- #1
It's an enjoyable read.The other novel by this author was also interesting in its own ways but I found it a bit stale and lackluster in comparison. This novel however, piqued my attention and held it quite well.The story begins and sets the tone to be rather grey and gritty, which I believe was done fairly well. It's not overloaded with death and gore, but rather simply as a necessity to drive the progression of the plot. It's accentuated with accompanying elements of character development and world building written in between. Sure there were moments that were personally distasteful, but that doesn't take away from the overall feel or atmosphere of the story. Additionally the tension is always kept within the story, giving the feeling of always wanting to find out what happens next, which I really enjoyed.Ah yes the characters, like the wine that accompanies a meal, It can often enhance or ruin one's experience. My two cents on the characters are that they feel real. From what I've read so far, every character has their own motivation that fuels their personality and actions. Nobody is a simple cut-out that simply exists to appease the readers or to progress the plot. Not every character's motivations are explained, but the few that are revealed gives way to why those characters would act or respond a certain way.What's also interesting with this novel is that the characters seem to evolve through their actions and interactions, albeit fairly slowly. They change based on their interactions with each other and through the circumstances of the setting. It adds a certain layer of complexity in that you truly never know how a character will act or respond based on what changes around them.Style. It's well done. The author (or maybe even the translator) has clearly gone through great lengths to make the novel both easy and enjoyable to read. It can be detailed and verbose, or just crude and simple; the author knows when to employ both.So if you're just browsing through reviews to decide whether or not to pick up the novel, I would say it's worth reading for at least a few volumes.
