When I first bought this book and the previous one I was a bit wary due to the negative reviews about it but I can easily say that it does not deserve the negativity! I though it was great and thoroughly enjoyed reading it and am now reading the third which I am almost done with. I would definitely recommend this if you like Robin Hobbs books or like fantasy as it's very interesting and a great read!

The entire series is great. It’s a standalone series set in a different world. The bad reviews seem to be people pushing back on this not being a Realm of the elderlings book. The story is typical Robin Hobb, so don’t expect too much in the way of happiness. An overall amazing though!

I have found all of Robin Hobb's books to be compulsive reading until this one, which I could not even finish. The pace was grinding, the tone whining and the allegory clunking - altogether too much background noise for an enjoyable read. This was a shame as I have great admiration for Robin Hobb's work on the whole. I hope she gets back on form.

To describe this as "Robin Hobb at her best" is shameful to say the least. For fantasy fans who choose the Soldier Son trilogy as their first foray into the writings of Hobb please do not let this truly awful set of books put you off reading her other works, as the Farseer trilogy and the Liveship Traders are brilliant.There are some nice moments in this book and in the other two but unfortunately Hobb does not expand upon them, instead it is a catalog of bleating complaints from the two dimensional protagonist. I think anyone who really wants to read this book should save their money and get it out of the library because you are never going to want to read it again. If I had the option to give this book zero stars, I would. :(