I enjoyed the characters and the different feel of this novel. It isn't a Black Company novel, or Dread Empire, but a new world with new characters. Good, Cook-style fantasy. ( )

Very Cook in the typically grey morality. I liked it well enough, but the plot is very twisty and there are approximately 427 characters to keep track of, some with multiple names depending who's talking to them, and others with multiple names because they are playing shadow games between factions.

I actually found when I stopped worrying too much about the characters and just concentrated on keeping track of the plot, I did a lot better.

I think I need to let this one settle a little, and then re-read it. And I think I'll probably like it even better. ( )

This offers a well constructed plot, an interesting setting, and a diverse cast of well-rounded, many shades-of-grey characters (the vast majority of whom are fighting for what they think is right in a morally complicated world). And while I can't really say that I particularly liked Azel, I give Cook credit for creating an amoral antihero who constantly tests whether the ends justify the means.

Having said all that, this in the end felt to me a bit formulaic and not nearly as funny or as satisfying as Cook at his best. ( )

I can see how this guy's military fiction would work well. He's not all that deft at relationships or dialogue, but quite good at setting up characters with compelling motivations and putting them in dynamic situations. This one was a not super easy to get into, but with a little patience it turned into a nice tense political novel. I did appreciate the handling of the antihero-assassin character - not many folks can handle that balance without making the character either completely unlikeable or just plain over-the-top.

I don't know that I'm going to rush right out and read everything else he's ever written, but I will keep an eye out for the first Black Company novel. ( )

Following a slow-ish start, this book has completely blown me away. I love Cook's Black Company stuff (the only other Cook books that I've read) and this might be even better. Cook shows that he's the master of the "gray" character, filling the book with multiple, overlapping POVs from all factions involved. Barring one or two characters who are just plain jerks, there are no real bad guys here; just men and women doing what they feel they need to for a cause that they feel is just.

The plot revolves around the middle-east-flavored city of Qushmarrah, formerly ruled by the dark lord Gorloch and his sorceror Nakar, now occupied by the monotheistic Herodians and their mercenary Dartar tribes. Throw in an underground Qushmarrahan rebellion called The Living, who seek independence for their city; and Nakar's widow, intent on resurrecting her deceased husband. Then put a carpenter and his family smack in the middle of all of it.

All of this in a standalone novel under 400 pages. Wow. ( )