Gates of Stone by Angus MacallanMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
There is a lot to like in this book - complex political intrigues, battles, betrayals, magic, epic adventure...but there's also a lot to dislike. The only character I actually cared about wasn't even a major player (Tenga). There is graphic rape, descriptions of bodies being hacked apart, and pretty much everyone was insufferable. I started to get into the story once things started picking up (around 75%) but by then I was too bored with the rest of it to get much enjoyment out of any of it. I couldn't root for anyone to succeed because I disliked them all.
In the end, I can give it 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3 simply because GR doesn't do half stars. It was pretty well-written (although the advance copy I had was riddled with spelling and word errors), a lot of people would enjoy something like this (especially people who like grimdark), and it's definitely a richly-imagined world. But I didn't love it, I had to really slog through to get to the end, and I have zero interest in picking up the next book.
Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book and provide a review.
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