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A review by karis321
Seven Faceless Saints by M.K. Lobb
2.0
~~Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an advanced copy of the book!~~
Man, I'm just having a mediocre beginning to my reading this year. Not that I've read so much this year, since this is the fifth book I've read so far, but still.
Anyway, I was enjoying this at the beginning before it slowly slipped away to annoyance and confusion. The writing tends to repeat the character's thoughts over and over again, and the worldbuilding was surface-leveled and left much to be desired Like, Roz doesn't use her magic often, which is fine for her character, but we never get a deep dive into the magic system other than what is told in exposition dumps.
The plot also lacked the focus it needed. The focus wasn't so much on solving the murder mysteries but more so on Roz and Damien's romance, which wasn't even that good, to be honest. I like angry women in my stories, but Roz was annoying because her sole desire for revenge was so one-dimensional and made her so boring. I felt as though she always had to be the 'right' one. Her viewpoint is never seriously challenged (Damien doesn't count because he's a wet napkin equivalent of a character), and she never tries to understand any other perspectives because she's the main character! She doesn't need to! And Damien's constantly whining about the guilt he feels is also grating. An arc where a character loses faith in his religion and its system has been done good in other works, but just not here. These two together just did nothing for me. The chemistry might has well been a fart in the wind.
Overall, very disappointed read, as this was one of my most anticipated of the year.
Man, I'm just having a mediocre beginning to my reading this year. Not that I've read so much this year, since this is the fifth book I've read so far, but still.
Anyway, I was enjoying this at the beginning before it slowly slipped away to annoyance and confusion. The writing tends to repeat the character's thoughts over and over again, and the worldbuilding was surface-leveled and left much to be desired Like,
Spoiler
why aren't the disciples the soldiers? I understand it's a parallel, that the lives of those considered holy are put above the mundane, but the disciples have magic. Very useful magic. Roz and other Patience disciples' metal-bending skills alone would be exploited by their government if the officials were actually smart enough to do it. Throwing people without magic into battle when you have people who could do that doesn't make sense.The plot also lacked the focus it needed. The focus wasn't so much on solving the murder mysteries but more so on Roz and Damien's romance, which wasn't even that good, to be honest. I like angry women in my stories, but Roz was annoying because her sole desire for revenge was so one-dimensional and made her so boring. I felt as though she always had to be the 'right' one. Her viewpoint is never seriously challenged (Damien doesn't count because he's a wet napkin equivalent of a character), and she never tries to understand any other perspectives because she's the main character! She doesn't need to! And Damien's constantly whining about the guilt he feels is also grating. An arc where a character loses faith in his religion and its system has been done good in other works, but just not here. These two together just did nothing for me. The chemistry might has well been a fart in the wind.
Overall, very disappointed read, as this was one of my most anticipated of the year.