/lit/ - Literature

>>19173288
The Providence of Fire, Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne #2 - Brian Staveley (2015)
This was one of a few remaining series where for whatever reason it's been several years since I read the first. As usual I was unsure whether my memories and rating of the first were mistaken since I rated it several years after I had read it. Fortunately, I greatly enjoyed myself. For the most part that was because of the execution rather than plot, characters, setting, or any ideas it has. There's not much that's novel here, but that doesn't bother me as long as I'm having fun with it.
It fits well within earlier published series such as A Song of Ice and Fire, The Dagger and Coin, The First Law, and similar. This a grimdark epic fantasy series filled with intrigue of all sorts. It's certainly not a heroic series, which may pose a problem. Aside from the many problems that others present them through opposition and disinformation, the characters create a lot of problems for themselves through misunderstandings and bad decisions. They are surely not particularly competent in achieving their goals with their preferred methods. Compromises are abundant. Normally this would bother me, as using these sort of tricks is usually a sign of an inability to write compelling drama without a crutch, but as I said, I liked how it was executed.
The exception to this is the lead up to the ending and the ending itself. I can't ever excuse turning characters into set pieces to achieve a narrative goal. That breaks everything and leads to characters taking actions for a desired plot direction rather than what they ought to be doing. This fosters ill-will towards the author and especially the characters. For that alone, I can't rate this higher than four stars.
Transportation method spoiler I love portal hubs and networks. I liked it even more when there was an aside about how they could affect the economy, even though nothing will come of it.
Rating: 4/5