I’ve never been more torn on how to rate a book. My mood oscillated from enjoying a certain chapter, or plot point, or writing, to wanting to throw my kindle at the wall at each new anachronism and the ever growing number of POVs.

Sons of Darkness opens with an invocation of the muse, and that muse is G.R.R. Martin. The author’s note speaks of this book being inspired by Game of Thrones, which nudged him to create a sweeping fantasy tale based on Indian literature. It promises grimdark, epic, immersive, bleak, nihilistic, but for me it only sort of delivered on that promise.

The book started out with a strong setup of a prologue that really hooked me and raised interesting questions about the world and the magic system. From then on we start meeting the many characters across the continent, including the sort-of-not-really narrator, Masha. I was expecting a steady rotation of a couple major characters from each region/city, and for a while it was. I don’t remember the exact point I wished for this to have been multiple books or less POVs, but I did. Some were fun, some were excruciating, and some seemed completely unnecessary. At random intervals I would remember a plot point, character or group that got introduced and then sent to the background for a good chunk of the book and wonder what happened to them. I wish more time was spent on each of the characters and peoples, plot twists delivered with more nuance and less hand holding to get to the next POV quicker. I couldn’t help but feel like there was enough content to expand it even more and make it work as two books with parallel timelines.

By the end I stopped counting the POVs because random characters (can barely call them that) started getting them to evoke emotions (I think) unsuccessfully. The frequent jumps from POV to POV during the final battle were already becoming too much without the addition of new random ones. Not to mention the multiple Silver Wolves who all read like the same person.

On the other hand, the chaos of the swayamwar was handled infinitely better and was my favorite part of the book.

Another thing that baffled me and that I already mentioned were the anachronisms. Going into this being promised “grimdark”, “epic”, and generally super serious, and then seeing a 20th century expression that implies the existence of Girl Scouts was jarring to say the least. “Diss” is used by an ancient priest, and someone has a “resting bitch face”, just to name a few. Not exactly what I expect to read in an epic fantasy based on a text older than the new era.

The ending redeemed a lot of the book for me and I might even consider reading the next installment. Once the abundance of information settles, the story shines through and the writing is great for a debut, with a couple sections I even highlighted for giving me goosebumps. I think there’s great potential here hidden behind a round of edits.

Thank you to NetGalley and adAstra for providing this advance copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

While I enjoyed this ambitious, grimdark fantasy inspired by the Mahabharata, I did find the actual reading of Sons of Darkness by Gourav Mohanty hard work.
I received a copy of this book for a free and unbiased opinion.
This is loosely based on the characters from the Mahabharata but is well and truly ‘grimdark’. The world-building is original with plenty of detail and description with an interesting and different magical beings, ceremonies, motives, and dramas not usually seen in typical grimdark fantasies. There are plenty of strong, vibrant, morally grey women such as Mati, the pirate in control of the lives which was refreshing.
I couldn’t keep up with all the characters, the motivations and backstories and it start to feel overwhelming by the middle of the book. While I enjoyed the descriptions and dialogues, I thought this slowed the pace down (but this does pick towards the last third of the book. I have to day the ending was quite something!

Thank you to NetGalley, Gourav Mohanty and the publishers for letting me read an arc of this book before its release.

This was a hell of a read! It was an incredibly complex book.
Having not known too much about Indian folklore and mythology before, I found the worldbuilding and character development to be very interesting and unique.

I honestly don't really know what else to say other than that I was really impressed by everything this book threw at me. It was marketed as an Indian Game of Thrones and oh boy, that it sure was! If you're a fan of the genre, you need to pick this up when you get a chance.

This is one hell of an emotional ride that leaves you wanting, no, needing more when the book ends. Until then, all you can do is hold on tight and let it lead you along by the nose.

The book is based loosely/on an imaginative retelling of The Mahabharata, with many other South Asian myths and legends rolled in also. It follows a number of characters who all have their own stakes in the games of heirs and kingdoms, which involve war, grief, competitions and the simple need for revenge. You have no idea who to cheer on at any time, as they all have their own motives, and no one is quite who they seem.

The world is beautifully imagined by Mohanty, no detail is spared. The language is a fun mix of modern and older terms, and if nothing else you will learn a great number of details about Southern Asian culture that you may not have known before.

To sum up, a must-read if you are a fan of a fantasy epic, one that leaves you clamouring for more.

