The Darkness That Comes Before (Prince of Nothing)
Well, apparently I got over my sci-fi kick and finished this after all.
It's a big sprawling book, and as some of the other reviewers mention it has some fairly unlikeable central characters, but I found that part of it's charm. I also suspect the ones that others found sympathetic, are the ones I wanted to smack and vice versa. Esmi, for instance, is so annoying, Cnaiüs is fascinating, and I could have done with more Kellhus.
Although it switched POV fairly often, I think the number of pov characters was manageable, and it was clear who was speaking when. So the style didn't bug me as much as it sometimes does. There's a lot of politics and conspiracies and plotting, and a lot of war.
I found it interesting that although sorcery and it's use or not, is a major central plot of the world itself, it was rarely used in the books, making it much less of the deus ex machina that it can turn out to be, and making it much more dramatic when it does show up.
Overall, a solid winner, and very much looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
