Liam

An (un)satisfying conclusion to the first arc of The Stormlight Archive.

The Stormlight Archive has had it's ups and downs for me. The highs have been high, but the lows have been low. Wind and Truth felt very solid to me throughout and, despite some pacing issues, I think it was the perfect conclusion to the first arc.

Immediately after finishing the book I found myself really torn about the ending. I spent the next few days thinking about it over and over, and came to the conclusion that the reason I didn't feel satisfied was because I was going to be waiting 6+ years for the next chapter. In retrospect, the ending really is solid, and it has opened up arc 2 of the series to become very interesting indeed.

Immediate gut feeling on rating this was 4 stars, but having spent so much time thinking about the ending and the journey to get there I've given it a 4.5⭐.

I just hope I get as much pleasure from the rest of the Cosmere as I've had with Roshar...

Buehlman's writing style impressed me from the first pages, unfortunately however that was the last enjoyable part of The Blacktongue Thief for me. I do understand the appeal of the book, flipping the usual fantasy tropes of the chosen one farmboy turned world saviour for a more raw telling of a story of 'just a guy' who happens to find himself stuck in the middle of something.

The Blacktongue Thief is a character focussed book that's more about the journey than the destination. The main questline of the story is never really the focus, and that's intended, I get that. Unfortunately in this character focussed story I just didn't care for the characters, and the journey was one of tedium. I could see the influence from Pratchett, Abercrombie, and Rothfuss on every page, but this served only as a recurring reminder to me that honestly I'd rather have been reading one of their books.

Buehlman's style has piqued my interest enough that I'm still keen to read Between Two Fires, and would still recommend The Blacktongue Thief to the right person. For me however, it was a miss.

I really wanted to like this book given that I love fantasy and The Godfather is one of my all-time favourite books. Unfortunately, in the end, Jade City managed to be neither a good fantasy book, nor a good mafia book.

The first half of the book was relatively strong, but by the second half I found myself rolling my eyes every chapter. A two dimensional world filled with boring, annoying characters.

May be some people's cup of tea, but if you love The Godfather, this book isn't for you.