Kochsalz

I would have never imagined that I would ever not finish a Joe Abercrombie book, but The Devils is that book.

His writing in the First Law series was what Marvel movies at some point tried to be, but never could: Funny where it doesn't hurt the plot or the characters, witty, sometimes a bit absurd, but, on the whole, always sincere, with very strong focus on the characters. The Devils is a Marvel movie, ripped straight out of a screenplay and forced into the shape of a novel. It's still a character-driven book, but with no substance or anything to say.

None of the characters take anything seriously. No matter what happens, the first reaction is always a witty oh-so-funny one-line remark to remind you how incredibly funny everyone is, and to assure you that you are never in danger of dealing with any sincerity or thoughtful themes. The setting pretends to be an alternate history pseudo-medieval europe with magic and demons and elves and werewolves, but has exactly zero similarities to actual medieval europe and is so absurd that it would have been much more believable if it was set in an original fantasy world. Everyone, no matter where they are from, speaks the same language. The plot is based around the schism of the church, yet religion is never taken seriously or portrayed as anything but a scam. Speaking of plot, it just exists to give the characters something to do and keep a carrot dangling in front of them.

I am already dreading the film adaptation for which the rights were sold right after the book's release.

Painful to read. Unlikable and inconsistent characters, most of them built from pieces “strongly influenced” by popular fantasy novels, a nonexistent plot, uninteresting worldbuilding, plot armor, repetitive prose. If your main character solves problems by not sleeping for a week and really hanging in there for two sentences, that's just terrible writing. It happens multiple times throughout this ‘book'.

This book is a mess. Nothing makes sense, nothing is relevant to the plot except for the last 50 pages. The Skull Throne was disappointing, but this novel reaches uncharted grounds of terrible.

Don't read this book, you're much better off dropping the Demon Cycle after book 3 and pretending it had a decent ending. Whatever your headcanon may be, it's better than this.

There are many layers to this book, and way too many pages. Only the first and last 100 pages (the appendix) worked for me, and most of the things it tries to do bored me.

House of Leaves is a great satire of “academic” writing. It's also a horror story that isn't scary or unsettling, and a bunch of experimental storytelling that should have ended after 100 pages. The novelty and the meta-cleverness of it all wears off eventually, and at that point I felt like I was actually forcing myself to read some anthropological nonsense.

It's like Harry potter except the students don't want to be at the school but are forced to go there, everything they learn is deliberately obscure and unsettling with a touch of lovecraft, it's more about reaching a state of being than learning wand-flicking and spells, the protagonist is 6 years older than harry potter (and a girl), and it's actually not like Harry potter at all.