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hillarysames's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
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? It's complicated
5.0
mrgriffit's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A fantastically built world that is fully realized in fun and horrifying and interesting ways. The characters are all terrible and great and grow on you as you follow their journey. And the ending does a great job at tying everything about the world together in a way that makes perfect sense. A solid read.
alchaea's review
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
saprat's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
5.0
oh my FUCKING god this book was good. there was so much i liked about it and im about to vomit up all of it in a totally spoiler-riddled review.
firstly, the worldbuilding was utterly delightful !! i loved seeing the many different cultures, and they were all utterly fascinating to me !! while none of the characters felt wholly defined by their nationalities (even galva, mostly referred to as "the spanth," felt like her own person), you could still clearly see their cultures they've grown up with influencing their values and beliefs, which i thought was so well done. the world also just felt so big and huge and immersive !!!
another thing that i really liked about this book was that the characters were very clearly cool and badass, but they certainly weren't godlike either; i think a lot of fantasy writers are too scared of making their characters too vulnerable, so i really liked how unflinchingly brutal this book was to the characters at times. it just made the characters seem so much more human, and it made me even more invested in seeing them succeed. i just really like books where the world doesn't spin around the characters, and instead the characters simply exist in it, subject to all the world's whims; it just makes it so much more immersive.
speaking of characters; god, i fucking loved kinch. what an incredible narrator. i actually underestimated kinch at first. when i first started reading, i thought i understood kinch's whole deal; he's a shitty, snarky, morally dubious rogue in an almost grimdark fantasy. i've seen that many times before. what really set kinch apart from that, is the utter compassion and sentimentality he has. i expected him to be an edgy loner with snark in place of emotions, like many tropey rogues, so kinch really surprised me. he's still a snarky rogue for sure, but he's sympathetic and dear god he cares about people. kinch is an amazing subversion of the emotionless edgy rogue; he's sentimental about his fiddle, he immediately falls in love with norrigal in a way that's so incredibly sweet, he sympathizes with a woman that tried to kill him when he later sees her hanged, he befriends malk even though malk ALSO tried to kill him and mourns malk when he dies. even during the final stretch of the book in oustrim, kinch says that he "almost likes" the ginger urchin and the man he play towers with; it's almost like kinch can't help but Care. i also really liked that kinch very clearly cares about his family; first of all, the fact he even Has family is already different from your typical tropey rogue, but the fact he cares about them So Much really endears me to him. there is something about kinch that is just utterly refreshing, and human, and genuine. he really breathes life into a story and a world that is actually very dark and brutal. and while i do generally enjoy romantic subplots, they're never quite the highlight for me; except in this. at first, i thought maybe kinch's attraction to norrigal was purely physical rather than emotional (as i still thought he might just be a generic loner rogue), but seeing how seriously kinch cared about norrigal was seriously incredible to me. once again, kinch is so absolutely genuine in his care for people, and the romance he had with norrigal was so incredibly endearing. norrigal was also a brilliant character; she had the snark to match with kinch, and their dynamic together was just sooo very good. norrigal, kinch, and their relationship with each other was so fantastic imo. anyways, kinch being a lying thief AND a sentimental bastard, and neither trait denying the other, was such a wonderful balance that i loved to see.
oh, and while i understand why someone else might have problems with it, i actually did think malk's death was narratively fitting; once again, it shows that none of the characters are invincible, and i really do admire how this book doesn't shy away from having bad and ignoble things happen to our characters.
i also love the structure of this book. i just always love quest adventures where the characters go on a long fantasy roadtrip, and i loved the nearly episodic feeling this book had; there was always something new for our characters to deal with. also, a lot of people tend to just throw around D&D comparisons when talking about fantasy media, but this did actually give me D&D vibes; something about the main gang of characters being so mismatched, as well as the quest adventure plot, and the absolute absurdity of the situations these characters got into, really does scream D&D party.
