That is what I would call real hardcore fantasy. And this world is even more FUBARed then world of Dragon Age 1 which is probably definition of graphically dark, bloody and violent soul-breaker. Definitely not for everyone.

I can't say this book is superbly written, too much arrhythmia in storytelling for my taste. But the world, the heroes... somehow it all FEELS. ( )

DNF at 36%.

I picked this one up mainly because I was interested in the author of "Altered Carbon" (still unread by me). I like dark fantasy well enough, but I am beginning to suspect that I have been spoiled by Glen Cook. In other words, I tend to compare (sometimes without even being aware of it) all the dark fantasy books I read with the Black Company series. Some books can take it, and some cannot. This one belongs to the latter category, unfortunately.
- The writing was ok, but not impressive.
- I don't mind anti-heroes, far from it, but these were simply not interesting enough.
- I don't mind violence and sex in my books, but there is a difference between violence and sex as important elements in the story and "let's shock the readers as much as possible and make them feel like voyeurs, because it's DARK fantasy." Not my cup of tea. ( )

Socially progressive dark fantasy ( )

Being a huge fan of The Black Man - probably one of my favorite scifi novels ever - I was quite disappointed with Morgan's fantasy and have quite a long list of grievances. First of all, the lack of originality - there's nothing really new here, and it reminded me not necessarily of other books, but a lot of RPG games (perhaps Morgan is a gamer like myself). Second, and probably the worst, is the lack of credibility: the characters sometimes act in certain ways not because their inner will asks for it, but because of exterior causes: the author's need to move the story to his chosen path. What annoyed me most was the main character himself, Ringil: he is supposed to be a hardened, fucked-up war veteran in his 30s (I think, maybe late 20s), but all the time he behaves like a 16 yo brat, with 16 yo passions (mainly fighting his parents. Really, true war veterans have other inner demons than... their mum and dad). Some other characters (Seethlaw and Arctech) also behave nonsensically - and at times I felt the world itself (the society) doesn't make sense. For example MINOR SPOILER> 4000 years before, the Kiriath invaded the planet in scifi ships and fought the magical Aldrain... and now the world is dominated by Medieval humans. When the hell did the humans show up and took over the world from much more advanced races? And... how??? It makes no sense, both in an evolutionary way and a historical one. END OF MINOR SPOILER.
Two other things bothered me: unlike many other readers, I did not feel Ringil's homosexuality to be unnecessary - it did explain correctly some of his anger and complexes. And there are only 2 gay sex scenes, so that controversy is actually way exaggerated by some. But why is a second character out of 3 (main characters) also... a lesbian? Isn't it really just a show off from the author?
The second thing is the writing. Most of the book, Morgan writes fast pacing, good straight on and fluently, but quite often he tries to be artistic and he fails badly with overlong, stuttered over complicated phrases.
In a more neutral observation, I felt the world building was good and captivating, but under-developed. I hope it is developed more in the rest of the series.
On the good side, though, it is not a bad book. It is a great read for a summer (or winter) vacation - entertaining, fast, action packed, with some well written characters (Dragonbane, Jhiril and, mostly, Ringil himself), with a dark-grim world, in general with good writing and an extraordinary end twist I did not foresee and I utterly loved.
Highly recommended for Morgan's own fans (but with lowered expectations compared to his scifi) and for Abercrombie's fans (feels very similar to his books). Also, in some ways, it is a good choice for the Witcher fans (mostly those of the games, which are darker and more cynical than Sapkowski's books), because Ringil is in many ways a Geralt - the book even starts with a typical Witcher mission.
So, is it good? Yes, but not very, and not memorable. Is it bad? only in some ways, that just jade its appeal, but not really spoil it. Will I read the sequels? Yes, I definitely will.
And, you ask, is it too gay? Definitely not :) ( )

Rocking good fantasy, if you don't mind the graphic descriptions of the sex scenes. It's noir. What're ya gonna do? ( )