The shadow of the gods
(Bloodsworn saga #1)
by John Gwynne
fantasy
copyright 2021,
read a bit in Jan 2022
rated 2/10: unreadably bad
I understand that Norse life was bloody and brutal. As history that is interesting. As fantasy it is awful.
After about nine chapters I stopped reading. Why? Because it was just too horrible. So horrible that I hoped for a storm at sea, to drown every single character in the book.
A world of absolute might is right. Slaves treated as worse than animals. Villages raided simply because they are there. villagers killed for defending their homes. The raiders then take everything of value. Dumb brutes -- anything and everything not "one of us" -- is killed.
Then I read the last few pages. To see if the obvious people had lasted that far.
This paragraph is a spoiler... but only if you are a reader who cannot spot the bleeding obvious: One character mentions a dragon sealed in a cave. Another character laughs at the stupidity of that myth. Sure enough, the book ends with the dragon being released from its cave. To fly off and, presumably, be a focal point for the next book.
In reality... A dragon which kills and eats every person in the land... would be more likeable than most of the characters in this book.
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19jan22: No, I have not re-read this book. No way :-(
It crossed my mind... The characters are brutal. nice or nasty. unthinkingly violent or well-motivated to violence.
Underneath all the violence... Not a single character is a human being.
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
... Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved
===Stay cool but stop at frostbite" ... per Ginger Meggs
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Dying for you to read my blog, at https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com/ :-)
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