Mazarkis Williams

I went into this book with quite a bit of anticipation. I've been into the whole 'assassin' fantasy kick lately (thank you Brent Weeks) and Williams sounded like he would fit the bill well.

Unfortunately Williams chose to use that 'multi POV' so popular in fantasy and not to very good use in my opinion. Maybe because one of the characters in the book, the Pattern Master, tended to speak through others without announcement or maybe because practically everyone could 'hear' voices in their heads at various times, the constant POV shifting left me dizzy and confused more often than enlightened.

While many of the characters drew my attention (Mesema the most, though I did like Sarmin and even Beyon at times) it was hard to follow their progress. Williams wove their stories in and out of each other constantly, not really focusing on any one of them for more than several pages before moving on. It was hard to feel the anxiety and nervousness Mesema felt while traveling away from her clans when you spend only half a dozen pages with her and half of those pages are her acting like a brat.

Williams also lacked a lot of tension in the book. Considering there's a plague decimating the city, multiple conspiracies against the throne, a possibly raving mad heir to the same throne, and a semi-retired assassin questioning everything he's ever done because his knife is speaking to him...I kind of just shrugged. One conspiracy against the throne, that which is really what set everything into motion, is so anti-climatic I wanted to throw the book over in frustration. I didn't quite understand the why of it, though I appreciated the long term goals well enough, but then it just...falls apart so abruptly I wasn't sure it made sense to include it to begin with.

The book isn't short, its a little over 350 pages, but Williams seemed to want to end certain storylines within the book so that they wouldn't be a problem for the next book. So the conspiracy against the throne occurs and is then shoved off for the Patter Master problems which is in turn dealt with quickly because it was close to the end of the novel.
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I was surprised by how good this book was! It's a little like "A Game of Thrones" with it's intricate court schemes, but with a lot more magic. I particularly like the pattern magic, but I hope the elemental side will be developed in the next book.

The characters were solid and well developed. There were a few plot points that didn't seem quite right, but considering this is Williams' debut novel it's not so surprising and I expect his/her writing will mature.

Although this is the first in the trilogy, the story is self-contained, so even if the book isn't quite your cup of tea you won't be left hanging! Hopefully there will be a greater story arc spanning the entire trilogy, which I believe is not beyond Williams' capabilities.… (more)