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reviewed The emperor's blades by Brian Staveley (Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne -- Book 1)

Brian Staveley: The emperor's blades (2014) 4 stars

The children of an assassinated emperor try to stay alive and avenge their father's death …

Review of "The emperor's blades" on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I really like the book. It captures my imagination and despite the traditional fantasy tropes of siblings being arranged against each other, it feels fresh.
Why then only 3 stars?
While the writing of the story is good, the actual technical writing is bad. Bad characterization (cookiecutter women, all hot and we know the cup-sizes of every one of them, and either cold as ice or emotional sillies). Language and traits are repetative and the level of miscommunication/dumb planning just ridiculous. I'm all for furthering the plot by creating a misunderstanding, but does it have to be sooooooo obvious all the time?

But despite those beginner mistakes of bad writing, the story is immensely entertaining. This writer has good potential, after he takes some extensive classes on characterization and maybe go out in the world sometimes and discover that there are more than those two kinds of women. And that breasts aren't all that there is about them. No, really. Not kidding here.