cavalary's reviews
269 reviews

A lot of thought and effort was obviously put into this book, and into the world, many elements being presented in great detail, including a few that aren’t commonly “customized” as part of fantasy worldbuilding. This gives the impression that the series should have a truly epic scale, and the complications, if I may use the term, added towards the end enhance that feeling, yet it doesn’t threaten to be crushing or overwhelming, Kinch’s first person presentation being enjoyable and including plenty of humor, which usually works, at least for me.
In spite of that, it seems far from realizing that potential. Of course, it’s possible that much of it is merely because it’s the first book in what’s intended as a series, but the author seems to try too hard, in both directions, in a book that’d have probably needed to be about three times the size for all of the information to come naturally, to be shown rather than told. As it is, much is forced upon the reader, the action being paused for a detailed explanation the first time the matter comes up. This tends to reduce the weight and the impact of the story, and Kinch’s lighthearted attitude makes it even worse, driving away that feeling of actually reading a personal account that a first person presentation should normally enhance. In addition, elements such as slang, other languages or different coins and currencies, which would have added flavor if there’d have been enough room for them, strike me as unnecessary complications under these circumstances, while on the other hand the number and the development of the characters is clearly insufficient for something intended as an epic tale. Then again, quite a number of times, especially when powerful magic is involved, it feels more like a fairy tale than actual epic fantasy, and that’s a style that I’m not fond of. 

This is just a sweet, heartwarming short story, most probably taking place shortly after the end of Soulkeeper. There's little else to say about it, but it is nice that Puffy is the one who comes up with the idea and does a good part of the work, displaying some more of his abilities and personality, since in the book he was almost discarded as an active character after being brought to Devin's home. On the other hand, while not doing so is understandable, especially from Puffy's point of view, something could have been added for Tommy and Adria as well.

The premise of a world where magic suddenly returns, along with creatures that were remembered only as myths and legends, going all the way to demigods, is interesting enough. Somewhat as a fable, the book also makes some good points about humanity’s place in the world, albeit mostly in passing, and it depicts villains with understandable motives, some of whom may even turn out to not be actual villains. And it also mostly avoids what I call human filth, those behaviors typically only being mentioned as reminders that they exist and need to be fought against, and the main characters do so, this probably also being the explanation for how easily the situation is accepted by Devin, as well as a few other notable characters in similar positions. In addition, there are thrilling fights and some moments that have an emotional impact, the graveyard scene that comes before what probably should have been the finale standing out, along with the next few chapters.
The last chapter and the epilogue are rather weak, however, and the rest of the book, before that part that stands out, seems to lack the depth and the impact such a story and such momentous events should have. The pace is too leisurely, too much is glossed over, too many ideas seem to have just been briefly entertained and then discarded, and the immaturity of some of the secondary characters seems to sometimes bleed into the writing, at least Tommy’s moments often leaving the impression of comic relief inappropriately forced into the story. Also, on top of a typical dose of hero’s luck, the main characters are literally spared from death several times over, those who could and should have killed them simply deciding not to even if it makes little sense. On the other hand, while it does help explain their motives, directly presenting the point of view of deities just seems wrong. And, while I guess it’s a minor problem otherwise, I can’t help but point out that there’s one corpse too many in the first fight.

After The Steel Remains, I expected to struggle through The Cold Commands, but I'm glad to say that it's so much better. It's still harsh, uncompromising, pulling no punches, but the author is no longer trying too hard, neither to shock nor to go through some third grade creative writing checklist. The characters are much more developed and no longer striving to be crass, unlikable and hard to support. The world is more fleshed out, making more sense, little by little, if you snatch the pieces when they appear. The thrilling combat scenes remain, but the graphic brutality is used more sparingly and skillfully. And that may be even more true for the sex scenes, which this time around are meaningful and convey emotion. As for the walks through the Grey Places, while the following ones make much more sense, something like that disjointed plague fever dream that is chapter 19 definitely takes skill to pull off. 

There is still plenty of room for improvement, however. The fact that many names remain too strange or complicated for me to be able to properly keep track of who's who is probably my problem more than the author's, but I wouldn't say that the same holds true for still feeling like I'm grasping at smoke too often for this point in the story, that in certain cases no, or at least no better, explanations will be provided. On the other hand, while this takes the story to what I gather is much more familiar territory for the author, and I must admit that the much greater magnitude and impact of the fantasy elements compensates for it, I'm still not keen on the increased amount of science fiction elements that are introduced. And, albeit as a far less important aspect, there are still moments, and probably one in particular, when that overuse of f-words remains grating. 

The combat scenes may initially be the one source of excitement, but you’ll eventually realize that much more thought and planning went into the world and characters than it first appears, and that you should have paid closer attention than you probably did. While never massive, the battle scenes become even more exciting, but there are also hints of depth in character development, glimpses of worldbuilding on a massive scale and some reasons to care about it all… And there may even be some traces of emotion in some sex scenes, albeit just those of the gay male variety.
All of that comes rather late, however, for much of the book the author seeming to try too hard in various wrong ways, not just oversexualizing everything but being crass and making the characters, with the possible exception of Archeth, particularly difficult to like, with the rare glimpses of depth and connections seeming scattered haphazardly around. And even after those aspects improve to some extent, descriptions continue to be written in ways that seem to string together the sort of “beautiful expressions” that I recall having to keep lists of in early years of school, while at the same time f-words are overused in a manner that seems to betray a lack of creativity, all of these making it harder to get clear mental images. And then there are all the instances of hero’s luck, though that’s pretty much the norm. And yes, there’s plenty of sex and most of it is just plain fucking, and if women are involved then they’re just used for pleasure.

Not counting the prologue, which mainly consisted of a list of names that I couldn’t keep track of, the first few chapters were quite a joy to read, with good writing and humor. However, after a while it became a matter of pushing through, at least until chapter 25, which was when the author seemed to remember where he wanted the book to go and how to take it there, and also the importance of meaningful character interaction and development. Even that chapter’s crazy, jarring start is worth mentioning, probably being just what was needed to make the reader know that it’s actually worth paying closer attention again. And the level seemed to remain somewhat higher after that chapter, though I don’t know whether that’s objectively the case or it’s a result of the lasting impression it left.
But most of the book tends to drag on, getting bogged down in a small scope and mundane matters, the greater and supernatural events it hints at taking too long to arrive and not being sufficiently emphasized even when they finally do. And with a fool as the lead, an asshole as his main companion and all kinds of rottenness in most other characters, it’s hard to like or cheer for them. Also, if for a while I was thinking that the book was originally written for a Polish audience, in Polish, so the fact that I couldn’t keep track of the names, and even of some of the events that were being mentioned, was my problem, as I continued reading I got an ever stronger impression that, assuming he wasn’t just making things up, since I didn’t care to check, the author was showing off his knowledge of the period at the expense of the book’s actual story and characters. And he’s definitely showing off and making it hard for the reader by adding all those parts in Latin, and occasionally in other languages as well, and not translating them except on rare occasions, mainly towards the end. Admittedly, this is something that the publisher could have fixed.