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The Barrow (2014)

by Mark Smylie(Favorite Author)

2.6 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1616148918 (ISBN13: 9781616148911)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Pyr

series

The Barrow

review 1: There are a LOT of boners in this book. Sometimes it felt like a boner popped up on every page. The author put a huge amount of effort into crafting the lore of his universe, it's incredibly rich and detailed and makes for a great read. If you can remember what God is what and which king killed whom. I liked the characters, none are without flaws-so much so it made it hard for me to relate with any of them, but they and the journey they take kept me interested.Did I mention this book has boners? If you like sprawling fantasy with a dirty, edgy flavour and lots of humping and killing than this may be for you. I certainly enjoyed the story, and the ending was unexpected and interesting.
review 2: This is a book I almost did not try. Numerous reviewers I had read ... morecompared it to works by George R.R. Martin or Joe Abercrombie, two authors I have read and did not enjoy. But something about it intrigued me, and so...I vastly enjoyed The Barrow. I won't review the plot or characters here as that has been done already, but I will try to explain why I liked the book. Smylie is accomplished at creating an eldrich, decadent fantasy world that really drew me in and held my attention. Detailed history, richly realized settings and unusual characters such as Black-Heart or Erim, whose motivations are not always simple and who do not behave as "types" were just a few of the things that captured me in this book. Fair warning, though, the book is dark, it is violent and it contains a lot of explicit and sometimes coercive sex (but not always of the male/female variety). That said, nothing of these elements seemed gratuitous to me, with each having its place in developing the mood and tone of settings and plot. If you are looking for a fantasy of the dark sword and sorcery type, with an emphasis on the creation of a creepy, opium-hazed mood in which unseen forms lurk in the shadows, then this may be the book for you...as long as you can tolerate the adult nature of the plot.I would say that fans of Robert Howard or Fritz Leiber would enjoy this book. As did I, thoroughly. less

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