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The characters in the ensemble are essentially set dressing for Druss, who is an incredible character study on the classic fantasy hero. I was also impressed by the characterization of Ulric, who bucks the trend of the usual evil-for-evil's-sake villain in this genre. Instead, Ulric is a thoughtful antagonist who is simply attempting to carry out military actions on a nation who have done the same thing in generations gone by. It's a good critique of war and the depiction of "evil" in the fantasy genre.
The loss of 2 stars for me comes from the really bad female characters present in the story who are constantly characterized by their relationship to men, without their own interests or motivations being allowed to move their character arca forward. Both women, who are shown to be outstanding warriors, are reduced to nursing the heroic men by the third act. I was surprised how much of the usual female tropes were present in a book that seemed insistent on bucking all the other tropes of the fantasy genre.
I also found the dialog to be quite stilted and bland.
The loss of 2 stars for me comes from the really bad female characters present in the story who are constantly characterized by their relationship to men, without their own interests or motivations being allowed to move their character arca forward. Both women, who are shown to be outstanding warriors, are reduced to nursing the heroic men by the third act. I was surprised how much of the usual female tropes were present in a book that seemed insistent on bucking all the other tropes of the fantasy genre.
I also found the dialog to be quite stilted and bland.