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John Gwynne's writing is easy to admire and absorb. The story is enjoyable as are the character interactions. However, Valor like the first book in the series Malice contains too much padding. There are characters that do not add anything to the story as well as episodes of characters standing around talking about feeling, etc.

I hope the padding does not kill my enjoyment of the series.

I have read cozy mysteries from Anthony Horowitz, Richard Osman, Robert Thorogood, T.E. Kinsey, Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy Sayers, etc. and found this initial volume to be wholly different from any previous cozy. The story setups future stories for the main protagonist.

Looking forward to the ending to gauge my interest in continuing the series.

As someone who prefers character driven stories Malice serves up many characters with interesting plot lines. There are hand wavy story elements but with giants, mind control, magic systems, etc. this is to be expected. I encountered minor annoyance with repetition of themes and action scenes.

There are 4 books in the series and I look forward to the next 3 novels.

My first novel by John Gwynne. Relaxing writing style with detail. Exemplifies the show don't tell in story telling. Encountered 6 POV characters are at times difficult to follow.

Character driven stories are my favorite and decent prose. King Sorrow provides nothing in the way of character development or interesting prose.

Hesitate to try another novel by Joe Hill.

The novel is structured as 5 books with interludes which is new for me. I do not have a problem with the length. The biggest problem for is the underdeveloped characters with the long periods of info dumps and the interludes. A book a nearly 900 pages should have decent character development and dialogue. I am not asking for beautiful prose in a modern fantasy setting but absence of cringe dialogue.

This is my first Joe Hill novel and I find his writing adolescent especially for females. The characterizations does not have any nuances which is backed up by cringe dialogue.

The plot keeps me coming back and I hope JH sticks the landing.

One third of the way complete and the only thing keeping me interested is the plot. There is no character development but what is written has terrible dialogue with illogical and immature characters. There is not a single instance of intelligent discussion from any POV character. All the characters are written to the all too common YA template. Too many instances of cringe throwaway dialog.

Slow start with the mostly skippable high school antics and s*xcapades. Once the revenge arc starts the story takes on another persona.

This trilogy deserves multiple re-reads due to the ease of missing details scattered throughout the 3 books! The character development is the main reason this trilogy is so enjoyable! Many say nothing happens in the first 2 books but I disagree. Sure all 3 novels should be completed to appreciate the scope of storytelling and character development.

The audiobook brings the characters alive especially Glokta. The pronunciation of names helps to visually the setting which I did not get with the ebook. The accents and action sequences are memorable.

I'll be sticking with the audiobook versions going forward.

Assassin's Quest ups the pace significantly. Robin Hobb's storytelling style adds myriad details sprinkled throughout the story and it's easy to miss.

I struggle with the fact that Fitz's character development is slight after all the drama and pain he has experienced and witnessed. Every chapter contains hurdles Fitz must overcome or endure but he never appears to learn or grow from his experience.

Pace picked up significantly and the grief stricken protagonist has become detective! Difficult to predict where the story is headed but I remain interested.

There is no character development for Fitz! Pacing and repetition does not makeup for the monotone storytelling. Every chapter and paragraph is fulled with remorse and grieving.

Hope the next Fitz trilogy contains character development.

The first 195 pages of the story makes up the protagonist grieving. This results in repetition of the same theme. Unfortunately, a lot of this grieving can be skipped due to the inconsequential nature of the plot device.

The world and character building arcs are superb except for Regal. So many people see him as a great villain. He's cartoonist and one dimensional. Whenever a Fitz or Buckkeep experience a setback Regal springs to mind. Regal is a main actor in the first 2 books and I find his arc to be cringe and uninspired.