First: I didn't finish this book. Now, for me, this is very unusual. Most of the time I give a book a fair chance, and want to judge it only after I read all of it. But not this one. These days, I have limited time to read, and so what I read better be entertaining for me. Or gets shelved again.

I liked Glokta. Well, a bit. You can say he was my favorite character. Had the most depth. Which was relative in this book. I always root for the quasi-bad-guy, so that was easy. I liked how Glokta thought about his work (a torturer/inquisitor), how he used to be a golden boy, but got maimed and crippled by torture, returned, and decided to deal out his share of truthfinding.

Logen Ninefingers started pretty good early in the story... and diminished into a strangely uninteresting 'barbarian ruffian with a heart of goldish' kind of person. He just faded out. No real action, no real fighting, certainly no doubt or angst or uncertainty. Wallpaper. Perhaps he'll get fleshed out more in the 25% I didn't read.

Bayaz was funny and had some potential, but screeeeeamed 'stereotypical enigmatic fantasy wizard' to me. Which I dislike.

All through the barbarian-crew sections I kept seeing [a:Terry Pratchett|1654|Terry Pratchett|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1235562205p2/1654.jpg]s Cohen the Barbarian and The Silver Horde. I love them, but these (I even already forgot their names) were bland. No life.

Maybe I'll try this book later. Maybe soon. But I want to spend my precious time reading books that make me want to know what's going to happen, books that keep me from putting them down. I want to care for the characters, or at least have a strong feeling about them. This book doesn't do that.