seeing more of him as he develops.
- The ending was actually surprising to me. Beyond just a solid battle sequence, I had honestly thought it would end differently, and it took me off guard. David's writing shines in his fight scenes, and this book (early in his career as it is) holds to that.
The Rough:
- The biggest hurdle for me with this was the prose itself. It's a debut novel (I believe), and it reads like one, with a lot of characters being referred to as their descriptors (the big half-orc, the little half-orc, the slender elf, the elf scoutmaster, that kind of thing. I know there's a proper term for this, but can't remember it at the moment.)
It was also written in third person omniscient, but not quite executed in a satisfying way, making scenes feel kind of clunky and disconnected rather than flowing from character to character. HOWEVER...I know that his writing evolves past this, since I've read some of his later work. If I had gone in blind, I would have had a harder time with it, but since I know where his writing evolves, it wasn't too hard to get past.
OVERALL:
This was a fun enough read, with some writing issues that brought it down, though I'm sure the series improves as it goes along, so I'm not too concerned.
Also, from the description of book two, it seems that our leads run into a certain band of mercenaries that I have been waiting to read again for quite some time, so I'm very excited for the sequel...
abigcoffeedragon's review against another edition
1.0
I had high hopes ...
... But, what a disappointing story. The brothers names are silly, the story meanders around aimlessly, and nothing of interest in the story. This was on my radar for the type of story and characters, but it all fell lifeless to the floor.
... But, what a disappointing story. The brothers names are silly, the story meanders around aimlessly, and nothing of interest in the story. This was on my radar for the type of story and characters, but it all fell lifeless to the floor.
ajmarquis's review against another edition
2.0
The Weight of Blood reminds me of the pulp fantasy I loved as a teenager. Two things stopped me from just having fun and reliving my youth, though: Unlikable characters and occasionally sloppy writing.
The series' titular half-orcs are brothers, Qurrah and Harruq. Qurrah is like Batman's Joker without any of the charisma. An angry young man who has had a rough life, he sets out to burn the cruel world to the ground. Were he born in the modern world he'd likely listen to angry Norwegian black metal. Here, he sullenly rages against the machine.
Harruq is both more interesting and more frustrating. He actually wrestles with the evil acts he is led to commit. Instead of an interesting resolution, however, his crisis of conscience is ended by the love of a woman. Dalglish brings us back to the 1950's, where all a bad boy needs is a girl to love him hard enough. In this case the bad boy doesn't wear black leather jackets and smoke cigarettes, though. He just murders children.
Ladies, don't try to fix a child murderer. That ship has sailed.
I won't talk about the love interest, but the courtship is a good seque to my writing complaints. The flirting between them is giggle-worthy. I have more game than these people, and that's not something I'm able to say often.
'"Don't worry," she said, patting his hand. "Your ass is safe with me."'
Hot!
The writing issues show up most in the fighting and the magic use, which is unfortunate since both are frequent. Battles last several pages, and are spacially confusing. I spent long stretches not quite sure where combatants were relative to one another, or what they were doing.
This is a seemingly minor example, but the problems it highlights are endemic: After Harruq has both his swords knocked away by an elf, he is kicked to the ground. One of the following lines is "Instead he lied there, his nose throbbing and his swords limp in his hands." I'll give the benefit of the doubt and assume he was lying there, not telling falsehoods. The swords were knocked out of your hands, though, Harruq! Did I miss you having sword teleportation?
Let me now backpedal and ask you to ignore everything I just said. Overall, I enjoyed the book. Why did I complain so much? Because the book's defects are really frustrating. The idea is interesting, but it gets dragged down by a bunch of issues that a professional editor should have caught before it got out the door.
In my mind a two star review denotes either a book that is bad or a three star book with issues. The Weight of Blood is the latter, and in the end I'm glad I read it.
The series' titular half-orcs are brothers, Qurrah and Harruq. Qurrah is like Batman's Joker without any of the charisma. An angry young man who has had a rough life, he sets out to burn the cruel world to the ground. Were he born in the modern world he'd likely listen to angry Norwegian black metal. Here, he sullenly rages against the machine.
