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winterscape's review
4.0
A bit of a meander, but it gets there in the end! With a big twist in the middle that turns the whole book on its head, a layered unveilling with skillful use of flashbacks, political intrigue, and strong relationships between characters, The Path of Anger is a great entry into the fantasy assassin mix.
My biggest complaint is that while it is very character driven, with a lot of big personalities and plot points resting around who is who, I think it would have benefitted from more moments between characters, to really let their relationships breathe and feel more realistic.
The relationship between Frog and Wader is at the centre of the story, but the heartfelt and relationship-developing moments between them are too few, eschewed instead for battle scenes, politics, and mostly glossed over until the end. I wanted the father-son talks, the small moments to sink my teeth into the ups and downs of their relationship, for that feeling of love and care to develop over time. It was there, in pieces, and reaches satisfying heights at the end that did bring tears to my eyes, but it could have been so much more emotionally gripping.
I give it four stars and recommend it to people looking for a nice change of pace from traditionally formatted fantasy stories.
My biggest complaint is that while it is very character driven, with a lot of big personalities and plot points resting around who is who, I think it would have benefitted from more moments between characters, to really let their relationships breathe and feel more realistic.
The relationship between Frog and Wader is at the centre of the story, but the heartfelt and relationship-developing moments between them are too few, eschewed instead for battle scenes, politics, and mostly glossed over until the end. I wanted the father-son talks, the small moments to sink my teeth into the ups and downs of their relationship, for that feeling of love and care to develop over time. It was there, in pieces, and reaches satisfying heights at the end that did bring tears to my eyes, but it could have been so much more emotionally gripping.
I give it four stars and recommend it to people looking for a nice change of pace from traditionally formatted fantasy stories.
sheyri's review
3.0
2.5
TW:
The idea is good enough. The way it was handled wasn't to my liking, however. I found myself bored at best and annoyed at worst. I can't remember a single scene that I really enjoyed. Maybe it just hit me at the wrong time, I don't know.
A major issue I have with the writing are the constant time jumps. In the middle of chapters. A chapter can start off in the present, but after two pages or so it jumps to a flashback; for the rest of the chapter. And not just a chapter every now and then, nearly every single one. And sometimes, when it starts with a flashback, it jumps even further back.
So, you get three storylines at three times, but none of them is really handled seperately. The story just jumps around. It all connects, sure, but it is very confusing.
Sure, it can work, but please, at least do it chapter by chapter!
Also, what are female characters? There sure as hell aren't any in this book. Viola, Esyld and Mildrel are little more than love interests, with little character of their own, or really any motivation. Esyld takes up a lot of page time, but then again, only because Laerte loves her.
My other major issue is with the publisher, more specifically the translator and editor(s):
This book is full of odd phrases (the near constant black look), missing words, or extra words that suggest the sentence was rephrased. That can happen a couple times, everyone misses things. But three times over two pages? And all in all roughly every chapter?
And the worst: On page 257, there is what I can only assume a placeholder. Instead of "Duke de Page" (I guess) it says "Duke 0", with no explanation if that's some sort of nickname or whatever. It has to be a placeholder. That sort of thing absolutely mustn't happen in a traditionally published book, by a big publishing house no less!
That is by no meanse a critique on the book itself or the author. They have no influence on that. But from a publisher like Gollancz I expected better work. It really disrupts the flow of reading.
TW:
Spoiler
war and everything that comes with it, though not very detailedThe idea is good enough. The way it was handled wasn't to my liking, however. I found myself bored at best and annoyed at worst. I can't remember a single scene that I really enjoyed. Maybe it just hit me at the wrong time, I don't know.
A major issue I have with the writing are the constant time jumps. In the middle of chapters. A chapter can start off in the present, but after two pages or so it jumps to a flashback; for the rest of the chapter. And not just a chapter every now and then, nearly every single one. And sometimes, when it starts with a flashback, it jumps even further back.
So, you get three storylines at three times, but none of them is really handled seperately. The story just jumps around. It all connects, sure, but it is very confusing.
Sure, it can work, but please, at least do it chapter by chapter!
Also, what are female characters? There sure as hell aren't any in this book. Viola, Esyld and Mildrel are little more than love interests, with little character of their own, or really any motivation. Esyld takes up a lot of page time, but then again, only because Laerte loves her.
Spoiler
Plus point for de Page being queer and not evil, though.Spoiler
And Laerte is very Mary Sue-ish. Sure, he trains a lot to be a good fighter. But he doesn't really fail at anything, does he? He trains with the sword, he becomes an exceptionally good fighter. He trains with the animus, he becomes a master of it, better than basically anyone alive. He sets his goal, he achieves it. His only struggles are that Esyld doesn't marry him and that he gets some injuries that force him to start his training from zero again. No, there's no permanant damage, even though he was apparently hurled through the air and crashed into some trees really hard.My other major issue is with the publisher, more specifically the translator and editor(s):
This book is full of odd phrases (the near constant black look), missing words, or extra words that suggest the sentence was rephrased. That can happen a couple times, everyone misses things. But three times over two pages? And all in all roughly every chapter?
And the worst: On page 257, there is what I can only assume a placeholder. Instead of "Duke de Page" (I guess) it says "Duke 0", with no explanation if that's some sort of nickname or whatever. It has to be a placeholder. That sort of thing absolutely mustn't happen in a traditionally published book, by a big publishing house no less!
That is by no meanse a critique on the book itself or the author. They have no influence on that. But from a publisher like Gollancz I expected better work. It really disrupts the flow of reading.
cupiscent's review
Nah. No hate, just didn't feel like it was giving me anything new, interesting or beautiful.
jameseckman's review
3.0
In some ways it's the cliched generic Western Fantasy in background with a mostly male cast, but the Rashomon style flashbacks are very well done and expose each characters secrets in a timely fashion. It has a great ending, you can read this as a standalone and be perfectly happy without reading anymore books in the series.
tomlloyd's review
2.0
Didn't really do it for me. Not liking either Dun-Cadel or Frog didn't help, but the world building didn't thrill, the plot I was a bit meh on, and I don't remember anything at all about the prose so while it clearly wasn't bad, it wasn't a selling point either.
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