What a terrific story. The pacing is great. It has a sort of kill bill * that resonates throughout the tale.

The characters are amazing. Most are realistic, with mixed motives, ambiguous morals, and skillful shading. Her motivation is very clear from the beginning.

You can almost feel the thunder of the calvary charge or the thud of a mace crunching into a shield. Abercrombie are so good. I'm almost out of abercrombie to read, which is its own sad tale.

The main revenge story arc is introduced in the beginning of the book, a seemingly straight forward story of betrayal and the * for vengeance. It's ironic that he would hook up with another person on a quest for revenge for their brother’s death as we...  Read More

This is the story of vengeance from the mercenary warrior-queen monza who was betrayed by the good duke orso of talins. Monza is relentless in the best possible abercrombie mold, a twisted protagonist who would give a terminator a run for its money in...  Read More

Stagnation is inevitable. Not this one. It's repetitive. What a disappointment.

The book is far too long. There is little world building here, and most of the book is pure dialog/action sequences. I crawl away in mock surrender looking for non-vengeful books where 'fun' doesn't have always mean eviscerations, dismemberments and t...  Read More

Not one redeemable character in the story. Not the main character, not the barbarian. There's no magic (though one character is basically superhuman), no dragons (for which small mercy many thanks) and nothing but swords, knives and poison.

Killing a few men in a detached way here or there isn't that impressive. Why not focus a bit on the actual bad guys like orso or his sons and switch to their point of view? Thr writing is ham *, the characters are vile individuals that one hopes to fi...  Read More

Shivers and monza's relationship is devoid of any feeling. Monza is self-absorbed and malicious and doesn't ever seem to appreciate the futility of her quest for revenge.