This second book in this dark fantasy trilogy got off to a much faster start than the first one and I liked it better overall. Again the starring attraction are the complex, three dimensional characters, most of whom show growth in this gritty book. Really, really great characters.
The overall worldbuilding is not the point but it's done pretty well. The fantasy is epic and I would have liked a map, to be honest. Apparently Abercrombie didn't include one so that the reader focuses more on the characters. Still...
The relentless grim-darkness of it all, made all the more numbing by the cold, wet winter that this book's action is set in did start to wear on me after a bit. Thankfully it's leavened by the cynical (and very English) sense of humor that permeates the series. I can imagine the book failing in a number of ways without the humor. AS it is, though, it works.
The book is overall one of the darker, grittier fantasies I have read, showing a clear influence by recent classics of the genre, especially GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire. While it never approaches the sweeping grandeur of that masterwork, it does hold up nicely.
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