Road of the Patriarch

The Sellswords #3

by R.A. Salvatore

To her, to her dying breath, you were the untouchable one, the one whose flesh her dagger could not penetrate.

THE ASSASSIN

A cold and emotionless killer for whom every soul has a price, even his own, embarks on a path to find out just how high that price can be.

THE MERCENARY

A dark elf of limitless guile dares to challenge a king, and carve for himself a place in the inhospitable World Above.

ILNEZHARA and TAZMIKELLA are ancient dragons of great power, accustomed to easily manipulating the humans around them. But not all humans are so easily led. When they pushed Entreri and Jarlaxle into the heart of the Bloodstone Lands, not even they could have imagined the strength of the human assassin’s resolve, or the limitless expanse of the drow mercenary’s ambition.

Genres: Fantasy, Forgotten Realms, Fiction, Dungeons and Dragons, High Fantasy, Audiobook, Epic Fantasy

352 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

As one of the fantasy genre’s most successful authors, R.A. Salvatore enjoys an ever-expanding and tremendously loyal following. His books regularly appear on The New York Times best-seller lists and have sold more than 10,000,000 copies. Salvatore’s original hardcover, The Two Swords, Book III of The Hunter’s Blade Trilogy (October 2004) debuted at # 1 on The Wall Street Journal best-seller list and at # 4 on The New York Times best-seller list. His books have been translated into numerous foreign languages including German, Italian, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Turkish, Croatian, Bulgarian, Yiddish, Spanish, Russian, Polish, Portuguese, Czech, and French.

Salvatore’s first published novel, The Crystal Shard from TSR in 1988, became the first volume of the acclaimed Icewind Dale Trilogy and introduced an enormously popular character, the dark elf Drizzt Do’Urden. Since that time, Salvatore has published numerous novels for each of his signature multi-volume series including The Dark Elf Trilogy, Paths of Darkness, The Hunter’s Blades Trilogy, and The Cleric Quintet.

His love affair with fantasy, and with literature in general, began during his sophomore year of college when he was given a copy of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings as a Christmas gift. He promptly changed his major from computerscience to journalism. He received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Communications from Fitchburg State College in 1981, then returned for the degree he always cherished, the Bachelor of Arts in English. He began writing seriously in 1982, penning the manuscript that would become Echoes of the Fourth Magic. Salvatore held many jobs during those first years as a writer, finally settling in (much to our delight) to write full time in 1990.

The R.A. Salvatore Collection has been established at his alma mater, Fitchburg State College in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, containing the writer’s letters, manuscripts, and other professional papers. He is in good company, as The Salvatore Collection is situated alongside The Robert Cormier Library, which celebrates the writing career of the co-alum and esteemed author of young adult books.

Salvatore is an active member of his community and is on the board of trustees at the local library in Leominster, Massachusetts. He has participated in several American Library Association regional conferences, giving talks on themes including “Adventure fantasy” and “Why young adults read fantasy.” Salvatore himself enjoys a broad range of literary writers including James Joyce, Mark Twain, Geoffrey Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dante, and Sartre. He counts among his favorite genre literary influences Ian Fleming, Arthur Conan Doyle, Fritz Leiber, and of course, J.R.R. Tolkien.

Born in 1959, Salvatore is a native of Massachusetts and resides there with his wife Diane, and their three children, Bryan, Geno, and Caitlin. The family pets include three Japanese Chins, Oliver, Artemis and Ivan, and four cats including Guenhwyvar.

When he isn't writing, Salvatore chases after his three Japanese Chins, takes long walks, hits the gym, and coaches/plays on a fun-league softball team that includes most of his family. His gaming group still meets on Sundays to play.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/rasalv...

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well i've finally finished the Sellswords series (which have been sitting on my shelf for about 2 years) and i have to say i'm just a little bit disappointed. The first fantasy series i ever read was the Dark Elf trilogy and from what i remember, it was pretty much the coolest thing ever. I think i was a little unimpressed with this series in particular because when it comes down to it, Salvatore is just not as good as many other authors out there. I truly believe Salvatore can create characters better than most author's i've come across to this date, but other than very intriguing fight scenes, although sometimes too many or too repetitive, i feel as though Salvatore's stories are rather predictable and well...all very similar. I like Artemis and Jarlaxle quite a bit, but the plot for the 3 Sellswords novels was pretty stupid. You have no idea why or how they stay on the surface world other than "to get treasure", so many characters come and go with little significance, and as the pages turn, the story slowly slips into...well...shit. Artemis gets all soft and mushy because of a flute, goes to his homeland, kills a few people, and the story ends. I must say that some of the minor characters, including Athrogate, Master Kane, and even Knellict could have been used much more effectively to enhance the plot.

