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radella_hardwick's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
This book is overwhelmingly boring, which is quite a feat for a novel that is so grossly offensive.
The disgusting attitudes to women are ingrained into the very fabric of the book as the only way to distinguish the "good guys" and the "bad guys" is who is physically forcing themselves on the female pieces of meat. However, the problem goes beyond the male characters of all ages as the author gives us two examples of women dying a manner that would not be out of place in an R-rated serial killer programme and multiple examples of women throwing themselves at men just because.
This book is also a cautionary example of why one should show and not tell. The real inciting incident doesn't come until 40 chapters or more have passed away. 40 chapters of watching the two protagonists being bad at the trades for which they've been training for almost a decade. 40 chapters of info-dump after info-dump as Staveley tries to pack the reader's head with details about the world in which none of his characters actually live; all three of his POVs are characters sequestered away from the real world.
The one bit that felt truly real was Amie's funeral but that's Valyn inadvertently straying into ordinary people's lives.
On top of the pervasive sexism and excessive info-dumps, this novel also uses the revelation of a homosexual relationship as a "twist" and has both its protagonists suddenly become expert in the final fight at the skills we've been watching them fail at (in great detail) up to that point.
The disgusting attitudes to women are ingrained into the very fabric of the book as the only way to distinguish the "good guys" and the "bad guys" is who is physically forcing themselves on the female pieces of meat. However, the problem goes beyond the male characters of all ages as the author gives us two examples of women dying a manner that would not be out of place in an R-rated serial killer programme and multiple examples of women throwing themselves at men just because.
This book is also a cautionary example of why one should show and not tell. The real inciting incident doesn't come until 40 chapters or more have passed away. 40 chapters of watching the two protagonists being bad at the trades for which they've been training for almost a decade. 40 chapters of info-dump after info-dump as Staveley tries to pack the reader's head with details about the world in which none of his characters actually live; all three of his POVs are characters sequestered away from the real world.
On top of the pervasive sexism and excessive info-dumps, this novel also uses the revelation of a homosexual relationship as a "twist" and has both its protagonists suddenly become expert in the final fight at the skills we've been watching them fail at (in great detail) up to that point.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Sexual harassment, and Sexism
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Slavery
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