People are going to tell you this is an Indian Game of Thrones. I’m going to tell you that it’s probably better.

There certainly are strong echoes of Game of Thrones - a certain pirate princess is giving me big Asha Greyjoy vibes, for example, and the Houses and mottos are a fun addition - but there are also elements that remind me of other books I love, including the wit and verve of Lies of Locke Lamora and the master/apprentice vibe of Robin Hobb.

But it’s definitely got a voice, characters and plot all of it own, and that very strongly. On top of all the fighting, politics and wittiness is the teasing of a world of divinities, with unknown powers and technologies to explore. The scenes are all vibrantly rendered and range from the jewelled opulence of a betrothal contest to shenanigans (and sexiness) on the high seas, rich with drama, to the intricate politics of the court and council room, to the chaos of a city under siege by night…

There are some big personalities here you’ll love to follow: the charming politician Krishna and his sword-wielding wife; the commander who’s taking on a task he doesn’t particularly want, the aforementioned pirate princess; a cursed, gorgeous hero struggling to reclaim his destiny, the student who is hatching a huge revenge plot and the spymaster suffering from chronic pain… the list goes on!

Buckle in, fans of epics, because this is one with verve, heart, darkness and humour.

“Other people may see a crown on my head, but only I will know that I carry a mountain.”

If you are looking for a multi-POV grim-dark fantasy book inspired by the Mahabharata then look no further than Sons of Darkness by Gourav Mohanty! While reading the book I picked up on a lot of inspiration taken from A Song of Ice and Fire, Malazan and First Law. I know for a fact (due to the authors credit page) that George R.R. Martin is a huge influence – I wonder if the other authors are as well. I feel if you like any of those books you will feel right at home here.

“Naïve minds are the most dangerous to twist, Calm. For you never know who may undo your work and twist it right back.”

Sons of Darkness features an immense cast of characters, each one unique and fully developed with their own voice. The chapters are disbursed by point of views, similar to A Song of Ice and Fire. This allows the reader to follow along with the events from multiple perspectives, which I really enjoyed.

After the incredibly action filled prologue the book starts to settle down and bit. If you are worried that the prologue is the most enthralling part of the book do not be discouraged to continue along! The chapters may seem long if you are reading on kindle but they are broken up into sub-chapters – don’t listen to what your kindle is telling you. I felt a little slow burn in the beginning but that’s totally fine because it’s setting up a tremendously huge world that has a lot of stuff happening right at the start. Similar to how the Malazan books throw you in head first, I feel the same way here. Although I don’t think it does it to the same degree.

“Hope was a strong drug, especially when someone mixed it in your drink without telling you.”

One of the main characters we follow is Krishna, who started as a lowly cowherd but ascended to become the ruler of Mathura. Due to this the majority of the conflict in the book is war between Mathura and the Empire of Magadh. The emperor wants to crush the usurper Krishna who has taken over unexpectedly, although the army is having a tough time breaching the walls of Mathura. Although Krishna rule he has abolished the caste system that is in place everywhere else – that segregates so many people into different classes. Mathura is more of a republic with senators and a voice for all. During a period of armistice between the rivaling nations a lot of other development ensues between other characters.

“Merely because a thing has long existed does not necessarily justify its existence.”

Probably my favorite character of the book is Karna, who is a Resht. Resht’s are pretty much the lowest class in the caste system. They are marked by a tattoo on their neck and bring about disgust in everyone who sees them. It’s sad. Although he is a resht he is very important to the story and is a pivotal player in the politics of the surrounding nations. He was born with a gold chest plate that is fused to his skin, weird! I’m excited to learn more about him in the next book.

There’s so many characters I can’t really talk about them all without spoilers. I really really loved Satyabhama as well. One of the wives of Krishna. All about battle and the leader of the Silver Wolves, a warrior group of women who are castaways.

“There are few things more dangerous than a man who has nothing to lose.”

If you want to read a book about rivalling nations, backstabbing politics, enthralling battle sequences and great character development, I highly suggest giving this book a try. Especially if you are a fan of the previous books I mentioned, I think everyone who enjoys those would like this one as well. I’m so eager to read the next book and I can’t wait to get the gorgeous special edition version from The Broken Binding.

5 out of 5 shields.

Thank you to NetGalley, Head of Zeus and the author for allowing me to read an early digital copy.

ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

4.5/5

Bloody, vicious and pulling no punches, Sons of Darkness is an ambitious debut, achieving all it seeks out to do and setting itself up for an epic series. The premise of this novel as a re-imagining of the Mahabharata and being the first epic grimdark fantasy by an Indian author was immediately intriguing to me as someone who loves this genre.

Sons of Darkness is set in a diverse and complicated world where various factions strive to gain power over one another and is framed at the beginning by a foreboding prophecy about the destruction of the world and the forgotten betrayal of a warrior from long ago.

We are introduced to a diverse range of morally complex characters who manoeuvre around and become enmeshed with each other politically and prophetically. Each character has a distinct voice and circumstance and I enjoyed the lengthy chapters dedicated to each character as it presented the opportunity to understand them as well as highlighting all their conflicting motivations. My personal favourites are probably Krishna, Karna, Shishupal and Nala and they are a good example of how the author subtly weaves connections between seemingly disparate characters who come from different castes and have different motivations.

It is definitely a slow burn especially at the start, but once characters begin interacting with each other, readers will be rewarded for their patience and attention when all the threads start converging. There are many shocking and subversive moments which are all satisfying because of the careful build-up and there is this one moment towards the end during a battle that had me gasping.

I do wish that the more mythological aspects of the book had a larger role to play such as the magic system of the mandalas and the immortal race of Daevas but I do believe that these will be explored much further in the next book which I am looking forward to.

The author acknowledges at the beginning how much of an inspiration A Song of Ice and Fire is to him and this will be pretty obvious to anyone who has read ASOIAF; but at the same time, Mohanty takes the sprawling and intricate characters and machinations special to ASOIAF and gives it his own unique take on it, resulting in a compelling and savage story.

Sons of darkness is definitely a unique fantasy. It is deliciously dark with a violent atmosphere throughout, with little let up. Prepare yourself to read this chunk of a book. The chapters are different perspectives so this breaks it up well. The details are lovely as each chapters heading has a sigil and the book has a map too (bonus points). Over time the complexities of the world and the characters within are laid out. There is everything from ancient Gods, magic systems, prophecies and politics. It is EPIC. Love the use of the Indian mythology and historical elements - amazing.
Thank you to NetGalley and Head of Zeus for an E-ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

LOVED THIS BOOK! Can't wait to see what Mohanty does next. Loved everything about it. Standout read.

I will confess I almost DNF’d this book, but upon reading the other reviews I came upon the authors posting which directly stated the issues I was having with pacing and story telling. I have great respect for self awareness so decided to give the story another chance. I will confess I took me until nearly page 150 to feel fully invested in the plot- largely due to the typical struggle fantasy books have when establishing their world. But when the author began to explore their characters I found myself engrossed In the political intrigue and characters. High fantasy at its best. I look forward to reading more by this author in the future.

Thank you Head of Zeus and NetGalley for the arc of The Sons of Darkness by Gourav Mohantyn in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
I absolutely loved that Mohanty wrote this book after being inspired by Game of Thrones and wanting to bring epic, grimdark fantasy to India, albeit ‘a lot more fucked up…’ The story is based on Mahabharata, which I had no idea of before starting to read the book.
If you are looking for insta-story, insta-action, insta-romance, this slow burn fantasy is definitely not for you but, if you are looking for a story that holds a multi-layered plot, with multiple, multiple characters, that delivers worlds and landscapes that are truly engaging and deliver a distinct unique perspective for Indian grim-dark fantasy, this is the book for you!
I found this book to be fascinating, the huge cast of characters, perspectives, landscapes and plots were totally engaging but, truly took effort to maintain in my head – don’t expect this to be an easy read! The overall plot doesn’t come together in the early stages, it’s a gradual build as the layers unfold. I totally agree with the author, this is a plot that is definitely inspired and influenced by GoT – Song of Ice and Fire but, the perspectives, characters and delivery of an Indian grim-dark fantasy bring a whole freshness to the story, and the world-building is in my humble opinion so perfect, encompassing the Indian perspective.
Trust me, stick with this book and you will be rewarded. The final 25% of the book ramps up in terms of plot, pace and impact, truly roller-coastering towards a truly impactful end to this first book in the series.

