Red Country 2: This time with dickwavery (Spoilers)

[Jo498]

I just finished this and now I am through with all 6 "first law universe" books. I do not remember all the details about the original trilogy as I read it almost 4 years ago, but I have to say I find "Red Country" by far the weakest of the 3 other ones. The first half or more is comparably lame and even after that the "twist" seems to be that most twists are avoided, but rather played straight (which actually frustrated expectations, but not in a good way).

- the travelling to Crease is straightforward, Sweet's betrayal is not even discovered, because Lamb brutally slaughters the "Ghosts"

- Lamb is in a fix, because he has to lose to Golden. No unexpected solution, but free the hostage by brute force; the easy victory of the Mayor is also not an interesting development

- The Dragon people get simply slaughtered (I was sure they would kick the Mercenaries butts with deadly traps etc. once assaulted in their "fortress")

- Shivers: What the f*ck? Why have him at all if he is not doing anything?

The only really/positively surprising things for me were the trick with the "Imperial Legate" and Cosca's final downfall and end; Cosca was too much of a caricature for me to really care (he is handled very well in BSC though), but still rather disappointing.

And no f*cking eaters, that's also a positive.

I am also getting really tired of the endless banter between the characters, the adages and not always very funny witticisms. This is getting old by now, at least for me. The names are getting dafter by every book ("Ghosts"?? please...why? even a generic "Savages" would have been a better term. Shy? Ro? Dab Sweet?). The pseudo-western setting felt not too convincing when mixed with a fantasy setting and it's getting ever more anachronistic (everything piss poor and filthy, but they have mattresses with creaking springs and everybody wears buttoned shirts to have something to fumble with?)

Things I would have liked to read more about are woefully underdeveloped, such as:

- the "Ghosts/Indians"

- The Dragon people and their particular heritage from the maker

- the rebelsm, the Old Empire and the whole "geopolitical situation"

Sorry for the rant, but I really feel that this was a missed chance for something much more convincing.

[Andrew Gilfellon]

You mean why go all that way to realise revenge is pointless? Hmmm.... Darn a character confounding expectations. I believe Joe was deliberately toying with the wild west showdown at dawn thing with those two, and then subverting the expectation, which is what he does.

Author summoning spell come conclude I am right.