A bit late with the review but better than never i say!
This book is really good for hardened fantasy readers. Flawed and badass characters, plenty of violent swordfights... And a strong female lead!
I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series for sure.

I liked the basic storyline and how fleshed out the characters were. There were a lot of typographic errors in the book and scenes didn't seem to be in the proper order. With some work, I think this could be a nice start to an interesting series.

This is book is a serious breath of fresh air in a genre that is becoming too squeaky clean (in this reviewer's opinion). This book is gritty, mean, violent and all the things I would associate with a world that involves people hacking at each other with swords. I loved the characters Malcolm 's ego, despite his age, is a really interesting take on the mercenary trope and Willich is so flawed that I couldn't wait to see what mistake he'd make next. Oh, and Esther herself is a badass. I honestly loved this and hope the author (who I haven't heard of before) continues with the series. It ends in a way that makes it seem like the next book will be even better.

Did not technically finish. The book was just too violent and graphic for me, so trigger warning for anyone else who might be upset by rape or violent murders of infants and children described much too matter-of-factly. Wasn’t for me for that reason (but I’m a mother of two small children). I liked the world that was created and wanted to overlook those things but couldn’t.