My Five Word TL:DR Review: Wow, I loved This Book

It was simply brilliant.

I feel like there’s been a bit of a wait for this second instalment. But, I’m not complaining, I read and adored The Daughters’ War, which was, strictly speaking, the start of the story, and I completely understand the author’s desire to tell that tale because its so, so good.

Be warned that this review may contain spoilers for the previous two books. Also, I recommend that you read those books before delving into this one. In fact I will make it a special request – please read The Daughters War and The Blacktongue Thief – I implore you.

This story picks up with our two characters Kinch and Galva and, may I say, it was an absolute pleasure to follow the two of them around. And, trust me, there is a lot of meandering – not a criticism. The two are trying to keep one step ahead of the Taker’s Guild, whilst carrying along a sentient book that is trying to kill them – at the same time as trying to cross deadly mountains during the cold season. What could possibly go wrong. The main objective seems to be to buy time so that Kinch can try and uncover the secrets from the deadly book they carry, whilst Galva tries to protect him. What ensues is the strangest and most unexpected journey that you can imagine – and I do have a pretty good imagination.

Strangely enough I went back to check out my previous two reviews and I would say a lot of the feelings and comments I made for those are still relevant here.

If you’re looking for some sort of epic fantasy with a clearly structured plot that carries the story forward then you might need to give your head a wobble. This is definitely the type of tale that is more about the journey than the destination. And this journey is one major life threatening and twisty story. It’s incredibly entertaining, there is no shortage of action, its a conundrum in that it can be bleak and bloody, laugh out loud funny and indisputably crass and with a range of characters that really do run the gamut of humankind – kindness where you’d least expect, vicious cruelty without need and plenty of emotional scenes that will pull at your heartstrings.

We have giants, fickle and tricky Gods, corvids and although not as many as in previous books, goblins that will give you the heebies.

Lets be honest as well, the stakes in this one are again high. Mankind is possibly on the brink of being wiped out and what Kinch and Galva uncover in this latest instalment makes this possibility more than a little likely.

But, without doubt, the winning element to The Thrice-Bound Fool is the relationship between Kinch and Galva. I mean, to be fair, I absolutely adore Galva and so you could be forgiven for thinking Kinch plays second fiddle for me, but, to be honest, I really like his character too, he’s got such a lot of charm and he comes out with the most outrageous things that I simply explode, unexpectedly with laughter. It’s absolutely crazy. I love it when a book does that – particularly when a turn of the page can equally have me either on the edge of my seat or close to tears.

And I really liked the role that Kinch ends up playing – I’m not going to say what it is because it would give away spoilers, but it feels so ridiculously fitting somehow.

In conclusion, another great instalment. I’d say that The Daughters’ War is still my favourite but the three books are so close together that there’s barely anything in it. An excellent series. Well written, entertaining, outrageous, dark, brutal, bloody, funny and unexpectedly emotional. Also, can I just mention the title – which is absolutely perfect – I love it when the title is really meaningful.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

My rating 4.5 of 5 stars