A great fantasy read! (with some reservations)
I must say, overall, that I enjoyed this book very much; the story
held my interest the same way that the novels of George R.R. Martin
(Series of Ice and Fire) and Steven Erikson (The Malazan Book of
the Fallen) do.
As with most fantasy there were elements of magic, deceit,
betrayals, unexpected friendships and a smattering of romance; and
in this book, there were a few areas that were witty and humorous.
The story was well written and proceeded with a good pace. There
was very little 'down time' in this story; something was always
happening or about to happen that really held your interest...you
had to read 'one more chapter'.
However, there were two areas of concern...one minor (1), the other
(2) more serious.
1.)There was no map. Although the story takes place in the fairly
small geographic area of Camorr city, a map would have been very
helpful to give a sense of direction and distances that our
protagonist had to travel.
2.)Profanity!...profanity that was excessive and unnecessary (were
talking about the 'f ' word here). Profanity that also occurred in
spots that, generally speaking, it was very unlikely to happen.
e.g. When speaking to the members of the upper crust of the Camorr
society. And even more unbelievable was that fact that these
members of Camorr's nobility never said a thing about our hero's
continuous vulgarisms.
Let me add this; I have no problems with swearing in novels when it
is done in the 'proper' situation, (there are times where swearing
adds realism to the situation (depending on who is speaking and
what is going on at the moment). However, this novel exceeded even
my level of 'reasonable' swearing tolerance. This degree of
vulgarism, generally flawed, an otherwise great fantasy story. I
find it hard to believe that one of the editors didn't get this
problem discussed and corrected. (then again, maybe they did, but
the suggestion went unheeded.)
Without the two concerns mentioned above, an outstanding and
intriguing fantasy effort. However, the use of unwarranted
profanity has lessened the quality of this otherwise remarkable
book. 3 ½ to 4 Stars.