Scan barcode
sirpasta's review
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Ending was kinda rushed
Content Warnings
Minor: Racism, War, Genocide, Infidelity, and Violence
maidofbees's review
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
It was hard to rate this one! I did really enjoy it- the narrator, whilst unreliable and unlikeable, was very readable. The book made me laugh at points and I enjoyed the unusual perspective of following an engineer through a seige.
I would say that one issues was that the world this book is set in was very unjust, but that the story didn't really do much with that. There wasnt much societal change and the main character also didn't seem to want to cause any improvements in rights for anyone, beyond a dislike of the upper classes. This is the first in a series, however, so maybe the next book tackles that more. I'm also aware that this is a world based on the Byzantine Empire, which did have a lot of inequalities.
Finally, the book ended fairly abruptly, which was a bit of a shame. I wont spoil anything but I would have liked more of an ending!
I would say that one issues was that the world this book is set in was very unjust, but that the story didn't really do much with that. There wasnt much societal change and the main character also didn't seem to want to cause any improvements in rights for anyone, beyond a dislike of the upper classes. This is the first in a series, however, so maybe the next book tackles that more. I'm also aware that this is a world based on the Byzantine Empire, which did have a lot of inequalities.
Finally, the book ended fairly abruptly, which was a bit of a shame. I wont spoil anything but I would have liked more of an ending!
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Racism, and Violence
Moderate: Sexism
nekoshka's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Violence, and War
Moderate: Slavery, Misogyny, and Racism
Minor: Infidelity and Injury/Injury detail
jesticulate's review
dark
funny
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Blood, Death, Murder, Violence, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, and War
mandkips's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: War and Death
Moderate: Violence, Cursing, and Misogyny
Minor: Sexism and Racism
elizabeth_lepore's review
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Death, and Gore
Moderate: Slavery, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Misogyny, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Colonisation and Infidelity
mentalshirt's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: War, Gore, and Violence
Minor: Racism
flamingo_ne's review
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing and Violence
inka_z's review
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Gore, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Sexism, Violence, and War
flying_monkey's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This is a workmanlike humorous (if not necessarily actually funny) fantasy novel by humorous (if not necessarily actually funny) fantasy novelist, Tom Holt, writing under a pseudonym, the need for which I don't quite understand - but then I never found Holt actually funny so perhaps he wanted to attract a new audience. It's a first-person narrative of an ethnic outsider in a powerful empire, who has overcome prejudice and poverty to be the Colonel-in-Chief of the imperial engineers. By his own account he is a coward who gets by on his brains and, as they song goes, with a little help from his friends. Anyway, he ends up in the imperial capital as it comes under siege by powerful forces unknown to anyone, and has to resort to every physical and social engineering tactic, ruse and scheme to defend the city. The writing is breezy, the characterisation and worldbuilding perfunctory at best, and it slips down without touching the sides. It is, as a result, really annoying and throughout I was reminded very strongly of a much better humorous (but this time actually funny) unreliable narrator story and couldn't think what it was - and then about 2/3 of the way through I remembered - it was the Murderbot novellas by Martha Wells. Yes, this novel's narration is like a vastly inferior fantasy version of Wells. Anyway, people who like this kind of thing will like this novel, especially if you're into engineering or are someone whose idea of a good time is reading about historical siege technologies. It's not bad.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Violence
More...