Harruq is both more interesting and more frustrating. He actually wrestles with the evil acts he is led to commit. Instead of an interesting resolution, however, his crisis of conscience is ended by the love of a woman. Dalglish brings us back to the 1950's, where all a bad boy needs is a girl to love him hard enough. In this case the bad boy doesn't wear black leather jackets and smoke cigarettes, though. He just murders children.
Ladies, don't try to fix a child murderer. That ship has sailed.
I won't talk about the love interest, but the courtship is a good seque to my writing complaints. The flirting between them is giggle-worthy. I have more game than these people, and that's not something I'm able to say often.
'"Don't worry," she said, patting his hand. "Your ass is safe with me."'
Hot!
The writing issues show up most in the fighting and the magic use, which is unfortunate since both are frequent. Battles last several pages, and are spacially confusing. I spent long stretches not quite sure where combatants were relative to one another, or what they were doing.
This is a seemingly minor example, but the problems it highlights are endemic: After Harruq has both his swords knocked away by an elf, he is kicked to the ground. One of the following lines is "Instead he lied there, his nose throbbing and his swords limp in his hands." I'll give the benefit of the doubt and assume he was lying there, not telling falsehoods. The swords were knocked out of your hands, though, Harruq! Did I miss you having sword teleportation?
Let me now backpedal and ask you to ignore everything I just said. Overall, I enjoyed the book. Why did I complain so much? Because the book's defects are really frustrating. The idea is interesting, but it gets dragged down by a bunch of issues that a professional editor should have caught before it got out the door.
In my mind a two star review denotes either a book that is bad or a three star book with issues. The Weight of Blood is the latter, and in the end I'm glad I read it.
scribblesandknots's review against another edition
4.0
As many others have said, the main characters in this unique book are significantly lacking in what we'd normally recognize as morality. Still, I found myself rooting desperately for Harruq, and for Qurrah just because his redemption would help his brother. Even when the action was more gruesome than I really wanted to be reading, I stuck it out because I was thoroughly drawn in. The darkness wasn't what detracted from the story, however; I found myself occasionally wishing for more fully fleshed-out characters. Their motivations weren't always deep enough for me, and this - combined with the slightly inconsistent voice of a relatively new writer - pulled me out of the story just enough to put this book at four instead of five stars, for me.
I greatly look forward to continuing this series with the next book!
I greatly look forward to continuing this series with the next book!
sarajayy's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars. I didn't hate it but there wasn't a lot to like.
jonathangemmell's review against another edition
3.0
Three to four stars. Maybe one of the darker reads I've encountered. The two main characters do some pretty evil stuff, and as a result I found it hard to get behind them. The author goes to explain his reasoning for this at the end, and because of this I did find I had a new found respect of what he was trying to achieve. On a more positive note the action scenes are brilliant and characterisation is top notch.
sednadragon35's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book was very integrating to read. I found that it the main protagonists being half elven and half orc a new take on the high fantasy hybrid tropes, which was also refreshing and new.
I loved the honest brutality of all the battles and how it was described and assessed. I found it interesting that Mr Dalgish chose to have them be on the darker shade of morally grey. Yet I found it interesting that they questioned things.
Yet I found the relationship between Harraq and the female elf interesting and I loved how it developed. I also liked where it all led.
Then I found that Qarrah being a necromancer and the one who was learned one a good aspect, especially as he was the one that was manipulated. I also liked how they became free too.
All in all this was a great fantasy and I would be interested in where the other books would go.
I loved the honest brutality of all the battles and how it was described and assessed. I found it interesting that Mr Dalgish chose to have them be on the darker shade of morally grey. Yet I found it interesting that they questioned things.
Yet I found the relationship between Harraq and the female elf interesting and I loved how it developed. I also liked where it all led.
Then I found that Qarrah being a necromancer and the one who was learned one a good aspect, especially as he was the one that was manipulated. I also liked how they became free too.
All in all this was a great fantasy and I would be interested in where the other books would go.
rogue_runner's review
3.0
A good starter for getting into dark fantasy! The characters are interesting and draw you into the story, wanting you to continue reading. The plot is a little predictable, but there is enough to keep you wanting to read on.