Started: 22/05/22
Finished: 06/06/22
Spoilers: marked in review
Plot
So that was a lot. Please don't ask me to explain what happened in this book. I'm not confident I could actually tell you. Despite how utterly lost I felt through a good portion of this, I never disliked it. I was constantly curious (if not a little confused), but always eager for answers. There was certainly enough going on to keep me interested. Some stuff about a gods war and saints, the alchemist guild, the brotherhood, elders. It's like I have all these pieces but somehow over the course of reading this, my brain has failed to actually connect them all. I'm aware this is probably more a me issue than a book issue, which is why I'm not giving a low rating--I did like his book a lot--I just wish I had a better understanding of what the hell I just read, haha.
I've seen several reviewers class this as a heist book. I'm going to have to jump in and say no, this is not a heist book, not really, at least not in the traditional sense. The heist genre (one of my favourite genres) comes with its own set of tropes, story arcs, and plot expectations, of which this book has few, and you certainly can't start shoehorning a heist into a story with only a few chapters left. Simply stealing something doesn't make it a heist, it's just theft. As I said, there are certain genre rules that need to be followed otherwise readers won't be fulfilled. Regardless, it's fine, I love books about thieves anyway, but heist, this is not.
Characters
Everyone's thinking it (probably), I'm just saying it: Aleena is the best character in the book. I loved how ballsy and abrasive she was. Actually, I can totally see people not liking her for that reason, but damn, I thought she stole every scene she was in. What a fucking rockstar. The attitude, the zero given fucks, she oozed badassery. She's protagonist material.
Rat chuckles. "THERE WILL BE WAR, OH YES."
"Marvellous." The sword catches fire. "I don't know what I'd fucking do with peace," says the saint.
Of the three main characters, I think I, unfortunately, found Cari the least interesting. When you're competing against a plague-ridden stone man and a cannibalistic ghoul, it's no contest really. I'm always going to find unconventional characters more interesting than the Chosen One girl. Not to say I hated her or anything, she just didn't give me a whole lot of feeling either way.
In a weird way, this felt more like a sequel. We're introduced to this tight little thieving trio, but before we get the chance to explore their relationships and dynamics as a group, the three are essentially torn apart by circumstance and spend much of the book doing their own thing and not really connecting with each other. As a reader, I haven't been given a chance to see them bond or banter as a team, and so feel little desire to see them reunited (and tbh, the characters themselves didn't show much desire to reunite either. What with Cari spending a lot of the book dreaming about fucking off on a boat, and Rat going back below ground.) Yeah, it was weird. Almost like the group dynamic was explored in a previous book that doesn't exist.
Setting
This world is totally grimdark, even if the book itself isn't. It's dark, creepy, bleak, and suffocating.
It reminds me a lot of the world from the game Bloodborne. There's something classically horror gothic about it.
There are all these weird, hideous creatures that are just a part of normal society that are grotesquely mind-boggling. We get Tallowmen, Gullheads, Ravellers, but the ones I found the creepiest were the Crawling Ones, which are a mass of worms that form into the human shape, wear a cloak and a porcelain mask.
The creatures within this world are so creative and original. It's a breath of fresh air and really kept me invested. The world-building in this book is nothing short of superb and some of the most original I've had the pleasure to explore.
While the world itself is pretty dark. I visualised it in shades of black and grey and never really pictured it with the sun out. This is a grim place and that really shows on the page.
Writing Style
I really enjoyed the writing. Just enough stylish prose without being heavy-handed about it. The descriptions were creative and original, and the dialogue was engaging.
Though I must admit, I'm not sure what the point was of the prologue, written in second-person from the perspective of a building being broken into. A cool and unique idea, but pretty irrelevant to the grand scheme of the story, unless
*SPOILER*
the gods were actually the buildings rather than just the bells, and the perspective was actually that of a Black Iron god, which would've been very cool
*END SPOILER*
Othewise, yeah, I don't really get why that was necessary.
Final Impression
It's a tricky one cause on the face of it, I enjoyed this. I like the characters and writing, LOVED the world-building...I just didn't really know what the hell was going on. Maybe I just need to reread this some time, but slower.
I really want to love this, and I want to continue the series but I feel I first need to force my brain to fully understand this book.
That's it. It's settled. Before I read the next book, I'll give this a reread.
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