4.5-5.0 rounded up

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book and give an honest review before its release. I honestly really enjoyed this book and it would have been 5 stars for me except for my frustration with the beginning of the book. To be fair though, the frustration in the beginning is because you have no idea what is going on and names are dropped everywhere. And speaking of names… I struggled hard with these names, the names of characters, the names of the places, it's all unpronounceable for me. But that’s okay, I understand this is more Indian fantasy, and I got used to the names, I just had a really hard time for the first 30% of the book.

This story follows multiple point-of-views: which in the beginning can be very confusing (especially with the complicated names and places) because each person is from a different area. But when you get to know the characters, each character is so rich in personality and each one is uniquely written. I enjoyed every character’s point-of-view. The main ones you get are Krishna, Shakuni (who is a lot like Glotka from First Law), Karna (who is a favorite), Draupadi, Nala, Masha, Shakuni, and others along with a plethora of amazing side characters as well such as Sudama, Satyabhama, Parshuram, Mati, and so many more. These characters all have unique personalities, differences and struggles.

Karna, Krishna and Satyabhama were my favorites to read about.
Satyabhama is such an amazing character and I love this description of her: “Many bards had attempted to describe Satyabhama, but they had all failed. Perhaps it was the sheer contradictions of her personality—the stern unforgiving ruthless warrior and the Mother Patron of a hundred orphaned girls.”

Krishna is trying to rule Mathura but he is trying to not be a tyrant, he has a senate and tries to give the people a voice. But the Magadhan empire is at war with Mathura and trying to conquer them. Karna is a hero everyone loves and hates, but he was born of the lowest class and is trying to fight for the rights of his people.

This book does not really have a set plot but it is taking you on a journey into the world the author has created and you are experiencing all the political turmoil of the characters. Politics are the main part of this story. Each character is involved in some type of political maneuver and everyone is trying to outmaneuver everyone else. And as reader it is quite enjoyable to see all the political twists and turns the characters either knowingly or unknowingly create. A couple of main political storylines include the battle between Mathura and the Magadhan empire; the wedding (swayamvar) of Princess Draupadi—which is a huge political event that brings all the characters together.
But over all of these politics is the prophecy of the Son of Darkness rising to break the world. This gives you an awesome reveal and anticipation for what is to come at the end of the book!

I will say the worldbuilding was amazing, the richness of the characters and politics was amazing. There were battles, duels, assassinations, betrayals, constant scheming and a taste of magic/otherworld beings to show what is to come. I cannot wait for the next book and I honestly think this will change to a five-star for me on a reread because I think with a reread I will be able to follow the beginning so much better than I was the first time and I will see so many different hints and foreshadowing that I missed the first read through.

I highly recommend this book, but go into this knowing that it may be a difficult start but it is worth it to continue. I promise it will make sense and get better the more you read. Just don’t let the names intimidate you as it almost did me. I do think this would be a lot easier to read with a physical copy as there is a guide but on an e-book I was not able to flip through to the indexes. But I still loved this nonetheless—which is why I think with the other books in the series and a reread that my rating will increase. This is a complex and wonderfully written book with so many complex characters and storylines, I am just amazed by how great this book turned out to be! Please give it a try it will be worth it in the long run and I cannot wait to see how rich the series will become.

This book is EPIC in so many ways. I had not appreciated just how epic it would be and it took me a while to get to grips with the characters, think Game of Thrones in a different setting. This should / will become mentioned in the same breath as Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones etc. Takes a little effort but you will be well rewarded.

Spanish and English reviews:

Estamos tan acostumbrados a la fantasía occidental que cuando nos salimos de ese marco de referencia podemos encontrar lecturas de lo mas frescas. De todas las ambientaciones posibles, la de historias fantásticas relacionadas con el pasado y las leyendas de India, son al menos en mi caso, toda una novedad.

En “Sons of Darkness” el autor se ha basado en la épica de Mahabharata para ofrecer su visión de una fantasía grimdark que no esconde sus influencias. Tenemos personajes legendarios como Krishna y Satyabhama, reinos varios, imperios, repúblicas y un prologo que presenta un enfrentamiento, miles de años antes de la historia de la novela, entre los hijos de las oscuridad y los de la luz.

