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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I have heard so many good things about this book. I think that may be why I didn't like it as much as others. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the world-building and the characters were unique. I have nothing against the actual characters and plot. The thing that sort of annoyed me was that each chapter skips to a different character. There are about five different points of views and none of them have a sequential chapter. Usually I love multiple 3rd person POV, but this was different because it always seemed that right when you got to something interesting the chapter ended and you started on with a different character. The plot was interesting enough that I am going to continue on with the series. The actual story really did draw me in and make me care about what was going to happen next. Overall, I liked the book but the organization of it irked me a bit.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, it took me FOREVER to slog through, and towards the end, I found myself skimming parts of chapters before I caught myself and went back to read things thoroughly. At some points, the plot moved so slowly I was just impatient to keep flipping pages so the book would be over more quickly. It's a hefty book, too, over 600 pages.
On the other hand, I loved the world building Marshall's done here -- it's intricate, detailed (at times too detailed, perhaps), and interesting. I've read some comments complaining about how the cultures in this book map too neatly onto existing cultures in our world, but I didn't mind it. Seeing Korean-like names in a fantasy novel is a complete novelty to me, and I loved it, honestly. Marshall's world is rich, complex, and always feels realistic. Even if some of the many paragraphs of exposition and descriptions could have been cut without losing very much, I still enjoyed the feeling of stepping into a world that felt diverse, interesting, and real.
Speaking of diversity, making a majority of the characters non-heterosexual and everyone act completely blasé about it? Pretty awesome. I read another comment complaining about how it's just not realistic to have this many bisexual/gay/etc. characters and how it's just as bad as making everyone heterosexual, but really? There are enough books out there with zero LGBT representation. One book with an abundance of LGBT characters isn't something to complain about. Is it realistic? Maybe in this society it is! It's a freaking fantasy novel. Get outta here with your complaints about it being "too diverse."
Even with the diversity, the imaginative world building, and the smooth prose, I still didn't really love this book, though I wanted to. I found all the characters interesting and three-dimensional, but for some reason, I wasn't terribly invested in any of them. The plot was detailed and intriguing, but by the time the book was over, I had little urge to immediately find the next one. Maybe it was because it was, on the whole, too dense. Maybe it just didn't have a spark that really gripped me and moved me. Whatever the case, when I finally finished, I was glad I had read it but also relieved it was over.
On the other hand, I loved the world building Marshall's done here -- it's intricate, detailed (at times too detailed, perhaps), and interesting. I've read some comments complaining about how the cultures in this book map too neatly onto existing cultures in our world, but I didn't mind it. Seeing Korean-like names in a fantasy novel is a complete novelty to me, and I loved it, honestly. Marshall's world is rich, complex, and always feels realistic. Even if some of the many paragraphs of exposition and descriptions could have been cut without losing very much, I still enjoyed the feeling of stepping into a world that felt diverse, interesting, and real.
Speaking of diversity, making a majority of the characters non-heterosexual and everyone act completely blasé about it? Pretty awesome. I read another comment complaining about how it's just not realistic to have this many bisexual/gay/etc. characters and how it's just as bad as making everyone heterosexual, but really? There are enough books out there with zero LGBT representation. One book with an abundance of LGBT characters isn't something to complain about. Is it realistic? Maybe in this society it is! It's a freaking fantasy novel. Get outta here with your complaints about it being "too diverse."
Even with the diversity, the imaginative world building, and the smooth prose, I still didn't really love this book, though I wanted to. I found all the characters interesting and three-dimensional, but for some reason, I wasn't terribly invested in any of them. The plot was detailed and intriguing, but by the time the book was over, I had little urge to immediately find the next one. Maybe it was because it was, on the whole, too dense. Maybe it just didn't have a spark that really gripped me and moved me. Whatever the case, when I finally finished, I was glad I had read it but also relieved it was over.
This book has been in my "currently reading" for almost 2 years. It's time to give up the goat. Which is sad, because I actually do kind of care about what's going on and I sort of feel like if I don't find some kind of summary it's going to kind of haunt me. But I just can't. It's too slow. Whenever I see it sitting nearby, I cringe at the thought of having to continue reading. The world that is being set up is pretty cool, but not worth the investment when there is just so much other stuff to read that doesn't put me to sleep after one chapter! Sorry, Zosia - I apparently don't care enough.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry
Moderate: Animal death, Body shaming, Child death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief
Minor: Bullying, Child death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Excrement, Vomit, Medical trauma, Death of parent
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was my first time venturing into Grim Dark Fantasy and I don't really know who I feel about it. To be fair, I read the first half of this book back in the summer and finished it off this week, so a huge break in the middle.
I really did enjoy the world-building, however I'm personally a fan of the info-dump at the start of a fantasy story to really give you an idea of the world/magic right away and unfortunately (for me anyways) this doesn't really do that. It's more of a slow trickle of information (like 2/3 of the way through and you're still finding new key information out).
I went into this book knowing way less then I normally would as all the back tells you is:
"It was all going so nicely, right up until the massacre.
Five villains.
One legendary general.
A final quest for vengeance."
Let me tell you, that is what you get and it is as awesome of a premise as it sounds.
Most of the things that I ended up not enjoying as much, are tropes and factors that I think make this grim dark rather than an epic fantasy. The characters are all very crude and kinda gross, but I'm assuming that's part of the sub-genre and so not something I knocked it for. I did like the tension between the government, the rebels and the dominant religion. Personally the Chain was what I viewed as the most evil fraction at play, but I could easily see how others would pick differently.
What I did knock it down for, was that by the time I got towards the end (last 150-200 pages) where everything is ramping up and all the different plot lines are coming together, I found my investment in the story waning. There was one reveal that happened a little too soon in my opinion, that meant that I could figure out roughly how this first book was going to end.
I own the second book in the trilogy so most likely I'll end up continuing eventually. I'm going to (eventually) give The Blade Itself a shot to see if I might like a different grim dark fantasy more, but from this experience, I don't see it becoming one of my staple genres.
I really did enjoy the world-building, however I'm personally a fan of the info-dump at the start of a fantasy story to really give you an idea of the world/magic right away and unfortunately (for me anyways) this doesn't really do that. It's more of a slow trickle of information (like 2/3 of the way through and you're still finding new key information out).
I went into this book knowing way less then I normally would as all the back tells you is:
"It was all going so nicely, right up until the massacre.
Five villains.
One legendary general.
A final quest for vengeance."
Let me tell you, that is what you get and it is as awesome of a premise as it sounds.
Most of the things that I ended up not enjoying as much, are tropes and factors that I think make this grim dark rather than an epic fantasy. The characters are all very crude and kinda gross, but I'm assuming that's part of the sub-genre and so not something I knocked it for. I did like the tension between the government, the rebels and the dominant religion. Personally the Chain was what I viewed as the most evil fraction at play, but I could easily see how others would pick differently.
What I did knock it down for, was that by the time I got towards the end (last 150-200 pages) where everything is ramping up and all the different plot lines are coming together, I found my investment in the story waning. There was one reveal that happened a little too soon in my opinion, that meant that I could figure out roughly how this first book was going to end.
I own the second book in the trilogy so most likely I'll end up continuing eventually. I'm going to (eventually) give The Blade Itself a shot to see if I might like a different grim dark fantasy more, but from this experience, I don't see it becoming one of my staple genres.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes