Brian Lee Durfee

So where do I start with this. I've read the entire series in just a few weeks and i have to say, this is probably one of the best fantasy series I've read in years. Yes I said it. I liked it more than many of my prior favorites. Not to take away from the other series like Mistborn, Wheel of Time, Stormlight archive (at least as far as its written up to this point), Memory Sorrow and Thorn and many others that I consider some of the best i've read, but the Five Warrior Angels series, is one of the best.

I did quick reviews for the first 2 books and one thing I kept repeating was that I just didn't know who the good guys were and who the bad guys were. And I gotta say, that is one of the things I liked the most about this series. Lonesome Crown doesn't disappoint either. Some characters that I thought were the good guys turned out to be pretty bad. Others that were strong main characters turned into insignificant pawns in the grand scheme of things. Those characters that were annoying, I found myself rooting for. The ones I liked and felt were innocent, I found myself hating.

Twists galore.... some I caught, others were completely unexpected. People died which were shocking and others survived which surprised me just as much. The character development was real, natural and showed the flaws of the characters just as much as the positives.

And in it all, I found a dog being one of my favorite characters.

The last third of the book, is probably one of the all encompassing battle scenes I've read. And yes it lasted that long (probably 200-300 pages). And yes, it was worth it. The twists and turns. The unexpected alliances were there and the tension between characters that seemed to be on the same side was thick.

And yes, the story finished, with just a few answers unanswered, though it was nicely wrapped up to my satisfaction and I felt in a good way. Enough was left open that some sequels or prequels would be welcome.

I wish Brian would write more. This is some good stuff.… (mehr)

This is one of the biggest backwards slides I have ever seen in a series. It's like Durfee found out he was writing Grimdark and went back and made everything worse. Additionally, this obviously didn't go through a single female beta reader, because the treatment of women is just atrocious. That's not grimdark, author, that's just shitty writing and putting all your own views into a book that doesn't need them. I won't even justify the rest of the problems with my words. See notes and highlights.

You definitely do not want to read this trash.… (mehr)

What a treasure to find through Goodreads recommended reading! Durfree's debut is a grimdark gem.

Things I didn't enjoy: why do all male fantasy authors insist on describing every female character by the size of her breasts? I'd love to see some more character development of strong female characters who lack any aspect of the damsel in distress in your future endeavors, dear author! And please work harder to not fall into the baked-in homophobia in fantasy trap. You're really skirting the edge here.

Issues with characterization (the 17 year olds talk like 12 year olds) and consistency, but still worth a read.… (mehr)

This is a very loooong book - over a 1000 pages. I still think it is well written and mostly interesting plot. But it was too grimdark for me at quite a few points. I do read grimdark but it's not my favourite fantasy genre and I think I might have found the line at which my tolerance is reached. Lots of death, destruction, violence and selfish/dumb people unfortunately made it a struggle for me at points. I do want to know what happens in the conclusion although for some reason there is no ebook edition available in the UK. Maybe it will turn up soon.… (mehr)