Digo que no esconde las referencias y en parte es lo que hace que sea tan disfrutable esta novela. Puede que te cueste un poco hacerte con los nombres de personas y lugares, las prendas que visten y las costumbres, pero sus historias beben de «Juego de Tronos» en lo refrente a los diferentes estados y naciones y sus lemas. También tenemos algo de «La Primera Ley» de Abercrombie con algunos personajes turbios y rotos en mas de un sentido, que no hace falta que nombre para no estropear las sorpresas. Y para rematar la guinda del pastel, entre la unidad de guerreras a cargo de Satyabhama vamos a reconocer en algunos momentos a las tropas Malazanas de Erikson.

Es una novela larga, por momentos parece que demasiado larga, pero realmente no se de donde hubiera yo quitado paginas. En este volumen de paginas tenemos mucha intriga política, normalmente a cargo de Krishna que es un intrigante y un liante de mucho cuidado. Tenemos escenas totalmente over the top, una gran batalla con puntos de vista encadenados de distintos participantes que es dura y oscura en el mas puro estilo Grimdark, personajes muy variados en viajes muy distintos y no hay ninguno que quede por debajo del resto. Todas las historias están a muy buen nivel y eso en un libro tan largo que es ademas tan solo una primera parte, me parece una de las cosas mas destacables.

Muy recomendable en mi opinión y un soplo de aire fresco con aromas hindús.
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We are so used to Western fantasy that when we leave that frame of reference we can find the freshest readings. Of all the possible settings, that of fantastic stories related to the past and the legends of India, are at least in my case, a novelty.

In "Sons of Darkness" the author has drawn on the epic of Mahabharata to offer his vision of a grimdark fantasy that does not hide its influences. We have legendary characters like Krishna and Satyabhama, various kingdoms, empires, republics and a prologue that presents a confrontation, thousands of years before the story of the novel, between the children of darkness and those of light.

I say that it does not hide the references and is partly what makes this novel so enjoyable. It may cost you a bit to get hold of the names of people and places, the clothes they wear and the customs, but their stories drink from "Game of Thrones" in front of the different states and nations and their slogans. We also have something of Abercrombie's "The First Law" with some murky and broken characters in more ways than one, which does not need to be named so as not to spoil the surprises. And to top off the icing on the cake, among the unit of warriors in charge of Satyabhama we will recognize in some moments the Malazan troops of Steven Erikson.

It is a long novel, at times it seems too long, but I really do not know where I would have removed pages. In this volume of pages we have a lot of political intrigue, usually by Krishna who is an intriguing and dangerous political operator. We have scenes totally over the top, a great battle with chained points of view of different characters that is hard, bloody, violent and dark in the purest Grimdark style, very varied characters in very different paths and there is none that is below the rest. All the stories are at a very good level and that in such a long book that is also only a first part, I think one of the most remarkable things.

Highly recommended in my opinion and a breath of fresh air with Indian flavour.

Thank you to Head of Zeus and NetGalley for this ARC!

Sons of Darkness is an epic retelling of the Mahabharata, the longest epic poem in history. This is very clear to the reader because holy cow was this thing intense. With numerous POVs, and lots of political relationships to wrap your head around, reading this book takes a decent amount of focus and thinking before one can truly get lost in the story. I definitely struggled at first and eventually had to take notes of who each main POV was and how they related to one another. Once I got my head wrapped around this, however, I was so excited to see where it went.

Mohanty notes that he was heavily inspired by Song of Ice and Fire, and that is very clear in his story. Mohanty outshines Martin in his depiction of female characters. The women in this story were (mostly) badass, and while the patriarchy exists in this world, these women were written with a nuance that I was not expecting. I loved a lot of the characters in this novel, but all but one of my favorites were badass women.

This is written spectacularly well for a debut. Mohanty shifts the storytelling quickly through different POVs, particularly in the second half, and his transitions between characters always tie together, even if they are not participating in the same storyline. I was impressed with how invested I could be in character A and how quickly I could be re-invested in character B.

My only critique of this book is that it is a slow start, though this is mostly because the world-building is so intense. To figure things out, I tried to watch a YouTube video to understand the basic story of the Mahabharata, and it is clear Mohanty's main inspiration was a complex one in and of itself. I do not normally read fantasies as epic as this, so I believe other readers may have an easier time with this book than I did. Besides that, I am eagerly anticipating the sequel, and I will be highly recommending this book to other lovers of fantasy!

Thank you Head of Zeus and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Mohanty states he wrote this book in order to bring epic, grimdark fantasy to India, and says "If you have ever been interested in Ramayana, Kaikeyi or even Naruto but always wished it were a lot more fucked up, you might enjoy this book." I was intrigued! I will read anything advertised as Naruto but more fucked up! I also love to see people spin their take on classic fantasy, especially when they are moving away from European-inspired worlds.

