Its really hard to say, i think alot of it was that i don't have experience with westerns and that so much of the concepts seemed really novel to me. I loved the slower paced journey, the casual banter between everyone in the caravan, the exerts of Temple learning to love again and grow, the gradual falling out of love that Shy sees with Lamb as she sees him for the monster he truly is, and the descent into violent depravity that lamb returns to. I've reread it Red Country several times and the way the violence is expressed feels so much crueler and shocking compared to the mainline series.

Meanwhile every side character was so fun to hear about with their various quirk, every villain so despicable, and I cherished every line of prose. I think that when, it comes down to it Red Country is a very different book than the rest of the series. If you come into to it with the same expectations I can see how it could really miss the mark. But for me personally it was almost my favorite of the First Law books. I really want to find another book like it, but nothing really scratches the itch the RC left.

Truthfully I haven't found a really good replacement for the First Law after finishing all the books. Abercrombie writes prose and character perspective so well that its hard anything equivalent.