Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsEnjoyable but needs better editing
Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2020
I genuinely enjoy this series. The plot is interesting and clearly well-thought out. The characters, for all the time we spend in their heads, are a bit thin, but the world building and plotting make up for it. I recommend it to people who like epic fantasy and stories with a lot of ambiguity that pays off later (which is generally what happens in these books).
What's mainly getting in the way of me enjoying it more is the lack of basic editing. Repetitious phrasing, most especially. I've read thousands of books but I would guess that the first half of this one alone has more uses of the word "wry" than all of the others combined. Everyone does everything in a 'wry manner.' And they all "incline" their head in response to every form of stimulus. It's so pervasive I find myself smiling when someone just plain old nods every once in a blue moon. "Bemused" comes in for a fair amount of misuse, as well. And so on. At some point, the writer needs to get out of his own way and let the reader read.
It's difficult to believe that these books were actually subjected to professional editing. So it's a good thing the story is worth hacking one's way through the jungle of sophomoric writing.
