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A review by malignantcactus
Malice by John Gwynne
2.0
This was fucking rough and fucking messy.
Easily one of the most incoherent first halves to a book I've read. Most of the POV's are virtually indistinguishable from one another. Obvious information is held so close to the chest that it makes the characters feel naive and moronic at times. Two certain villain characters are just evil because lol lmao we're high school bully tropes. Two of the POVs (Kastell and Camlin) could have been easily cut out. Camlin has maybe 4 or 5 chapters, and they add practically nothing to the story. Same with Kastell, IF he died at the end of this.
I like Corban. He feels a lot like Simon from Tad Williams' Memory Sorrow, & Thorn. A lot of this book feels like The Dragonbone Chair, just a pale imitation of it.
The last quarter or so the book did start to come together, and the ending was solid. I'm hoping the series gets better as it goes. I'm only continuing on because I've read The Bloodsworn Saga and I know Gwynne can write some fantastic books. I'm hoping that this gets better.
Easily one of the most incoherent first halves to a book I've read. Most of the POV's are virtually indistinguishable from one another. Obvious information is held so close to the chest that it makes the characters feel naive and moronic at times. Two certain villain characters are just evil because lol lmao we're high school bully tropes. Two of the POVs (Kastell and Camlin) could have been easily cut out. Camlin has maybe 4 or 5 chapters, and they add practically nothing to the story. Same with Kastell, IF he died at the end of this.
I like Corban. He feels a lot like Simon from Tad Williams' Memory Sorrow, & Thorn. A lot of this book feels like The Dragonbone Chair, just a pale imitation of it.
The last quarter or so the book did start to come together, and the ending was solid. I'm hoping the series gets better as it goes. I'm only continuing on because I've read The Bloodsworn Saga and I know Gwynne can write some fantastic books. I'm hoping that this gets better.