Finished! I enjoyed it sort of about as much as I thought I might, in that it's too much style over substance but has moments that shine amidst it all.
I enjoy humour-filled books, Abercrombie could rewrite the phone book and make it interesting, so it was still a fun read for me but it really does lack the dark complexity of character that I've come to know and love (Vigga's ending is kind of pitch-perfect for what I would have liked more of throughout, just grittier, meatier stuff - the good meat, if you will. There were also aspects of greatness with some of Vigga and Jakob's earlier POV chapters). I thought all the characters were solidly decent for the most part, save for Baptiste who felt undercooked (why was she there??). I can't easily pick a favourite, I ended up liking them all. Rikard, if you had to twist my arm, which is impressive considering he doesnxt have a POV, but I do love vampires.
The plot was frustratingly predictable (not helped by the fact that all Jakob's fights lack tension, even though I wouldn't necessarily want to change his immortality for that, because I like his POV, just wish there was less focus on his fights) and as a result the climax just didn't work that well for me. The conclusion was excellent, however.
The ship battle was my favourite set piece, to no one's surprise. I also did like Marchian, because lion man, and I didn't mind the fact that all four of Eudoxia's sons were pretty much the same, I'm a fan of posh wankers getting their comeuppance and thought they were fun enough.
The main thing for me particularly towards the end was simply how much it felt like a repetition of so many First Law beats. As Jov on Discord put it, it's a Frankenstein of the First Law: a little BSC, a little RC, and a tumblr-vanilla-essence-sized drop of LAOK at the end for some absolutely baffling reason. Entire plot points and some phrases are repeated wholecloth, which could be chalked up to nudge-wink references or plain Abercrombieisms if you're generous, but overall make the book feel like it doesn't know if it wants to be its own thing or not - or, worse, hints that Abercrombie is out of ideas 😬 Especially post-TWOC, where one of my bjg criticisms of that book is also that he clings too hard to LAOK, it's just... weird. And yes, LAOK is great, and so this book (and TWOC tbf!) still mostly works, but as with Star Trek SNW and Bridgerton, I wish it would simply spread its wings and fly the nest, rather than sticking too much to what the writer thinks people want. It feels lazy. Again, just too much style over substance.
I almost wish this were a more structured trilogy bc I think there's a hell of a lot of potential for it to develop, especially if it leans more towards the moral and philosophical. But I don't think that's really where it's going, based on how Abercrombie talks about it as fairly episodic. I will definitely keep reading, but I hate to say at the moment it feels quite First Law lite, rather than it's own beast.
Kind of as a result of that, I also think my knowledge of TFL actively damages my enjoyment of this book. Not just the repetitive elements but also just the fact that it's tantalisingly close to TFL but it doesn't reach it. I feel spoilt by AoM in that the characters were so fucking good, the way they fought amongst themselves made the trilogy so dynamic, and it's hard to go back to a book where everyone's working together and what resistance there is to doing the right thing feels cute rather than existential.
It also really wasn't as horny as advertised! It was much more romantic, which is a good thing, but I am a little disappointed that we didn't really get any extended scenes like Savine & Leo in TTWP. AoM and RC were vastly hornier IMO.
If I had to judge it out of 5, definitely a 3-3.5 compared to all other books, but 2 when compared to all other Abercrombie books. Better than Half a King, probably on par with TBI? But it's swings and roundabouts: TBI is a 500-page advert to read BTAH but the characters really draw you in, while this book is much less original but benefits from the superior, tighter writing of more recent Abercrombie. If I was coming in fresh and had never heard of the First Law, I think I would have liked it way more, but at the same time I would still reach for BSC as the quintessential Abercrombie book. You need that depth!
