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A review by hobouk
The Grim Company by Luke Scull
4.0
I finished it today, and largely enjoyed it. The author has a real talent for world building and created some very likeable characters (even if they were picked up right out of the bold old book of fantasy tropes) and managed to throw in some genuine humour amongst the standard grimdark setting.
The parallels with Abercrombie are obvious, and it's difficult not to see a lot of Abercrombie's characters in the Grim Company , not that this is a bad thing, the author - I believe - doesn't like the comparisons being drawn , though I'm sure there are worse authors he could be compared too.
The book does have some weak points, I felt there was a lot of info-dump in the first 50 pages, mostly in awkward dialogue sections (the dialogue in general was poor early in the book, but improved dramatically towards the end) and the characters were standard fantasy archetypes with standard tropey backgrounds. I was also a little disappointed with the ending, though this is entirely subjective.
Despite all that Scull manages to manges to make the book enjoyable in spite of its flaws,the pacing is perfect and he has formed an intriguing world with an interesting magic system , and ultimately left me wanting to read book 2 as soon as is possible ( the manuscript is due in July). The author does a lot right here, and seems to have an understanding of what is enjoyable and fun in the genre and should be applauded for a highly entertaining début.
7.75/10
The parallels with Abercrombie are obvious, and it's difficult not to see a lot of Abercrombie's characters in the Grim Company , not that this is a bad thing, the author - I believe - doesn't like the comparisons being drawn , though I'm sure there are worse authors he could be compared too.
The book does have some weak points, I felt there was a lot of info-dump in the first 50 pages, mostly in awkward dialogue sections (the dialogue in general was poor early in the book, but improved dramatically towards the end) and the characters were standard fantasy archetypes with standard tropey backgrounds. I was also a little disappointed with the ending, though this is entirely subjective.
Despite all that Scull manages to manges to make the book enjoyable in spite of its flaws,the pacing is perfect and he has formed an intriguing world with an interesting magic system , and ultimately left me wanting to read book 2 as soon as is possible ( the manuscript is due in July). The author does a lot right here, and seems to have an understanding of what is enjoyable and fun in the genre and should be applauded for a highly entertaining début.
7.75/10