Scan barcode
tregina's review against another edition
2.0
While there are certain aspects of the worldbuilding in this series that I really appreciate, this time Easie Damasco's criminal incompetence and dumb luck weren't as charming to me, and with Saltlick and Estrada being sidelined for most of the novel, it just didn't do a lot for me. Add to that the casual chauvinism (called out and yet reinforced by the text) and the always-unpleasant use of 'fat' as synonymous with 'evil' on several occasions, and this wasn't a particularly enjoyable outing for me.
iskaldmelk's review against another edition
3.0
I felt like this book wasn’t living up to its potential. Though it was interesting to have a main character who wasn’t in the middle of the conflicts and mostly just wanted to keep himself alive, I wish I could have gotten more into what was going on in the world.
I also wish the conflict hadn’t been treated as that simple. I feel like the main villain could easily have been the protagonist, and I wish that was explored more.
Now I haven’t read the first book, but that didn’t really bother me (after I decided to read this anyway). It was interesting to get pieces of the precious story throughout the book, and I think it will still be fun to read it as a sort of prequel.
I also wish the conflict hadn’t been treated as that simple. I feel like the main villain could easily have been the protagonist, and I wish that was explored more.
Now I haven’t read the first book, but that didn’t really bother me (after I decided to read this anyway). It was interesting to get pieces of the precious story throughout the book, and I think it will still be fun to read it as a sort of prequel.
eloiseinparis's review
2.0
I love a swashbuckling story. I love a story where giants and magic exist. I love a story of a criminal, who really became what they are to survive uses their bad skills to bring down evil. So I should have loved this story. I didn’t.
I did not read the first book in the story, I did not feel lost. But I did feel left out. Strong relationship’s had been established, and although things were sort of explained through out the book it wasn’t enough for the new reader to catch up. As I read the reviews for this book, they all said it was much better than the last. More than once I read how the first story lagged more than this one. So that ended a brief interest in going back to read the firs novel. There needed to be a synopsis of the story so far, and not just for the new reader. The assumption that the books had been read back to back and everyone would be all caught up and on board is a bad one.
What I really didn’t like was that there were opportunities for danger and adventure that were not taking advantage of. For example at the beginning of the book, Easie enters a town where he needs to use his thieving skills to do some recon. He treks through a sewer and meets an old ally, but the risk seemed minimal. I never felt like he was in danger where he could’ve been hurt or killed. I won’t be going back to read the first book, and I won’t be continuing with this series. It just wasn’t for me.
I did not read the first book in the story, I did not feel lost. But I did feel left out. Strong relationship’s had been established, and although things were sort of explained through out the book it wasn’t enough for the new reader to catch up. As I read the reviews for this book, they all said it was much better than the last. More than once I read how the first story lagged more than this one. So that ended a brief interest in going back to read the firs novel. There needed to be a synopsis of the story so far, and not just for the new reader. The assumption that the books had been read back to back and everyone would be all caught up and on board is a bad one.
What I really didn’t like was that there were opportunities for danger and adventure that were not taking advantage of. For example at the beginning of the book, Easie enters a town where he needs to use his thieving skills to do some recon. He treks through a sewer and meets an old ally, but the risk seemed minimal. I never felt like he was in danger where he could’ve been hurt or killed. I won’t be going back to read the first book, and I won’t be continuing with this series. It just wasn’t for me.
tregina's review
2.0
While there are certain aspects of the worldbuilding in this series that I really appreciate, this time Easie Damasco's criminal incompetence and dumb luck weren't as charming to me, and with Saltlick and Estrada being sidelined for most of the novel, it just didn't do a lot for me. Add to that the casual chauvinism (called out and yet reinforced by the text) and the always-unpleasant use of 'fat' as synonymous with 'evil' on several occasions, and this wasn't a particularly enjoyable outing for me.
More...