The Nightfall Duology

DNF at just over 60%. This is a fairly spoiler-heavy review, so I marked it accordingly.

It somewhat bugged me that, from the beginning, Nightfall is portrayed as this Gary Stu archetype capable of doing anything and everything with style and finesse. I kept reading, though, to see where the Ned storyline went, and whether (or in what circumstance) the bond compelling Nightfall to help Ned was removed. I found the Nightfall/Kelryn plot uninteresting, and was disappointed though when the story started shifting to make that the focus rather than the landing of the prince.

Where I finally put the book down was after Nightfall struck Kelryn, seemingly for no reason except because he was angry and incapable of having adult conversations even at 40. I even kept going for another 20 pages or so to see if things would somehow progress from that plot point into something more understanding for both of them (giving Nightfall the benefit of the doubt), but instead Nightfall turns into this sulking rage monster where every interaction with, well, just about everyone, involves the author talking about how infuriated Nightfall becomes internally.

I realize it's an older fantasy book and has all of the literary baggage that period in the genre implies, but there doesn't seem to be any sort of redemption or character progression that would make Nightfall a better lead character in my mind. Rather than having this book continually annoy me with poor character motivations and a lead character who mopes like a high schooler, I decided to put it down without finishing.

I did give it two stars, because the magic system(? not sure if it's the right word) seems unique with how traits are taken by sorcerers, and some of the dialogue between Ned and Nightfall is legitimately amusing.