All in all i'm quite happy that i gave the 3 books a read. I guess if you like the Drizzt novels you'll like these ones too, however just as the later novels based on Drizzt get a little boring and repetitive....so do these one.

[Darek Zawisko · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Kevin Xu · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only reason I gave this book two stars is because it was writing by R.A. Salvatore with two great matching characters.
Read only 100 pages, and stopped because nothing happened, just being happy of the success of what happened in the last book.

[Jay Glasgow · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wondrous conclusion to an amazing series! Jaraxle and Entreri are a true delight as ever. The writing style was of Salvatore's best, very witty in Jaraxle's plot, dialogue and philosophy, and as serious as ever with Entreri. The way Entreri's own quest for personal identity cam to a conclusion was really inspiring, the once evil and conflicted rival of Drizzt Do'Urden finding peace and becoming a fighter of the people, (and not enjoying it) was wonderful. His final fight for the memory for his mother, the one person in his life he really loved and let into his heart, was very touching. In all, the Sellswords return to the Sword coast was riveting, and awe-inspiring all around.

[J. Griff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series! When I originally read the first book of the series "Servant of the Shard" I didn't understand how much I would start to enjoying the character Artemis Entreri & how much more relatable he is. Salvatore did an amazing job adding so much more depth to the character with giving a large portion of his backstory that created Artemis into the ruthless Assassin.
In this story Salvatore introduced Gareth Dragonsbane & his group of friends that had fought the Witch-King & saved the Bloodstone Lands. I would love to read more on these characters as well, but they only seem to exist in a Dungeons & Dragons module.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little meandering and unsure of its arc, but with very enjoyable character development.

[Matt Bouchard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Artemis Entreri is way cooler than Drizzt

[Erlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

7,5/10 Acaba la Trilogia dels Mercenaris amb una història entretinguda, però massa caòtica; la trama principal es veu perjudicada per un excés de subtrames.

La narrativa, com sempre, és àgil i dinàmica, amb aliances i traicions que es mesclen en un ritme frenètic. El millor del llibre són, sens dubte, els "drows" Jarlaxle i Kimmuriel, els moments que els involucren són dels més destacats.

També destaca la química entre els dos protagonistes principals, amb el seu joc constant d’enginys i intrigues, que mostra una mescla d’intel·ligència i rivalitat. Salvatore explora amb encert la seva relació complexa. En conjunt, és un final sòlid per a la trilogia, tot i resultar irregular.

[MJFox11 · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Sont-ils encore ensemble, à marcher de conserve, la main près du manche de leur arme, pour se défendre l'un de l'autre, il me semble, autant que de leurs ennemis?"

"- Qu'est-ce qui a créé un guerrier de la perfection d'Artémis Entreri? L'entraînement? La discipline?
- La colère."

"Je ne salis pas mes vêtements raffinés. Pour aucun homme. Pour aucun souverain."

Un dernier tome qui conclut en beauté l'association entre Jarlaxle et Entreri! This book was wild!

Le duo fait face aux ambitions et aux manipulations de Jarlaxle, ce qui pertubent Entreri qui fait face à l'apparition de ses sentiments refoulés. On a enfin pu connaitre le passé de nos deux protagonistes, mais principalement celui d'Entreri. Une histoire dure à lire mais qui finit par un acte de vengeance et qui permet à Entreri de "tourner la page".
La réapparition de Kimmuriel et des autres drows était un petit plus que l'on apprécie.

L'action était omniprésente et était bien écrite. Jarlaxle est tellement fou et manipulateur que ça pimente l'écriture du livre. Entreri est toujours aussi sombre et contraste avec Jarlaxle, ce qui rend leurs interactions assez comiques.

