Second book in this series about the siege of an alt-Byzantium, with once again a lying cheat finding himself in charge and turning out to be clevererSecond book in this series about the siege of an alt-Byzantium, with once again a lying cheat finding himself in charge and turning out to be cleverer than everyone else as he weasels his way to save the city.
Very much the same strengths and weaknesses as the first. The politics and the siege details and the technicalities are all wonderful, plausible and interesting. The unreliable, shitty narrator is always good value, as is the world of untrustworthy people where most things go wrong. However, and almost impressively, this long book with a huge cast has exactly two women with speaking parts, both of whom constantly undermine our narrator's efforts to save the city. And the racial element (the people of the City, head of a brutal colonial empire, are black, the entire besieging force of millions made up of most of the other nearby countries, is mostly white) remains very clunkily done and doesn't add anything I can see. ...more
Third in the noir detective Aztec fantasy trilogy with politics, god wars, and impending end of the world. Spectacularly gory, since magic is all doneThird in the noir detective Aztec fantasy trilogy with politics, god wars, and impending end of the world. Spectacularly gory, since magic is all done with blood sacrifice, and there's a lot of on page human and animal death, but that's the Aztecs for you. A really different and enjoyable fantasy (if you like dark) with no easy answers. ...more
I love EE Ottoman's writing. I love the worldbuilding, and the realistic, insecure characters nervously feeling their way through to one another, and I love EE Ottoman's writing. I love the worldbuilding, and the realistic, insecure characters nervously feeling their way through to one another, and the odd passions, and the secrets. It's a lovely novella and as ever, I wanted more, longer, deeper. I want a full-length EE Ottoman novel and to see what they do on a bigger stage, pushing the characters further and harder. But for now, this will do very nicely.
I have to say, though, the proofreading is really not good enough, and I hope the publishers address this forthwith, because they have not served the book as it deserves....more
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