Review: So enough with the relative reviews
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 18, 2013
It is tough to decide whether to buy a book when everyone is reviewing the book based on their expectations.  So, yeah, for a $3 book this was worth 5 stars, meanwhile George RR Martin is getting panned because one of his 23 plotlines became too cumbersome, or whatever.  So a warning that I don't do that, I judge indie books against the same standards I judge the major players against.And in reading this book, you'll see the influence of those players- Martin and Rothfuss and others who have made their mark.  But it is not really hard to see what makes those authors in a different league. This book is a fairly simple storyline that plugs along, with a couple of subplots, written in prose that is in general workmanlike but sometimes breaks apart a bit and becomes ungrammatical.  The main plot is interesting and creative, and the main character fairly well developed, but many of the supporting characters merely orbit around him in kind of a limbo, waiting for... something?  None of them are developed past a basic level.The author claims to like to play with taboos and deep moral conflicts, but in this book, although people want to think he has done that, he has not.  He has actually just introduced the most basic moral reasoning ("I hurt you, you hurt me") that toddlers use to solve conflicts and then tried to convince the reader that it was a moral high ground.  Apparently some readers bought it-  I don't think he is going to convince the usual readers of the fantasy greats, though.  My suggestion to the author is that he read up a bit on moral progression- Kohlberg's stages are a good start.  No moral conflict exists without justice.  All great authors are first well read.The gay thing will keep it out of regular publication, but if you look at books like Captive Prince there are homoerotic military fantasies doing well because there are people like me who like to read them.  Complex characters are based on understanding of human nature.  Keep studying.That said, this is a worthwhile read in the genre and for the price.  For people like me who read a lot and are looking for pure "hours of escapism per dollar" it's perfect.