The Emperor’s Blades by Brian Staveley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
A very solid debut. I found some sections – notably the beginning – a bit slow, but other parts of the book were better paced. Three stars is a little harsh. 3.5 stars would be fairer, but I felt this first instalment fell short of 4 stars. In the end, I didn’t care enough about the main characters as I should have, yet the plot was sufficiently well-executed to keep me interested.