Finally getting started on Anna Smith Spark's Court of Broken Knives, huzzah.
That series gotta have the most demented fantasy protagonist I've ever come across to date. Enjoy cupi!
I read the first but it didn't grip me enough to get the rest. I still wonder if it's a case of "wrong timing", so one day I'll re-read it and see if I still feel the same...
Dunno about you, but the prose hasn't helped me. It's very unique. When I read it - or rather, the first forty pages - I found it very admirable, but not great for getting my teeth into.
I actually liked the prose but I hated the protagonist. Really, really hated him. I would be happy to read another book Anna Smith Spark writes but when I do it won't be another in this series.
Marith is definitely one of the most unlikable, unredeemable, wreck of a human being protagonist I've ever come across, hahah. I'd definitely felt this way too. Also with Peat's comment on the unique prose. "Death. Death Death!"
For me I've just finished reading
The Last Wish (Witcher short story). 3/5 stars. If you're interested in reading the Witcher books, I'd say don't even bother. The show did everything in almost the exact details, but better. Aside from the good backbone of the lore and story and characters as displayed in the Witcher 3 videogames, there were quite a lot of weaknesses to this book (and the shorts were supposed to be better than the main witcher novels)
1. Rambling dialogues, rambling descriptions that served no purpose
2. Pretentious discussions about morality that made me skip big chunks of the book and almost bore me to death (Geralt would run into much less problems if he wasn't such a righteous fool 99% of the time)
3. Geralt in the book is quite a whiny and brooding and a lot of times quite a foolish main character. Also irritating goody two shoes in a world where one has to be cunning and ruthless in order to survive.
I think there's also the issue with the fact that I'm heavily comparing this book with the show, but since the show was just a 7/10 watch anyway, the fact that it greatly surpasses this book of short story is saying something. I probably won't be buying any more witcher books in the future (maybe except Sword of Destiny. Who knows)
