Emma Khoury

CW: there is a chapter with on-page torture. It should be easy to avoid if needed. There's a fair amount of on-page killing and death, but I didn't find any of it gratuitous. Ezra is a mercenary. Killing is the job.

I liked Ezra a lot. I liked all the characters, but he is why I finished reading this, despite the "soggy middle" plot problem that, by chapter 23 prompted me to either skim or stop reading. Luckily, this is about when the plot picks up speed again.

I very much liked the end.

Ezra is a health-compromised (medically controlled) man who endured a rather horrid childhood. He has a strong work ethic and caring friendships, loves cats, and on-page is asexual and aromantic. Awesome. I don't regret reading this at all. Take that as you will. :)… (lisätietoja)

This book is full of intriguing characters, from beginning to end. The protagonist is a sarcastic but highly competent killer who this time is clearly on the right side. The crown prince is someone worth defending from... well, you'll find out; he hires Ezra because he knows that his brother is up to something but he doesn't know what else is at stake.

The plot in this book is ok; the characters are what really make it interesting. Every one of the minor characters has interesting quirks. Joseph the bodyguard knight is absolutely loyal to a fault, and has other issues as well; but he manages, eventually, to deal with his natural jealousy and suspicion and to be come friends with the superbly competent Ezra, who is there to do what Joseph can't quite manage himself. Ezra's friends (mostly women) are the kind of people you'd want to know. (BTW, they are *friends*, not lovers--something else refreshing about this novel. It's about the only fictional portrayal of an asexual person that I know of.)

Ezra himself is full of surprises, not just because he is amazingly competent (though the author does a good job of portraying that). He's also got cats and cats... and a few other oddities that are pretty darn unusual for this kind of story. I found it highly refreshing.

Why only 4 stars? Because I prefer the original goodreads scale where not every book is a 1 or a 5. This isn't the greatest book ever, but I really did like it. You probably won't be disappointed if you read it.… (lisätietoja)

I'm sorry. I really did try to get through this book, and in all fairness it is not nearly as bad as many that I have managed to finish. But when I start reading it as an editor and not a reader, it's time for me to stop. I gave up at about 30%, according to my Kindle.

The manuscript is definitely promising, but lacks polish. The author would benefit from a good copy editor. There's a smattering of basic errors (for example, _it's_ used as a possessive), a number of suboptimal word choices, and some jarringly anachronistic phrases and concepts.

The author also could use a trusted yet critical reader to help her see where she needs to tighten up her prose, and where more details would be helpful. Part of the frustration of reading this book were the numerous place where I wished I could tell the writer, "I know you can make this much better, because I saw what you could do two pages ago."

The narrative *drags*. Badly. It's not that the detail is excessive, but that the author constantly seems to be second-guessing herself. For example, she establishes the character through some telling incidents--Ezra's knowing the names and histories of the animals in the area, for example--but then seems to feel compelled to explain what she has just shown. (Maybe her problem is not the lack of a critical reader but friends or writers' support group members who are a little slow on the uptake?)

It's a pity that this book is out in the world and unlikely to go through the revisions it needs. There's decidedly promise here, but it's unevenly realized.

I received this book through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program.… (lisätietoja)