Superior Glokta has a problem. How do you defend a city surrounded by enemies and riddled with traitors, when your allies can by no means be trusted, and your predecessor vanished without a trace? It’s enough to make a torturer want to run – if he could even walk without a stick.
Northmen have spilled over the border of Angland and are spreading fire and death across the frozen country. Crown Prince Ladisla is poised to drive them back and win undying glory. There is only one problem – he commands the worst-armed, worst-trained, worst-led army in the world. Not to mention he has never even held a weapon before.
And Bayaz, the First of the Magi, is leading a party of bold adventurers on a perilous mission through the ruins of the past. The most hated woman in the South, the most feared man in the North, and the most selfish boy in the Union make a strange alliance, but a deadly one. They might even stand a chance of saving mankind from the Eaters. If they didn’t hate each other quite so much.
Ancient secrets will be uncovered. Bloody battles will be won and lost. Bitter enemies will be forgiven – but not before they are hanged.
The focus remains on character weaving, with the plot unfolding as the perception of the PoV characters. The individual characters are very strongly built.
- There is the fearsome barbarian Logen Ninefingers, who is an enigmatic and sympathetic character, but is shaped by the world’s perception of him as a blood-thirsty warrior.
- There is the disillusioned colonel, who has dedicated his life to crown and country so he can leave his low-born past behind, only to be let down by both crown, and country.
- There is the crippled inquisitor, who is struggling to make an impact instead of being dismissed an shunned.
The focus lies on the various POV characters and their individual idiosyncracies. While it is a compelling read, the lack of a plot does seem rather frustrating.