The Crew

I really wanted to like this more than I actually did. The concept is great - a snarky deadpoolesque super assassin forms a ragtag crew to assassinate the ruler of country. I just really struggled with the voicing in places.

This is certainly an all action story, with violence, gore and a callous disregard for life thrown everywhere. I can tell that the author has tried to leaven it all with humour, but for me the humour ultimately mostly fell flat. The main issue for me is the MC is just not very likeable, coming across as whiny little man boy for most of the first half of the novel. Whilst there is some growth and I find the character much improved by the end, it is hard to get past how unpleasant he is at the start. And when it is his snark that is driving the early humour that just failed for me.

I also had some issues differentiating the voice of some of the earlier characters, with a similar cynical and whiny outlook on all of them. Again all the characters added later had a better more distinctive voice and one, Zuba, is downright brilliant with his faintly rapey creepiness... The demons and dusters are also well realised with their weird names and abilities

The worldbuilding is done well too. The concept of snorting ground up bones of gods to gain magical powers is clever in its slightly uncomfortable way. The clash of cultures between the demons and the humans leads to an interesting power dynamic as well.

Ultimately this is a book of promise. The voicing issues do plague the first half, but the second half steps it up with a much improved style. I wish that first half had the quality of the second!