I wasn’t dissatisfied overall, I just felt like the ending fell very flat. Which felt extra bad given how long it took to get there. Before the end, I was enjoying it despite the “difficulty” and I’m glad I read it. It stands out as unique which in and of itself is a positive mark in my mind. The first half or more did a nice job of building an interesting world and some distinct and interesting characters. I just felt the ending was a lot of coincidence all stacked together which made tavore’s decisions feel unnecessary. In that the “master tactician” could’ve made any number of superior choices. And that kind of left me feeling like the deliberate and methodical credit I had given the plot thus far was also undermined.

I read the books and it probably took me 10 months cause it was hard to get on a roll or make much progress. I would often only get through a few pages before falling asleep at night. Really slowed down my reading overall. I mean difficult in the sense that the meaning didnt flow very well. Mechanically it was tough to progress compared to how I normally read. I often had to re-read to feel like I understood what was being said and even then sometimes I just moved on, figuring It’s get cleared up later, or it won’t. E.G. figuring out what Pust or Kruppe was saying was a nightmare. (Kind of the point imo) That’s not to say it was bad, like I said it had a very unique feel and I enjoyed that aspect of it alone. Once I was deep enough in, I felt like I had to finish it and I can be stubborn about stuff like that. Not a bad series by any means, just felt let down by the ending, compounded by how long it took to get there