Way of the Wolf

I've enjoyed this series so far and the only thing that's really keeping me giving the second book five stars is that the stats system feels pretty arbitrarily applied, more decorative than functional. You never really get a sense that skill level matters for anything other than the MC needing to retry some skills occasionally.

This is even more evident in the combat where, initially, it felt annoying that the MC's really basic and seemingly readily available skill combination of stealth and simple charm felt absurdly overpowered; why didn't every faction just run around with stealth mind controllers? But towards the end of the book, I realized it was more that everything was just as fragile or durable as the author wanted it to be for a given scene. Whether the target is level 100 or level 20, apparently if you stab it and really try to hit a vulnerable spot it just dies in one hit. Enemies that hit you, never one-shot you. Enemies that you charm and then hit their allies, usually one-shot them.

Obviously, every scene is ultimately scripted by the author but I do appreciate it when the cause and effect are internally consistent.

That said, I do enjoy the world, I like the Powers and the history behind that and the path the MC is on.