I've held off for more than a few weeks on this, biding my time with comic book reviews, since it's rather difficult to talk about any plot or characters in this particular book without spoiling it.
Since the plot is always moving, I'll just have to settle for mild spoilers. Very mild.
The story can be roughly described as a brutally messy coming of age story of an assassin.
I think the blurb is rather inept so how about I try to tease you with some blurb of my own devising?
Azoth is an eleven year old growing up in the filthy lawless slums of the capital of Cenaria, an insignificant country governed by an even more insignificant king. To the south bordered by Ceura with its celebrated swordsmen, in the north by the expansionist kingdom of Khalidor, ruled by its cruel God-king,
In Cenaria City, with a river neatly dividing rich and poor, Azoth is a young orphan byproduct of the introduction of slavery by the powerful rulers of its criminal underworld, the true rulers of Cenaria. They maintain their grip on power via manipulation, bribery and secrecy.
When their power needs to make itself felt they have their enforcers; the Wetboys.
Highly trained killers and assassins capable of using magic to enhance their abilities. When they take a contract, the target is as good as dead. Now Azoth, to escape the brutal everyday life of the slums will have to leave friends, name and morality behind in order to apprentice with the city's deadliest Wetboy, Durzo Blint.
On the other side of the river, Logan Gyre is a young cenarian noble thrust into responsibility when his father is exiled. He will have to lead his once great house into an uncertain future, and when the king himself bears the Gyres ill will, Logan needs all the help he can get. Aiding him is Solon, a powerful mage in disguise, sent by a prophet foreseeing a terrible doom for Cenaria.
Well-liked and goodnatured, Logan will strike up a friendship with the recently arrived landless baronet, Kylar Stern. Their friendship will change the fate of the kingdom.
A bit lengthy but it got the things that mattered. Or at least the things that I wish had been made more clear while reading the book. I don't think I've stressed how big the slavery angle is and how integral it is to the entire novel but this'll be good enough.
Alright then, some bad, some good.
The plot hits the ground running and doesn't really let up.
And you'd think that I was making a compliment but I'm actually describing a problem; it doesn't have alot of proper pacing. The switching between one scene and the next is frequently off and can sometimes feel very jarring. It is a problem which occurs throughout the entire book.
Build-up or lack of it, is a problem. I've already mentioned there were things I wish I had been more aware of. And this might be something to do with me, as I'm very comfortable reading big books with frequent info-dumping. It lets me feel more involved with the characters and their world.
Personally, I didn't like the romance between the characters, and normally it's something I really enjoy. But here it always felt juvinile (fittingly though?) and as a result the romantic dialogue feels mildly offputting.
There isn't alot that is of substance, but it's got a very dark and very fast moving plot with a ton of action and violence. Some of it, mainly at the start of the book, like a warning sign, is against and between children. Rape and maiming and it's a little hard to read but as it is integral to the world-building it isn't gratuitous.
Wow, it really looks like I hated this huh?
Well it's hard to say what my feelings really are but it's not actually that bad. The plot is super fast and it's got alot of twists. The different magic systems are interesting. There's violence, chaos and some very dark stuff.
I wouldn't call it grimdark as its characters generally are pretty morally conflicted (though two characters are planted squarely and occasionally very obnoxiously in the black and white category) and the theme of hope and redemption is pretty prominent, but in it's darker moments it sometimes feels pretty close to grimdark.
Normally I'd also talk about the writer a bit more, and it's definitely merited here, but as I'm pretty sure I'm not going to say much about the next book for fear of spoilers, I'll keep it for when I review book 2.
I also read the Way of Shadows comic book and I'll give that a post of its own.
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