Paul Boden

Likely more a me problem. The intrigue that I love in Eriksons writing was still there, but it wasn't enough to carry me through this time. Took me a long time to read this one, mostly because the combination of very long, dense chapters and my preference for finishing chapters in one sitting regularly discouraged me from picking it up when I otherwise might have. Consequently, by the time I reached the final chapters I was finding the plot quite confusing.

As I said, probably a me problem, but it did make reading this book a chore at times and the highs didn't do enough to compensate.

I'll probably pick up Malazan again at some point, but I'm very much looking forward to a palate cleanser.

Honestly, 3 stars feels harsh - This is an excellent book but on finishing it, before proceeding to part 2, that's that's the truest reflection of how I feel about it.

The issue for me is that this book, particularly towards the end, spends a lot of time with my least favourite POV character. Not a bad character by any means but certainly the one I relate to the least and, consequently, reading those chapters too often felt like a chore; something I had to do to get back to the characters I was more interested in.

All in all a very good start and worthy continuation. I think these later chapters flavoured my overall experience negatively but I'm still very much invested in the series.

Really enjoyed this book but it splits ‘book 1' directly down the middle. I didn't realise this going in and consequently, didn't have the second part ready to go, so I'm now left with an unfinished story waiting on a particularly slow delivery.

That said it was well written and I enjoyed it. Looking forward to reading the rest of the ‘book' and trilogy beyond

I feel like 4 stars is maybe slightly too high, but 3 stars is definitely too low.

I don't think Fires of Vengeance consistently moved with quite the same unrelenting, captivating pace as Rage of Dragons, and I wasn't a massive fan of a narrative device the author uses towards the end of the book, but this was still a throughly enjoyable read that left me excited for book 3.

A very thought-provoking, at times funny, at times sad, read. One that will stick with me for awhile, I suspect.