fantasybooknerd
I came to this book not knowing much about it really. Quite a lot of the reviews mention The Three Musketeers, so I had an idea that it might be something in this vein.
The story centres on the disgraced order, The Greatcoats, who, after the King of the land is executed are disbanded and wander around scraping a living selling their services to anyone who will hire them.
The main protagonist, Falcio is man who holds his ideals despite the fact that the world around him is corrupt and subject to the fickle whims of the leading classes.
I really liked this book. It's fast paced and easy to read. The characters are likeable and the relationship between the main characters and the supporting characters is something that drives the story along.
Like I said, I didn't really know anything about the book but did have some preconceived ideas about it being like the three musketeers s. However, when it comes to the second act, it kind of reminds me of that Clint Eastwood film, The Gauntlet.
This is an action/adventure story and the book has plenty of this in spades. In fact, it never really let's up and the story moves along at a breakneck pace moving from one situation to the next without letting up.
In some reviews, they mention that there is a lack of world building. However, I didn't find this to be a hindrance at all and I felt that it was left to my imagination rather than having it spelled out to me. I kind of imagined that the setting was a renaissance Italy type set up with the Dukes of the story resembling the Borgias.
At first, I was a bit unsure on where the story was going. However, when we get to the second act the story finds its feet and takes you along with it.
On one hand, there is not much ‘traditional' fantasy, however, there are fantasy tropes on the story, on the other hand there are loads of fantasy tropes in the book but used in way that seemed fresh.
All in all, I liked this book and now moving on to the second in the series.
I have got to say that this is fast becoming one of my favourite fantasy series.
AGOS (as nobody is calling it) takes place about four months after the first book and updates us with the current goings on in Red London. The characters of Kell and Lila are developed as is the rest of the world and it's inhabitants, particularly Rhy and the rest of the royal family.
The second story in the trilogy is more of a character driven story than A Darker Shade of Magic, and it is testament to Schwab's writing that whilst there are not spectacular action set pieces all through the book, she manages to keep the reader engaged with the development of her characters.
The only thing that irked me was the introduction of Dracula (Captain Alucard!) even to the point of having him as the dragon. Everytime I read it I kept thinking of Dracula 1972 AD. Although, I did like his character
I have got to say that I liked the character development and the world building that is done in this story. Again hats off to Ms Schwab because rather than hitting you over the head with a mallet to expand on the mythos of her world, she uses the age old trick of show don' t tell and subsequently the world of Red London is enriched by this approach.
Cannot wait to read the next one!
