I've read a couple of the Vespasian series from this author and i enjoyed those immensely, so i had high hopes for this one based on that.
However i was left a little disappointed with this in comparison, it jumps around too much between far too many protaganists - which in the early stages can get a little confusing sometimes who is who and whose side each one is on at any particular time. Also i found the many names to be trickier to read than in the Vespasian books, which slowed things down a bit and made the story flow that little bit less easily.
When it gets into the action side of things it does pick up pace and the fighting is brutal in its descriptions. But then it can jump to some inane chatter between some of the other parties as they move from place to place or just bitch and moan about the other people. It also got a little confusing when one paragraph seems to jump forward in time from the previous paragraph with no spacing to indicate a change.
It's an ok introduction to the series, not sure how many more there are planned.
*Spoiler*
The main cast is thinned out a fair bit by the end to make things more manageable in future volumes so maybe they will read a bit more easily. I still enjoyed it enough to want to read more of them though.
However i was left a little disappointed with this in comparison, it jumps around too much between far too many protaganists - which in the early stages can get a little confusing sometimes who is who and whose side each one is on at any particular time. Also i found the many names to be trickier to read than in the Vespasian books, which slowed things down a bit and made the story flow that little bit less easily.
When it gets into the action side of things it does pick up pace and the fighting is brutal in its descriptions. But then it can jump to some inane chatter between some of the other parties as they move from place to place or just bitch and moan about the other people. It also got a little confusing when one paragraph seems to jump forward in time from the previous paragraph with no spacing to indicate a change.
It's an ok introduction to the series, not sure how many more there are planned.
*Spoiler*
The main cast is thinned out a fair bit by the end to make things more manageable in future volumes so maybe they will read a bit more easily. I still enjoyed it enough to want to read more of them though.