Reviews

I'm so conflicted. SO CONFLICTED

On the one hand, anything that Joe touches is amazing. His writing style is exactly what I want to read and his character work is unmatched. He must do some psychology bc bestie understands people. I'm so glad to be back in Adua. I'm so happy to see Glokta and Bayaz. Savine is my treacherous lil twin fr. The Great Wolf, what a guy...I have been caught saying "My man, my man". The grimdark is grimdarkinggg. Also, Joe's spicy scenes are yummy. Thor breaking his glass "ANOTHER" kind of gourmet, made from scratch.

On the other hand, The First Law had this huge, epic problem, we went to save the world. The wars were serious between gods and men and there were paranormal creepy elements. But in this, it feels like we're not in grave danger...it's just the girlies fighting. There's barely any magic and Adua has progressed into the industrial age. It feels too real life.

I feel like I miss the grandness of The First Law's quest. This feels like high school compared to what we went through in the 1st trilogy.

Is my TBR broken bc I wanna finish the next two books kinda immediately? Ofc. It's Lord Grimdark. Do I like it more than The First Law? No. But I like it differently.

emacap_137's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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

4.75

whoareyouhannah's review against another edition

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5.0

Abercrombie, you still got it.

ezrasupremacy's review against another edition

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rating tbd

i read the entire the first law trilogy just to get to this because i promised there’d be gay people, and by God am i thankful that my unquenchable thirst for gay characters forced me to face one of my biggest reading fears — actual “grown up” fantasy.

now here’s to the most important question: did i get the gay i was promised?

somewhat!

i knew from previous research that in book one i’d get at most hints, so my expectations were actually lower than they had to be, because what i did get was internalised homophobia and unrequited love. yum!

now to the things most fantasy readers would likely consider more significant:

this book is largely a set up for the rest of the trilogy, which is usual and fine, even if it took me a while to find my enthusiasm to read this (when i say “took me a while” i mean a few hours as i was reading, since i finished nearly 85% of it in one go today). once i had found that enthusiasm and grown some sort of connection to the characters though, i was all the way in.

i did significantly miss (and prefer) the characters in the the first law trilogy, mostly because there were less spoiled brats in it, but the spoiledness of the brats was almost made up for with the suffering they went through. only almost, though, i still dislike some of them for their views — which is exactly the point, and therefore wonderfully done. incredible setup for future character growth.

also, as someone who did his history a levels on the industrial revolution, this book was great fun, and i loved seeing all the parallels between our history and their current state.

overall i enjoyed this less than i had hoped but about as much as i needed to enjoy the first book in a new series, and obviously i will be starting the next book asap.

fedex777's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

3.75

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