I loved this series because of it's unusual perspective. Read them if you ever read lord of the rings. ( )

This whole series (just two books!) has been painfully-slow moving, and this continues until about the last 10% here. It almost pays off. But not enough to justify this being so drawn out. If this had been one slimmer book, it would have been nearly perfect. ( )

I adore Jacqueline Carey--she really is one of my favorites. For some reason, though, this two-book series didn't live up to her other works for me. I suppose I just wanted more from it; the story was there, but I wanted the luscious depth of character and plot and story that I've seen in her longer works (and some of her shorter ones, too!), and just didn't get it. For such relatively short books (compared to other fantasies and her own fantasies, at least), I think the story just may have been spread between too many characters.

That said... for readers who read the first book (and you definitely need to read that one first), this one is worth reading if you're at all inclined. I thought this book moved quite a bit faster and was also easier to engage with than the first in the series, so I'm glad I ended up reading it. ( )

A beautiful and heart wrenching story with some brilliant characters like Tanaros and Ushahin. This will stay in my mind for a long time. ( )

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2662044.html

I've generally been a huge fan of Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel books, and picked up Godslayer at a convention ages ago; and then on advice got Banewreaker to read first. They are really a very different kettle of fish. Written between the first and second Kushiel trilogies, these two books take the standard fantasy quest narrative and try to tell it from the point of view of the evil side not really being all that bad. It's a worthy attempt, and I kept reading, spotting different bits and pieces taken from Tolkien and other writers and slightly reinvented, but it didn't really grab me.

In particular, the names of some of the characters are so wrong that it's very distracting. One key figure is called Malthus, and I kept expecting him to start preaching on the problems of overpopulation; another is called Carfax, and unfortunately that name makes me think of traffic jams in Oxford before anything else. It's a real shame; Carey's ear for names in the Kushiel books seems to have been rather good, but here that talent deserted her. ( )