This is book 1 of The First Law trilogy.
It is common for the first book of a series to be heavy on character development and short on plot, and this was certainly no exception. The character development itself was actually quite good. The main players are dirty, gritty, bloody, and fierce. Every single one of them is flawed. Even though almost every character is essentially unlikable, you still find yourself at least moderately sympathetic towards them, rooting for them in spite of their many faults.
As for plot, this was a set-up book all the way. There is more than enough politics, scheming, and intrigue to go around, but the book seemed terribly unfocused. The geography is confusing (an illustrated map would have been nice), the internal and external conflicts are not fully realized, and it has that feeling of "a lot is going on but nothing actually happens."
This was Abercrombie's first book, and there were elements of his writing style that were distracting. Every character seems to be "sucking their teeth" when thinking. Every surface with a hint of sheen to it has been "polished mirror bright." And the frequent use of modern-day profanity strikes me as being distinctly out of place within this supposed medieval-fantasy setting.
Overall, there was much in this book that was good but as a whole it was not great. For me, it falls on the scale slightly above RA Salvatore (fantasy fast food) and well below Robin Hobb (5 star restaurant). It is a good middle ground (a sports bar with surprisingly good food), and is therefore enjoyable enough and not a total waste of your time.
It is common for the first book of a series to be heavy on character development and short on plot, and this was certainly no exception. The character development itself was actually quite good. The main players are dirty, gritty, bloody, and fierce. Every single one of them is flawed. Even though almost every character is essentially unlikable, you still find yourself at least moderately sympathetic towards them, rooting for them in spite of their many faults.
As for plot, this was a set-up book all the way. There is more than enough politics, scheming, and intrigue to go around, but the book seemed terribly unfocused. The geography is confusing (an illustrated map would have been nice), the internal and external conflicts are not fully realized, and it has that feeling of "a lot is going on but nothing actually happens."
This was Abercrombie's first book, and there were elements of his writing style that were distracting. Every character seems to be "sucking their teeth" when thinking. Every surface with a hint of sheen to it has been "polished mirror bright." And the frequent use of modern-day profanity strikes me as being distinctly out of place within this supposed medieval-fantasy setting.
Overall, there was much in this book that was good but as a whole it was not great. For me, it falls on the scale slightly above RA Salvatore (fantasy fast food) and well below Robin Hobb (5 star restaurant). It is a good middle ground (a sports bar with surprisingly good food), and is therefore enjoyable enough and not a total waste of your time.
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