Nos deux (anti-) héros ont donc conclus leurs aventures ensemble, en espérant qu'ils se retrouvent pour de prochaines aventures!

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Last book in the Sellsword trilogy which continues our adventures with Jarlaxle and Artemis.

This seemed more like three novella's connection by main characters than it did a fully formed novel and it went from having two star sections up to five star sections.

It had great characters (it is Salvatore after all), magic, orcs, dragons.
It had some action but nowhere near what usually accompanies a Salvatore novel.
It kept me turning the pages but honestly the first 200 pages were slow.

But it was good, not great but good.

When I picked this book up I was looking for some good vs. evil, some action and some great characters (I had read quite a few YA books in a row and needed something meatier but not quite Thoreau) and Bob delivered.

I enjoyed this and think you probably would as well.

[Андрій Гулкевич · Rating 4 out of 5]

Продовження пригод двох головорізів – людини Артеміса Ентрері та хитрого дроу Джарлакса. Обидва зчиняють такий переполох у невеликому королівстві Дамари, що легко могли захопити владу. Попри це, вони утримуються від цього, слідуючи власній меті та принципам (якщо їх так можна назвати). Підступна інтрига Джарлакса змушує сміятися. Також автор зачіпляє тему влади, а точніше права на неї у монарха, яке має спиратися на кров, сили чи чогось іншого. Книга завершується кривавою помстою за прикре та похмуре минуле Артеміса Ентрері.

[vhatos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Загалом один з цікавіших творів серії. Знову головними персонажами є зовсім не позитивні особи: темний ельф Джарлакс і найманий убивця Артемій Ентрері. Джарлакс задумав проголосити Ентрері королем у підкореному ними раніше магічному замку на території володінь короля Гарета. Цікаві міркування щодо природи влади монарха, прав інших осіб отримати владу. Задум не вдався і виявилося, що він був засобом досягнення іншої мети. Дізнаємося більше про минуле персонажів.

[Nicolae-Gheorghe Cojocaru · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not overly impressed, but was not looking for amazing necessarily. I like Salvatore's style, and just like a TV show, I was looking forward to see what some of my favorite characters would do next. And they delivered. It's more of a character discovery/development book, and I enjoyed the road and the characters met along the way. Hope there are more Jarlaxle/Entreri books down the line.

[Aja: The Narcoleptic Ninja · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really had to drag myself through this one because it just felt like nothing was happening. Most of the action in the book seemed to be packed into the last 20% or so and it just felt like this story could have been so much more interesting.

[Stephen Branstetter · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always,a very good read.Still enjoying Salvatore books.

[Hanna (lapetiteboleyn) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure what was going on with the plot or pacing, but I had a great time.

[Charlton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great wrap-up for Artemis Entreri arc /series. With Dragons and a fiery dwarf some elves and half-elfs being introduced. As well as half-orcs.

[Shaun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked this one a bit more on re-read. I really love how it basically drops Jarlaxle and Entreri in the middle of a completely different book series, with a different, interesting, and powerful set of protagonists with King Gareth and his party.

I do not like, however, that this plot ends about 3/4 way through the book, and swerves into something totally different. Also not a fan of how Entreri is a confused passive participant in huge swaths of the story.

Really wish I could do half stars here, as this is a solid 3.5 from me, but I leaned higher on the actual score because of the core concept of implanting known characters in such a radically new setting.

[Μιχάλης · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plot of this one is all over the place.

Jarlaxle is playing 4d chess in a book that is clearly written for checkers.
Meanwhile, Artemis goes all emo and throws temper tantrums into Jarlaxle's plans.
Then we get a lengthy transition to the next status quo/setup for the next book, as well as some social commentary that comes off as preachy.

Some things Salvatore does well. There are a couple good action scenes and most of the side characters feel far more interesting than the main duo (who were interesting as antagonists themselves).

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, Bob! Way to nerf perhaps the coolest character you've ever created. The first half of the book was good. The second kinda ticked me off due to inconsistencies in the abilities and behavior of Artemis Entreri. I understand the effects of his internal strife but he nearly gets killed fighting common street thugs. What?!

On a positive note, Grandmaster Kane was really cool!

[László · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twisting and turning all the way to the end.

[Jason Waltz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heeee’s ba-a-a-ack!

