Updated review, as there's now an audiobook available, and my main problem, the utter and sheer misuse of German for all names in the book, was less "visible" this way. Still a slight distraction, but not nearly as bad as when reading it!

So I was finally able to finish it, and I'll stick with my 4 stars!
The world is just as interesting, unique and mentally unstable as I thought from my first glimpse.
The characters are as weird and crazy as they seemed on my first try. So both of these did fulfill my expectations exactly.

The plot however was even better than I could have guessed at early on!

The different points of view run together nicely to culminate in a spectacular ending, that was somehow exactly what I was waiting for, and utterly unexpected. Perfect fit for the book that always gave you enough "I knew it!" moments to feel wise and yet enough twists to keep you on your toes and exclaim "Wait, what?!?" more than once.

It leaves us with some resolved issues, but with even more new problems and adventures, and I definitely can't wait for the sequel being released as audio book!

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I had to give up on this one halfway through - but I still give it four stars.
Strange? No, rather easily explained!

I loved, loved, loved the idea of the book! That our thoughts and believes shape the world, and the gods. It is one of the best described ideas I have come across.
I liked the characters - especially Konig, and their abilities.
The story is really interesting and I wanted to know what happened. I would definitely have kept on reading, BUT:

You can't read it, if you speak German. For the first third it is jarring, then you think you get used to it, and able to ignore it, but then it gets even worse. What does?
The names (of places, people, religions, ...) are all randomly translated German words.
So people are called what would translate to "Important" "Stealing" "Brain Bad(one)" "Lost Mirror" and such. The cities "Selfhate" "Godless" "Sad" "Moneymatters".
That would be bad enough, but some words are torn apart at the wrong places to form one name (Wahnvor Stellung for example. Wahn is a word, Vorstellung is one, to break it at Wahnvor is just hurting my brain). Then there is the male version of a word used for a female person and the plural for a single people... Or Ä or ö just robbed of their dots and becoming A and O.

This is no bother at all if you can't speak German, so if you don't, please go ahead and read this book, I am sure you'll enjoy it, if you like grimdark! I would have loved it!

But if you sadly are able to speak it, I think it is almost impossible to finish it... It just kept pulling me out of the story again and again. And a city called Sad and a river called Riversedge on one page finally made me go crazy....

I don't know I am unable to form a definitive opinion of this book. Going to review it later after a few days.

It's hard to describe this book. It's unlike anything I've ever read before. There is no descent into madness this world is already mad, oozing with pus, and sickly.

Insanely original story and characters/abilities. The author is very talented with his prose and weaving the tale. The main characters are not heroes quite the opposite in fact, willing to do anything to further their own aims, delusions, and psychosis.

Excited to read the next in the series though I will need to take a break to refill my reserves if that makes sense. Not a world that I could lose myself in back to back. That said if you go into it knowing exactly what this is you're in for a wild insane ride, well told, described that will certainly make you cringe, hurt, lust, and gasp.

I'm also very interested in exploring the author's other works!

February 13th 2019.

I remember going through Michael R. Fletcher's BR.

God, how I loved this book. It was so bloody amazing a novel, I just couldn't believe it. I remember turning the pages, shaking my head, and whispering "Fucking hell, Fletcher." while smirking.

"Beyond Redemption" had it all. It was gritty, it featured the right amount of the blackest shade of black humour, and it followed a bunch of wretched characters that were every different flavour of FUBAR.

To cut it short, "Beyond Redemption" was 24 carat perfection, I had found a book that was on the very same level as Joe Abercrombie's "The First Law".

Since then, I have been reading a big bunch of "grimdark" books BUT, I'm sorry to report, a good 90% of them turned out to be just meh and lacking er... wit. I won't mention the names of the lackluster authors here because it wouldn't be fair, I guess. Let's just say that reading their offerings after this book feels like being forced to drive a Commodore after having melted the asphalt behind the wheel of a Lamborghini Diablo.

End of rant.

December 22nd 2016

My computer is fubar, and I'm not writing a review with my mobs, but this book deserves a proper review as it's all sorts of awesome.

Five stars. Actually five shining supernovas. Ace stuff.

A full & poorly written review will be posted as soon as I get a new putah.