Laith
Book Club for July (In September) _______
I realize I forgot to review this, and its been a little while since I read it so this review will be short. If you've read Joe Abercrombie before then you should just implicitly trust him to deliver a solid fantasy romp. This is his twist on the fantasy comedy genre, so really it's a much more vulgar Colour of Magic with the blood and gore turned up several notches.
I did enjoy the premise-though its less imaginative than Discworld. We join Brother Diaz, the newly appointed head of "The Temple of the Holy Expediency", which is a fancy name given to an order of monsters and blasphemers the church finds too useful just to execute- think vampires, werewolves, elves, you name it. We join brother Diaz and his gang on their first mission for the pope, to restore the recently rediscovered princess Alexia to the throne of Troy. This does take place in a fictionalized Europe but they're basically working for the Catholic church, it's not 1:1 but it's close, the politics of this different religion pretty much follow reality.
I don't have much more to say- most of the charm is in meeting the quirky cast so I won't expound. This book was good, the dialogue in particular is always a strength of Abercrombie's, and this is no exception. The character work is also extremely solid for a self contained story, there's depth and backstory for each of the "Devils". If you're in the mood for something on the lighter side but doesn't throw the stakes out the window I think you'll enjoy this. I think this is too well done just for 3 stars but personally this didn't grab me in the way 4 or 5 star books do: 3.5/5.
Book Club for July (In September) _______
I realize I forgot to review this, and its been a little while since I read it so this review will be short. If you've read Joe Abercrombie before then you should just implicitly trust him to deliver a solid fantasy romp. This is his twist on the fantasy comedy genre, so really it's a much more vulgar Colour of Magic with the blood and gore turned up several notches.
I did enjoy the premise-though its less imaginative than Discworld. We join Brother Diaz, the newly appointed head of "The Temple of the Holy Expediency", which is a fancy name given to an order of monsters and blasphemers the church finds too useful just to execute- think vampires, werewolves, elves, you name it. We join brother Diaz and his gang on their first mission for the pope, to restore the recently rediscovered princess Alexia to the throne of Troy. This does take place in a fictionalized Europe but they're basically working for the Catholic church, it's not 1:1 but it's close, the politics of this different religion pretty much follow reality.
I don't have much more to say- most of the charm is in meeting the quirky cast so I won't expound. This book was good, the dialogue in particular is always a strength of Abercrombie's, and this is no exception. The character work is also extremely solid for a self contained story, there's depth and backstory for each of the "Devils". If you're in the mood for something on the lighter side but doesn't throw the stakes out the window I think you'll enjoy this. I think this is too well done just for 3 stars but personally this didn't grab me in the way 4 or 5 star books do: 3.5/5.