And with quite the resounding tale! R.A. Salvatore regains his powerful writing form with this third installment of The Sellswords, staring the conniving drow Jarlaxle and the human assassin Artemis Entreri. Fans of the characters and the series rejoice, for we can all stop wondering ‘What About Bob?’

With the exception of Part III’s slightly unbalanced conclusion and the unnecessary inclusion of Drizzt’s whining journal entries, this book qualifies as one of Salvatore’s better efforts. After skipping character study in the entire Book II of The Sellswords series, Salvatore utilizes it extensively here, exploring not only the personal life, motivation and growth of our two star characters but also surprising us with the examination of a third. Almost everything Book II lacked is present in Book III. Throw in Salvatore’s (standard) superb fight scenes, action sequences and just plain fun characters and we have a wonderfully refreshing fantasy.

Salvatore announces his return at the get-go with a striking beginning placing us straight within Entreri’s soul. He immediately follows this with a signature action scene staring one of his most obnoxious characters, Athrogate. Both of these scenes serve notice upon the reader: Salvatore is writing with a vengeance.

Despite the complaints voiced in Amazon reviews, this book far surpasses the quality of the last. There is no let down in action, no lacking of exciting description. There are fiercer internal struggles and harder-edged external battles. There are some more adult-aimed concepts than is normal in this series but nothing — nothing — along the lines of GRRM or the complexities of character found in Erikson’s works. This story is a well-done analysis of Entreri with terrific delving into his past and psyche. It even provides good insight into Jaraxle and the changes his own manipulations and games have effected upon him. But, while Athrogate has grown on me to the point where I now like him, if all he’s become by story end is Jaraxle’s latest foil and Entreri’s stand-in I will be quite disappointed.

There are few negatives to this work, but they are noteworthy. All three sections of Drizzt’s ‘thoughts’ were intrusions that totally pulled me from the tale, especially his four page rant to begin Part II (In fact, this actually came across as Salvatore’s own none-too-disguised commentary on governmental leadership). Many readers have tired of hearing Drizzt’s whine in his own books so why they are included in books he’s not even present in is beyond me.

Then there is the abrupt shift in setting, character, even perspective that begins Part III. It takes several scenes for Salvatore’s writing to even out before it feels like we have achieved the same narrative flow we had prior to the break. Part of this is due to an abominably edited section roughly 50 pages long about two-thirds of the way into the book and leading right into this section. There are missing words — even one whole sentence — misused words and almost verbatim lines throughout this section. Fortunately the story and writing recovers from both of these self-inflicted harms and ends strongly, even setting up the continuing adventures of all three characters — and a host of secondary characters and plots with potential stories of their own.

Despite this slightly off-kilter ending, I enjoyed this book. I especially relished moving deeper into the minds and souls of two great fantasy characters that I’ve fondly traveled many trails with. This book also boasts, in my opinion, one of the best and most fitting covers ever to adorn a fantasy novel. Would I recommend Road of the Patriarch by R.A. Salvatore to my friends? Bob has redeemed himself in my eyes — YES!

[Gerard Van Der Waal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a delightful surprise to me. Sure, there are some well-choreographed but a little too long fight scenes in there, as we have come to know of Salvatore, but the Sellswords Trilogy surprises again with its last installment. My hopes sunk when I started reading the prologue, a flashback to Artemis Entreri’s childhood: Yes, I was looking forward to Entreri getting some character development, after dozens of novels in which he was only a nemesis to Drizzt Do'Urden and simply characterized as an assassin with an empty heart. But, please not in the form of all kinds of pathos-building flashbacks… Luckily, that prologue was the only flashback in the book, which is the first of many surprises. Time after time, the characters in this book, take actions that I did not see coming and take the plot in wildly different directions. Sometimes seemingly even different what the author initially set out. This also makes it a weird book to describe the story of, because three times the characters are preparing for certain big dramatic story beats, which suddenly get upended because the characters make unexpected decisions. In that way, the book feels like three shorter stories that get ended prematurely. This kept me on my toes the whole time.

