Very good worldbuilding, mediocre characters and plot. Too many characters, too many words, too much of everything, though. Or at least that is how it felt to me: I felt I was grinding through it forever and felt it more as a chore... and shockingly realised I was only at 33%. So probably a good book, but not for me. I also never liked rogues, and this is a book about rogues, so that did not help... ( )

The ease in which Gareth Ryder introduces an entire original magical world with such frightening and wonderful concepts is refreshingly, deceptively easy. Just the right description to feel the sorrow, joy, wonder or terror you need to picture voices and scenes in your mind vividly. I am pleasantly surprised and a brand new fan.

I can't wait to read more. This is definitely a recommend. ( )

The most original Fantasy novel I have read in the past twenty years. Three great central characters navigate their way through the alleys of Guerdon, while their friendships are sorely tested by all manner of horrific deities, cutthroats, and vile magic. ( )

I know everyone's freaking over this one, but it mostly landed with a thud for me. It definitely had some good, original stuff in it. The worldbuilding was good, etc.

However, none of the characters really grabbed me, and the plot twists were fairly obvious. Not sure I'll carry on with this one. Overall, it felt a bit like it was in the Scott Lynch world (the wonderful The Lies of Locke Lamora), but without the snappy dialogue, humour, or plotting.

A definite "meh" from me. ( )

Most reviewers are effusive in their praise for this one. The primary characters were a trio of thieves: a human runaway named Cari, a Stone Man names Spar, and a ghoul named Rat. They were very different from each other, but after an initial caper when things go badly wrong, they are not together much so it was not clear how they really fit together. The world building by Hanrahan was very good, with a great deal of history, politics, magical components, different species, gods, wars, family drama, etc. In the end though, it was overly complex to the point where the plot often failed to make sense with all of the double-dealing and different agendas. This also detracted from character and species development. I would gladly have traded the saint role or the Thay family history for some further details about the mysterious, but powerful tallowmen, created from corpses. ( )