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jz3532's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
maybeans's review
4.0
This is not a spoiler-free review!
I appreciate this book for being pretty darn consistent with the last one. I like the same things I liked about the first book and disliked the same things about the first book. I found the character development, tension, worldbuilding, and writing style to be very well done. The dialogue was good as well, but I will be forever haunted with how he writes, erm, sound effects during sex scenes. My main dislike for the series is how women are written and treated, which is already a rant I’ve gone on before and will refrain from doing again. It’s kind of frustrating to explain because misogyny inside of a narrative is not inherently wrong, nor does it indicate that the author is themselves misogynistic; rather, it’s whether or not the narrative condemns misogynistic behavior. In the case of First Law (in my opinion), there are ways in which misogyny is condemned and ways in which it isn’t. It’s unhelpful and non-comprehensive to call a book misogynistic, but I’ll just say that this book has its issues in that department.
I’m impressed that I don’t hate Jezal as much as I did in the first book; he gets some incredible character development. Abercrombie does something here that not a lot of writers seem to do with assholes who get character development/redemption arcs, which is have Jezal make some big steps towards being a likeable person while still retaining asshole traits. Some parts of him develop faster than others, or he backtracks, and it creates some good contradictions.
The ending did irk me; there was a voice in my head going “haha wouldn’t it be messed up if they got there and the Seed wasn’t there” and then it actually wasn’t there and I was so mad to be right. Maybe my mind will change after the third book but….why have them go on that whole journey? Character development? There are other ways for them to get character development. I suppose we’ll see.
I appreciate this book for being pretty darn consistent with the last one. I like the same things I liked about the first book and disliked the same things about the first book. I found the character development, tension, worldbuilding, and writing style to be very well done. The dialogue was good as well, but I will be forever haunted with how he writes, erm, sound effects during sex scenes. My main dislike for the series is how women are written and treated, which is already a rant I’ve gone on before and will refrain from doing again. It’s kind of frustrating to explain because misogyny inside of a narrative is not inherently wrong, nor does it indicate that the author is themselves misogynistic; rather, it’s whether or not the narrative condemns misogynistic behavior. In the case of First Law (in my opinion), there are ways in which misogyny is condemned and ways in which it isn’t. It’s unhelpful and non-comprehensive to call a book misogynistic, but I’ll just say that this book has its issues in that department.
I’m impressed that I don’t hate Jezal as much as I did in the first book; he gets some incredible character development. Abercrombie does something here that not a lot of writers seem to do with assholes who get character development/redemption arcs, which is have Jezal make some big steps towards being a likeable person while still retaining asshole traits. Some parts of him develop faster than others, or he backtracks, and it creates some good contradictions.
The ending did irk me; there was a voice in my head going “haha wouldn’t it be messed up if they got there and the Seed wasn’t there” and then it actually wasn’t there and I was so mad to be right. Maybe my mind will change after the third book but….why have them go on that whole journey? Character development? There are other ways for them to get character development. I suppose we’ll see.
lenn21hell's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
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
4.25
maplejam's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
diegovazquez's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
medium-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? No
4.5
josip_'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-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
4.5
etrautmann's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
sirrobert's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
golden_revolver's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-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
5.0
baillie's review against another edition
5.0
Does anyone else spend most of their time reading this series thinking about how they'd make dentures, body braces, etc. for Glokta and thereby force him to become a better person and love me for increasing his quality of life, or do I just have a thing for vulnerable men?