speaking once more of kinch, i also loved how faithful he is to his god. once again, it's a fun subversion of the typical faithless and heartless grimdark rogue. i've always loved the idea of trickery gods and the thieves that worship them; something about the juxtaposition of something unholy like thieving being made into something holy instead just compels me. (probably also why i liked "the lies of locke lamora" so much!)
and to speak again of norrigal: i absolutely adored the twist at the end. in fact, the entire oustrim section at the end of this book had me so fucking on edge, but the little thing about norrigal was utterly fascinating to me. i actually just loved all the witch stuff in this; norrigal, fulvir, and particularly deadlegs and her upside down tower, adds a sense of almost folkloric whimsy that juxtaposes against the dark and political world the book is set in, which i think is very fun. the implications at the end regarding norrigal is incredibly compelling to me, and i would absolutely love to see it expanded upon; i would happily read another whole book just of kinch returning to norrigal. i also love the other implications the book ended with; the idea of kinch trying to use the murder alphabet book he found to maybe take down the guild is something i'd be incredibly interested in seeing expanded upon. (hopefully we'll get to see this after the prequel comes out!)
i think the one thing i would've liked to see was more exploration of galva, and her relationship with mireya; but a prequel that was exactly this premise was announced, so i'm sure my wish will be granted soon.
even with some things left unexplored (like the implication of kinch taking down the guild + situation w/ deadlegs and norrigal + the implication of mireya taking the throne of ispanthia), i also still feel like this book stands perfectly on it's own. oftentimes, the first book of a series is unsatisfying, it's only leg to stand on being the fact it'll have a sequel rather than it's own content; this was not one of those books.
overall, i thought this book was absolutely brilliant, and i cannot wait to see more of this world and characters.
firstly, the worldbuilding was utterly delightful !! i loved seeing the many different cultures, and they were all utterly fascinating to me !! while none of the characters felt wholly defined by their nationalities (even galva, mostly referred to as "the spanth," felt like her own person), you could still clearly see their cultures they've grown up with influencing their values and beliefs, which i thought was so well done. the world also just felt so big and huge and immersive !!!
another thing that i really liked about this book was that the characters were very clearly cool and badass, but they certainly weren't godlike either; i think a lot of fantasy writers are too scared of making their characters too vulnerable, so i really liked how unflinchingly brutal this book was to the characters at times. it just made the characters seem so much more human, and it made me even more invested in seeing them succeed. i just really like books where the world doesn't spin around the characters, and instead the characters simply exist in it, subject to all the world's whims; it just makes it so much more immersive.
speaking of characters; god, i fucking loved kinch. what an incredible narrator. i actually underestimated kinch at first. when i first started reading, i thought i understood kinch's whole deal; he's a shitty, snarky, morally dubious rogue in an almost grimdark fantasy. i've seen that many times before. what really set kinch apart from that, is the utter compassion and sentimentality he has. i expected him to be an edgy loner with snark in place of emotions, like many tropey rogues, so kinch really surprised me. he's still a snarky rogue for sure, but he's sympathetic and dear god he cares about people. kinch is an amazing subversion of the emotionless edgy rogue; he's sentimental about his fiddle, he immediately falls in love with norrigal in a way that's so incredibly sweet, he sympathizes with a woman that tried to kill him when he later sees her hanged, he befriends malk even though malk ALSO tried to kill him and mourns malk when he dies. even during the final stretch of the book in oustrim, kinch says that he "almost likes" the ginger urchin and the man he play towers with; it's almost like kinch can't help but Care. i also really liked that kinch very clearly cares about his family; first of all, the fact he even Has family is already different from your typical tropey rogue, but the fact he cares about them So Much really endears me to him. there is something about kinch that is just utterly refreshing, and human, and genuine. he really breathes life into a story and a world that is actually very dark and brutal. and while i do generally enjoy romantic subplots, they're never quite the highlight for me; except in this. at first, i thought maybe kinch's attraction to norrigal was purely physical rather than emotional (as i still thought he might just be a generic loner rogue), but seeing how seriously kinch cared about norrigal was seriously incredible to me. once again, kinch is so absolutely genuine in his care for people, and the romance he had with norrigal was so incredibly endearing. norrigal was also a brilliant character; she had the snark to match with kinch, and their dynamic together was just sooo very good. norrigal, kinch, and their relationship with each other was so fantastic imo. anyways, kinch being a lying thief AND a sentimental bastard, and neither trait denying the other, was such a wonderful balance that i loved to see.