A remix of the Mahabharata, Sons of Darkness is definitely a slow burn epic fantasy that demands all of your attention. Mohanty carefully plots the start of his series, and while it took me awhile to find my footing (which I think is true for most people for most epic fantasy), I found I was interested in everyone's perspective and understanding the landscape he created. I certainly had some favorites (Karna, Nala, and Mati in particular) but each had a distinct and unique perspective. This was especially important since I found it took a little bit for the plot to come together and pick up, but after the main event where almost all of the perspectives come together, I found that the book picked up significantly in pace and by the end I found it very difficult to put down. I was absolutely enthralled with the last 20% of this novel and loved what Mohanty did—I don't think that Sons of Darkness itself is particularly unique in terms of plot or structure (it's a very clear homage to some classics, like A Song of Ice and Fire) but it brings a fresh perspective and lots of interesting characters. It's well-written and deeply enjoyable for fans of the genre, and I think that Mohanty achieved his goal of writing an Indian inspired grimdark fantasy with flying colors. The world is incredibly lived-in and and while I think that the first 30% or so is quite slow, it all pulls together very nicely. Sons of Darkness might be hard for plot-driven readers as so much is about setting up the geo-politics and character relationships and it took me quite a long time to read, but I really enjoyed the time I spent reading.

Overall, this was a very nice debut! It was quite a slow read and required a lot of my attention and was one of the more challenging reads I've read this year due to needing to keep everything straight because this is a wildly expansive world, but I eagerly await the sequel and I look forward to future re-reads.

I'm really sorry to DNF this at 30%, as the premise sounded very exciting and promising, but nothing in this novel worked for me. The amount of characters the reader has to follow is simply too much, every chapter jumps to some other place and action (and, of course, characters) - I do realize that it serves the purpose of introducing the reader to the world-building, but in this particular case I found it really tiresome and discouraging. I'm not a novice to fantasy genre, however, "Sons of Darkness" defeated me. I applaud the author for undertaking such a grand project - I do hope that maybe later I will come back to this book and enjoy it on the second go.

Thank you to Netgalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Listen, I really wanted to like this book. I read the premise and it sounded extremely intriguing and as an avid fantasy reader I thought it would be right up my alley.

I literally could not continue past 5% of the book due to the lackluster prose and this:
"“Under her armor, her hunched muscular shoulders looked all the more ungainly without a bosom to balance her form.” This is literally from almost the very beginning and the MC is talking about his sister. I get that it's probably just being clinical in the description (as I noticed in other descriptions) but this just rubbed me the wrong way.

I got the ick.

The prologue alone is excellent and gives you a fantastic feel for how dark this story will be. The books blurb gives you the best idea of the story, without any spoilers and I don’t think i could sum it up any better myself. Grimdark well and truly. Like many fantasies, Sons of Darkness does have a long slow start, which if you like that sort of story, is excellent. It really demonstrates the world and the characters and the shape of things so far, but is not action packed. That comes in the second half of the novel, and it really is worth it. Due to this slower start, you really feel you know the characters and their motives, and understand them a lot better. Once the action bit starts however, it really starts. I couldn’t put it down as I needed to know what was happening. There is a lot of political tension and plotting that goes on throughout (very Game of Thrones style) and the way it is crafted, there are moves and counter moves that while i don’t expect, totally make sense once they have happened. I also need to praise the amazing magic system and Indian mythology woven seamlessly throughout the story. This book feels like classic fantasy already, and you definitely see the influences of the classic fantasy’s that have come before, but Mohanty puts their own unique twist on things and its incredibly worth it

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the E-Arc. Mixed thoughts about this one. The structure of the story, interesting complex characters, rich world building and the best battle scenes I've read in a long were strengths. However, there are two aspects I did not enjoy. The first is the overall pacing, which felt very slow particularly in the first half of the book. The second is the similarity of one of the characters to a character in Joe Abercrombie's book. Now, the author does partially address this in a goodreads review saying that the concept of this character existed in folk tales, but what I had more of a problem with is how the style of the writing is also the exact same with the characters internal monologue noted in italics. Overall recommended if you like grimdark genre, but perseverance needed to get to the books best sections.