I also really enjoyed Salvatore’s philosophizing on monarchy and servitude as well as the hypocrisy of certain religious sects. This last point is of particular interest to me because I am very fond of the whole cosmology of Dungeons & Dragons and the setting of this book The Forgotten Realms. Remarkably enough, though there is very little magic in this book and as such the description of the church of Selune in the town of Memnon is quite unique in all of the Forgotten Realms novels I have read thus far. The church is depicted as a bunch of corrupt males offering peace in the afterlife in exchange for corporal delights. If all this doesn’t convince you to read this, you should try it out for the entertaining and complex relationship between the protagonists Artemis Entreri and Jarlaxle Baenre.

[PeachesnScreams · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I am he who rules the world, don't you know?"

In this final book of the sellswords epic we face the actions that come from the duo Jarlaxle and Artemis Entreri's previous exploits in the Bloodstone Lands and Vaasa. The strange tower construct has been vanquished and the two men are to be recognized by the paladin king himself with titles and honors. Things aren't quite so simple however as the Citadel of Assassins has their eyes on the two men, Artemis in particular, and won't make their lives easy. In typical fashion for the two adventuring friends (even if that idea is reluctant through the eyes of Artemis), things go crazy and awry, from Artemis becoming a king to Jarlaxle freeing a most annoying dwarf from prison.

As always, I enjoy R.A. Salvatore's books. He really brings these characters alive and helps you understand their personalities, flaws and quirks. Jarlaxle is one of the most cunning and charming characters I have ever read about and despite his morally grey stance on most things, one can't help but love him. This book really delves deeper into Artemis and his life when he was young, which is hard to see and read. There is a reason the assassin is so broken and damaged. For an end to the series of the sellswords, it was very well done. I look forwards to continuing my journey through the Forgotten Realms books, especially the Legend of Drizzt and anything relating to the strange drow race.

[Lora Shouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not having Victor Bevine as a narrator for Road of the Patriarch did not bother me as much as it did most of the other listeners for this book. There were a few annoying differences, but mostly it didn’t seem all that bad. This book again dealt primarily with Jarlaxle and Artemis Entreri. Drizzt only came in for a commentary in the middle; in the previous book in this sub-series, he didn’t even do that. So, it seemed like there were fewer types of characters in this one than in some of the others. Therefore, less to get annoyed with the narrator about.

Jarlaxle and Artemis return to the castle they defeated in the previous book, and Jarlaxle declares Artemis king of it. This brings down the wrath of the King of the Bloodstone lands on them. The King and his friends are already suspicious of them because of the goings-on in the previous book. But suddenly they up and disappear, leaving the attacking army confused.

They also take on the local Assassin’s Guild, leaving them hopelessly confused too. I confess to being confused right along with them.

The most interesting thing in this book appears to be its forays into the earlier lives of Artemis and Jarlaxle. As well as a side-venture into the past of the dwarf Athrogate. The visit with Artemis’ younger self is the most interesting, as well as the longest.

[Steven Henry · Rating 2 out of 5]

R.A. Salvatore is one of my guilty-pleasure authors. He writes sword-and-sorcery pulp fantasy, and who's not in the mood for that sometimes?

What I'm not in the mood for is a poorly-plotted, meandering end to a misbegotten trilogy. The problems I have with the Sellswords trilogy are:

1) Artemis Entreri developing a conscience. Redemption arcs are fine; I like them, love them even. But they have to be believable. His "love story" from books 2 and 3 feels completely tacked-on, and his love interest is an utterly unbelievable character.

2) Jarlaxle. Jarlaxle, Jarlaxle, Jarlaxle. Obviously, Salvatore loves this character. I can't stand him. Personally, he's obnoxious. Plotwise, the ability to pull the ideal magical item out to deal with ANY situation robs the series of whatever tension or drama it had. I was kind of hoping he'd die somehow, while knowing in my heart an author's pet like him would never buy it.

I like the original Drizzt stories, though the series goes on far too long and becomes far too repetitive. I like the Cleric Quintet as well. But at this point? I think I'm done with future Salvatore books.

[Kevin Seiler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Struggled with this one at first as I'm listening to this series on audiobook and this is the first one I've come across that wasn't narrated by Victor Bevine, who does a phenomenal job. There were some subtle differences in pronunciations, and overall the audio quality wasn't as crisp as the others I've listened to. But David Colacci's narration grew on me, though I stubbornly found myself correcting some of the pronunciations, and I vastly prefer the demeanor in which Victor Bevine performs dialogue for Jarlaxle and Entreri, the former being much more suave and charismatic and latter being much more cold and commanding. It almost feels like their deliveries are switched here due to the way Colacci narrates.

