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Quick Review: Child of the Knight

There was a moment when I feared that this book would be as dominated by what I call typical human filth as the previous one, but that is not the case, the occasional moments when it rears its ugly head quickly giving way to action. And action is what Child of the Knight is all about, the characters, and the reader, hardly being allowed a moment’s rest, with the antagonists having every advantage and victory tending to take the form of an escape and a brief respite, usually at a great cost. And it should also be noted that the combat is presented well, the author displaying his familiarity with the techniques and equipment.
However, this is also the book’s problem, stringing together action scenes being pretty much all there is to it. There’s hardly any room for depth and very little worldbuilding or character development, the possible exception, if you’re feeling generous, being Kael and Maret. No bits of wisdom, no brilliant plans, no complex and possibly relatable characters; if something’s not an action scene, it’s only there because it’s required for one that will quickly follow. In addition, despite the hardships and all of the advantages held by the antagonists, or perhaps just because of that, all too often hero’s luck is the plot device that allows wrenching that questionable victory from the jaws of defeat. And while this does make for thrilling reading and a reasonably pleasant way to pass some time, after a while it gets to be too much and, despite being so fast-paced and much shorter than a proper fantasy book should be, the feeling that it’s overstaying its welcome may appear before reaching the end. Plus that I was obviously very bothered by the fact that it’s centered around babies and motherhood.

Rating: 3/5

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