Well, I do have to say that I enjoyed this much more than I thought I would. It's quite dark, and the main character is clearly an anti-hero, but at times it seemed a bit over the top. In the end I did care about the main character somewhat, but it certainly didn't hold a candle to Abercrombie, which is the closest to this in style I've read to date. It was a quick read that carried me along from beginning to end without interruption, though. It was certainly action packed. I'm rather torn about the whole thing. I suspect I'll be re-reading it in the near future to clarify my feelings about it, and will certainly read the future novels, if for no other reason than to see how the author's skill develops.

Meh. It was ok just not my style

A regény előtt Richard Morgan Az acél emléke című könyvét olvastam és az arról szóló értékelést úgy kezdtem, hogy "jó kis mocskos fantasy". Nos akkor ez piszkosul jó kis mocskos fantasy :-D Jorg herceg, megnyomorodott lelkű cinikus, érzéketlenül céltudatos, vérgőzös alakja olyan abnormális (hmm vagy éppen ezért annyira emberi?), hogy mégis arra várunk, hogy ő kerül ki győztesen a konfliktusokból. Igaz, hogy az őt körülvevő ellenfelek sőt társai sem jobbak semmivel sem tőle. Az első kötet tehát nagyon ütős, kérdés kitart-e a lendület még két regényen át?

I considered dnf'ing this half way through, I'm so glad I didn't. This is a great fantasy book.

Initially I found the main character unbelievable and his quest uninteresting. However, all of my doubts were changed by the end and everything came together seamlessly.

There's a pretty big (yet incredibly subtle) plot twist in this (which I don't consider a spoiler mentioning here, since it's not something you would guess easily) which made the whole story even more exciting for me. It's not a twist for everyone's' taste, but for me it gave the world something extra that I haven't come across in my fantasy reading so far. It's a great example of the kind of story you can write with such a subject.

I ended up really loving the characters, I even began to enjoy the main character by the end - despite my doubts of him initially. They really grow on you and I ended up rooting for them all in the final act. Lawrence did an excellent job with writing such an interesting MC. Making an incredibly villainous fourteen year old, and having it work, is certainly an impressive feat. I can see why Lawrence is considered one of the good fantasy writers.

There are still some issues I had with the book. The females sucked but hopefully there will be some women with substance later on in the series. The world building was also a bit questionable for me, but that's something I can't go into without spoilers. To be honest, there's no reason the world couldn't be the way that it is portrayed, I'm just not sure it's what would realistically happen in it's entirety (for those that have read: Patents? Jousting and quills? It's all a little too perfectly in-line considering...) but it's fantasy, so.

Jorg is a different protagonist than I have read. He is young, around 13-14. BUT this is not a children's book. There is a lot of death in this book.
There where a few things that bothered me. One of the things is that he is such a good fighter, I just find it a little strange since he is so young.