Overall, this is a fantastic finale to the trilogy starring Jarlaxle and Entreri. Providing the reader (listener) with some much earned closure on this journey into the psyche and character of Artemis Entreri, and what makes him who he is. It's been nice to deviate from Drizzt and his companions, but I'm looking forward to joining back up with them, though I hope his, Entreri's, and Jarlaxle's roads all cross again.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part one of this book has Artemis and Jarlaxle in the Bloodstone lands, a region of Faerun that Salvatore wrote a sourcebook for back in 1989. The book introduces a dozen characters, though I learned later that these are just the same characters from the sourcebook, later in life. Anyway they get involved with local issues and a castle summoned by a dark force. Part two has Jarlaxle trying to take advantage of the situation, as expected. This leads to Artemis battling his internal demons, leaving us wondering if our evil anti-heroes could do some good. In the end though, the story suddenly abandons Bloodstone lands, leaving many questions about its future unanswered. Then in part three Artemis returns to the place where he grew up and Jarlaxle bonds with an evil dwarf named Athrogate. It's an interesting story but a bit disappointing in places; previously, Artemis was nearly undefeatable, but in this book he's struggling in every fight he gets in.

[Wren · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite parts of The Legend of Drizzt are when the series sheds the fantasy adventure romp for a minute (as delightful a fantasy adventure romp as it is!) and reminds you that, at core, this is a series about generational trauma and what it means to make better mistakes than your parents.
Road of the Patriarch is less action-adventure focused and deals with heavier topics than I think any of the other Drizzt books I've read thus far (not reading in order at all). Homeland and Timeless certainly have some extreme examples of messed up shit, but the trauma in Artemis' backstory is grounded and real in a way the Menzoberranzan stuff never quite is. I'm half bothering to write a review to ensure "heads up, there's evocative descriptions of CSA in this one" is among the reviews. Luckily the book really slaps you in the face with Artemis' flashbacks right out of the gate, so you know what you're getting into (I had to put the book down for a while when I first started it), but this book spends the vast majority of it's time in Artemis' head. It's not just a surface level inclusion. That's what this book is about. I'm not here to judge how "appropriate" the depictions are, as a reader's tolerance can be very personal (though my one complaint is that this series tends to be genre-typical in it's handling of sexualized violence towards women despite it's very good handling of male survivors), but personally I felt it was solid.
The rest of the plot is very drama and politics focused, and is such a strange little chestnut that it kept my attention way more than I would have thought from a summary. Once again, Salvatore does a great job of making three dimensional characters where archetypes would usually serve, and it makes relatively low-stakes political intrigue very compelling. Also once again, Salvatore continues to be fantastic at writing combat, which goes without saying to anyone already familiar with the series.
Not sure I would ever recommend Road of the Patriarch on its own, it really does need the rest of the Sellswords trilogy, but I can recommend it overall - a big pick up after Promise of the Witch King was a big of a slog.
A note on the audiobook: Yeah, I've seen other fans complain about the narrator switch between PotWK and RotP. It's pretty bad. Maybe I'm just used to the old voices but it just does not feel like Artemis and Jarlaxle, who each have such distinct, characteristic voices in Victor Bevine's narration. If I had known I might actually have just read this one instead of going for the audiobook.

[Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whoa boy, this was rough. I have not read a book with a plot this meandering and haphazard since I was forced to read Huck Finn in high school. There was a lot of messing about randomly before, in the last hundred pages, it felt like we really got to the part the author wanted to get to: questioning the moral authority of kings and pointing out the ugliness of certain types of religious orders that prey on helpless people and hoard wealth (CW: rape by priests). Those parts were worth getting to.

Side note, it's really amusing in a fantasy world when kings and priests try to use "because I am the righteous of X god." Not only are the gods real, but there are a million of them, so it's easy for characters to come back with "but a different god would have picked someone else" or "yeah, but that's what the people of the evil spider goddess say." There's not really a good comeback from that.