R. S. Ford

Some of it didn't quite flow as well as it could but overall this was an interesting dark fantasy book with quite believable characters who were quite distinct and interesting.

The interwoven lives of several people, from Princess to child pickpocket with several in between. The people of the city are dealing with the fact that most of the able bodied are off fighting. What's left in the city are mostly people on the margins, most of them trying to survive and worrying about the invader and show more what he might do if he succeeds.

It's interesting, liked the characters and want to see what's happening next with them and how things will go. The characters fall into certain tropes but behave more realistically than many others in fantasy, this is gritty fantasy and nasty things happen to people but there are also moments of redemption, show less

Infodump and then more infodump, but disguised ridiculously as dialogue: "you are this and that and rememeber when in the past you did this and that? O yes and my brother this and my sister that and now my father this! Yes but now the situation is like this and this and that". Then some auctorial infodump again... Also, the world (and names) was very unoriginal and the behaviours just typical generic fantasy tropes. This was my second attempt with this author and clearly the last.

All centred on one particular city under siege and the fight for survival against the odds. All the key ingredients are present in this fantasy series; An empire with a young, untried, and vulnerable leader. A street-rat thief who dreams of something more to life. An old battle-weary veteran with nothing left to lose. A warrior priestess with a fixed moral compass. A young man studying the magick arts, and a legendary foe pressing ever closer to inevitable bloody conflict. The characters are show more deep and flawed, the world building is top class, and the quest starts and ends on our doorstep. Great grimdark fantasy if you're a fan of Joe Abercrombie or George R.R. Martin. show less

Gave up almost at once, on page 40 (chapter five). In five chapters and the prologue, six different point of view characters were introduced, in the midst of their everyday lives, and none of them grabbed me either by character or by the story they suggested. Didn't much like the writing style either; nothing wrong with it, it was just a little too florid without weight occasionally for my personal taste.

And so, onwards.