oh, and while i understand why someone else might have problems with it, i actually did think malk's death was narratively fitting; once again, it shows that none of the characters are invincible, and i really do admire how this book doesn't shy away from having bad and ignoble things happen to our characters.
i also love the structure of this book. i just always love quest adventures where the characters go on a long fantasy roadtrip, and i loved the nearly episodic feeling this book had; there was always something new for our characters to deal with. also, a lot of people tend to just throw around D&D comparisons when talking about fantasy media, but this did actually give me D&D vibes; something about the main gang of characters being so mismatched, as well as the quest adventure plot, and the absolute absurdity of the situations these characters got into, really does scream D&D party.
speaking once more of kinch, i also loved how faithful he is to his god. once again, it's a fun subversion of the typical faithless and heartless grimdark rogue. i've always loved the idea of trickery gods and the thieves that worship them; something about the juxtaposition of something unholy like thieving being made into something holy instead just compels me. (probably also why i liked "the lies of locke lamora" so much!)
and to speak again of norrigal: i absolutely adored the twist at the end. in fact, the entire oustrim section at the end of this book had me so fucking on edge, but the little thing about norrigal was utterly fascinating to me. i actually just loved all the witch stuff in this; norrigal, fulvir, and particularly deadlegs and her upside down tower, adds a sense of almost folkloric whimsy that juxtaposes against the dark and political world the book is set in, which i think is very fun. the implications at the end regarding norrigal is incredibly compelling to me, and i would absolutely love to see it expanded upon; i would happily read another whole book just of kinch returning to norrigal. i also love the other implications the book ended with; the idea of kinch trying to use the murder alphabet book he found to maybe take down the guild is something i'd be incredibly interested in seeing expanded upon. (hopefully we'll get to see this after the prequel comes out!)
i think the one thing i would've liked to see was more exploration of galva, and her relationship with mireya; but a prequel that was exactly this premise was announced, so i'm sure my wish will be granted soon.
even with some things left unexplored (like the implication of kinch taking down the guild + situation w/ deadlegs and norrigal + the implication of mireya taking the throne of ispanthia), i also still feel like this book stands perfectly on it's own. oftentimes, the first book of a series is unsatisfying, it's only leg to stand on being the fact it'll have a sequel rather than it's own content; this was not one of those books.
overall, i thought this book was absolutely brilliant, and i cannot wait to see more of this world and characters.
kaecoots's review against another edition
adventurous
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
3.5
The bones of the story were great, I just think it would’ve been a better book if it wasn’t so slow and the writing was a tad more developed. I didn’t hate it, but didn’t like it much either.
rainbow_kitten_five's review
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
dporfirio's review
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
tcapel's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
There is a SA (r*pe) of the main character, Kinch, about ten hours into the book. It was not described in detail, but was still wildly out of place and felt unnecessary to any part of the story.kyillme's review against another edition
The thing about this book is that it’s not bad at all — in fact, it’s a pretty great and adventurous fantasy book. The problem is that it was marketed to me as horror and it absolutely isn’t. It’s dark at times, but never frightening, and I just couldn’t get into it. It’s a good book if you’re looking for a gritty fantasy with a fun narrator, but if you want the crap scared out of you look elsewhere. Also, this book is so song-heavy, and if you listen to the audiobook they actually sing all the songs. This is probably a feature for some people, but as an avid skipper-over of songs in books it was near unbearable.
paganhill's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-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? It's complicated
5.0