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A review by stepriot
The Rose and the Thorn by Michael J. Sullivan
2.0
This book makes me pretty uncomfortable with Royce being anything like a protagonist in any of the other books. I may have to go back and read Revelations again because I remembered him as an antihero, not a less humorous Jorg Ancrath. I'm glad I read Revelations first because I'm not seeing a single reason to keep thinking this character is worth investing in. He's presented with such an obvious purpose it is hard to suspend any disbelief. There are a slew of problems with this book, but I find Royce's actions to be incompatible with the storyline that follows.
*spoiler for Rose and Thorn only* Glockta and Jorg are characters who can be cruel and still likeable because there's no intention of redemption. You can't have someone with such an illustrious career as a monster then tell me, sorry he had a bad upbringing and a now he'll change and be a hero. Glockta does heroic things but he's an asshole consistently. None of his actions contradicted his nature. Jorge is a monster and sometimes does things that happen to benefit others, but he's consistently all about Jorg. Royce is straight up serial killer and you want me to think he's a sacred object worth saving? He didn't get carried away a time or two, that we can somehow forgive in a book. His job didn't require occasional acts of dispassionate brutality. He's fucking BTK and you are asking me to root for him. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to see past that. Not to mention Hadrian I-feel-so-much-regret-for-all-of-my-killing Blackwater just shrugging the whole thing off like its a perfectly normal and reasonable response to provocation. That's all very weird and not in the good eldritch way.
*spoiler for Rose and Thorn only* Glockta and Jorg are characters who can be cruel and still likeable because there's no intention of redemption. You can't have someone with such an illustrious career as a monster then tell me, sorry he had a bad upbringing and a now he'll change and be a hero. Glockta does heroic things but he's an asshole consistently. None of his actions contradicted his nature. Jorge is a monster and sometimes does things that happen to benefit others, but he's consistently all about Jorg. Royce is straight up serial killer and you want me to think he's a sacred object worth saving? He didn't get carried away a time or two, that we can somehow forgive in a book. His job didn't require occasional acts of dispassionate brutality. He's fucking BTK and you are asking me to root for him. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to see past that. Not to mention Hadrian I-feel-so-much-regret-for-all-of-my-killing Blackwater just shrugging the whole thing off like its a perfectly normal and reasonable response to provocation. That's all very weird and not in the good eldritch way.