Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsnothing but a pointless war
Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2020
Abercrombie is a great writer, but this book let me down. The entire book is nothing but a stupid war. The reader is not given a reason for the war. The two sides don't seem to know why they are fighting. It's pointless! At the end we see that the entire thing was orchestrated by Bayaz, but no strong reason is given (other than that he apparently wanted a change of leadership in the north). Abercrombie's writing style keeps the reader's interest going, but that writing style is all he has going for this story. There was no intrigue, no plot to speak of, and no point to the story.... unless one simply enjoys gory battle scenes, human faults and frailties, and general evil. I can only hope that the next book in the series has more meat to it.
