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A review by sipping_tea_with_ghosts
The Liar's Key by Mark Lawrence
3.0
At times, I wonder how fair it is to judge a book while being enveloped in or coming out of a reading slump. My patience was likely lower than it would be during the highs of book binges, but I think I can still explain clearly why I left this installment in the Red Queen’s War conflicted.
After achieving success on their Black Fort raid, Prince Jalan and Viking Snorri are still pursuing their individual quests while being accosted by the minions of the Dead King, the localized problems of every place they visit, and their own personal demons (in more ways than one). We transition from a fairly fast paced adventure in the first novel to much more plodding and introspective road trip of a story.
Let’s clearly state the biggest problem with this nearly 500 page adventure - not a lot of importance happens for a pretty long time. Snorri, Jalan and the companions they gather along the way end up visiting many towns, getting to know the locals, dealing with minor burdens that start and end the same way multiple times, and it just contributes to a glacial pace. Hel, it doesn’t help when the event that the awesome cover is alluding to feels like a footnote compared to the rest of the walking from one end of the country to another. This is further compounded by Jalan's more verbose narration compared to Jorg, giving meticulous detail to many things that don’t matter. There are entire chapters of this novel that feel like they came out of a contemporary or an incredibly dry instruction manual with smug sarcasm put on top, and it just made for skim-worthy material. There’s some gold in the soot, such as the various times Jalan chases tail only for it to blow up in his face in unexpected ways, but it felt like we started far too many chapters reading about the hangovers everyone had.
So why did I bother finishing it if it felt like such a boring weight on my neck compared to the first? Well when it's good, it's amazing such as with the flashback sequences, the dialogue and the character building. I will maintain that Lawrence makes some of the best characters in fantasy right now, and the constant first person narration made me appreciate the admirable contradiction that Jalan Kendeth is. Contradiction would be a “damning with fine praise” term in most circumstances, but it fits the cowardly prince perfectly. The rest of the cast aren’t slouching either on this front, and I missed them whenever Jalan was by himself and had no one to bounce off of. The Red Queen finally got more time to shine and I’m really hoping that we get more of a look at the people in power as well as those shadowy figures behind the scenes. The theme of being used as a pawn for someone else’s machinations is a strong and compelling one that has its thorns in deep throughout the Broken Empire.
So while this does feel like a classic case of “middle book in a trilogy” syndrome, I did end up enjoying The Liar’s Key by the end. That won’t excuse the first half for being full of incidental cameos and diversions, but that second half does really start to prepare you for what will likely be an emotional storm in the last book. Even as I tell myself I have to read other stuff cause they’ve been ignored long enough…a part of me begs to finish this trilogy and see Snorri get closure and for Jalan to grow into a badass in his own right.
I mean we all know he’ll run for the hills if Jorg is in the same room, but he’ll find his own way to be cool and brag about it later to any lady that’ll listen - creative liberties included.
After achieving success on their Black Fort raid, Prince Jalan and Viking Snorri are still pursuing their individual quests while being accosted by the minions of the Dead King, the localized problems of every place they visit, and their own personal demons (in more ways than one). We transition from a fairly fast paced adventure in the first novel to much more plodding and introspective road trip of a story.
Let’s clearly state the biggest problem with this nearly 500 page adventure - not a lot of importance happens for a pretty long time. Snorri, Jalan and the companions they gather along the way end up visiting many towns, getting to know the locals, dealing with minor burdens that start and end the same way multiple times, and it just contributes to a glacial pace. Hel, it doesn’t help when the event that the awesome cover is alluding to feels like a footnote compared to the rest of the walking from one end of the country to another. This is further compounded by Jalan's more verbose narration compared to Jorg, giving meticulous detail to many things that don’t matter. There are entire chapters of this novel that feel like they came out of a contemporary or an incredibly dry instruction manual with smug sarcasm put on top, and it just made for skim-worthy material. There’s some gold in the soot, such as the various times Jalan chases tail only for it to blow up in his face in unexpected ways, but it felt like we started far too many chapters reading about the hangovers everyone had.
So why did I bother finishing it if it felt like such a boring weight on my neck compared to the first? Well when it's good, it's amazing such as with the flashback sequences, the dialogue and the character building. I will maintain that Lawrence makes some of the best characters in fantasy right now, and the constant first person narration made me appreciate the admirable contradiction that Jalan Kendeth is. Contradiction would be a “damning with fine praise” term in most circumstances, but it fits the cowardly prince perfectly. The rest of the cast aren’t slouching either on this front, and I missed them whenever Jalan was by himself and had no one to bounce off of. The Red Queen finally got more time to shine and I’m really hoping that we get more of a look at the people in power as well as those shadowy figures behind the scenes. The theme of being used as a pawn for someone else’s machinations is a strong and compelling one that has its thorns in deep throughout the Broken Empire.
So while this does feel like a classic case of “middle book in a trilogy” syndrome, I did end up enjoying The Liar’s Key by the end. That won’t excuse the first half for being full of incidental cameos and diversions, but that second half does really start to prepare you for what will likely be an emotional storm in the last book. Even as I tell myself I have to read other stuff cause they’ve been ignored long enough…a part of me begs to finish this trilogy and see Snorri get closure and for Jalan to grow into a badass in his own right.
I mean we all know he’ll run for the hills if Jorg is in the same room, but he’ll find his own way to be cool and brag about it later to any lady that’ll listen - creative liberties included.