The Axe and the Throne: Bounds of Redemption, Volume 1

This story is populated with lots of wonderfully rendered characters with strong motivations. While the many points-of-view remind me of The Spoonriver Anthology, they do provide greater depth of understanding and a richer experience of the events as they unfold.The plot lines are braided alongside each other, and then some of the strands merge, making it a challenge for the reader to favor any individual character. I tended to like the character with the POV of the moment.Relationships have deep connections that are strained due to complications, and these life or death complications add to the dramatic tension. There is humor, friendship, a bit of romance, wonderful fight scenes, hints of magic, lots of plot twists and turns, and some characters die while some survive. The various settings and politics/cultures affect the characters' actions. Have a snack handy as the food is described deliciously.There are grim scenes, but they are not gratuitously gory. The descriptions of violence leave off where I would turn away were I to watch this story enacted on a movie screen.I recommend this book to older, more seasoned, fantasy readers as they would appreciate more deeply the relationship nuances and tensions because of their own life experiences. I especially appreciated the nearly error-free writing.While the book ends without definite closure to the plot lines, some on grim notes, it's obvious there's more to come. There's a great deal of groundwork laid for the next book as well as suspenseful momentum. I look forward to reading the next installment in this epic series.

A Strong opener in what looks to be a good series.Ireman writes with a fluidity that's easy to read and appreciate. Equal parts entertaining and thought provoking, he world-builds and drops back-story at a sensible and non pandering pace, revealing information as it pertains to the story's progression.Along with the pacing, the scope of the story is also well done, as the dramatis personae and locations approach epic without being meandering or overdone.I especially enjoyed the earlier chapters which were not always told in a linear or sequitur fashion, a writing device not often employed by fantasy writers for whatever reason.The story itself is not particularly original, with medieval themed political unrest and tough Northmen, there are strong shades of the now near obligatory Martin, along with Ambercrombie (sans pitch-black humor) and others.But it is the excellent characterizations that make a story that runs more in the vein of Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky.By far the best part of this book were the brilliantly realized characters, well rounded and realistic, they had growth and regression that seemed honest to who and what they were, with believable thoughts and actions that moved the book forward with very little "Deus Ex Machina" required.Some of my favorite characters were the ones I initially found uninteresting and wrongly assumed to be generic stereotypes, I.E. Decker, along with the tortured Tallos who takes a turn to be like something out of a Kafka nightmare.The inner narrative of the multifaceted cast, often simultaneously deserving of sympathy, respect and detest, is successful is shaping characters you care about.I eagerly await the second installment.

First the good .- It is well written . The style is mastered, descriptions are well done, the dialogues are correct .- It is realistic (understand gritty like a real middle age) in an Abercrombie's style .- Some characters are believable . Not all, more about that below .- The world building and the plot are extremely classical . It is in this field that other readers were reminded of a G.Martin light and I agree .But then the bad .- The map is ridiculous . A correct map is a must for a fantasy book yet here we have a childish picture with naive icons which doesn't communicate the size, the distances and the richess of the world . The author should have asked a professional to do a map which looks like something .- What did the good old natural evolution do to all men ? They are all dumb like door knobs . And when an exception, the young Titon, seemed to have a spark of SOME intelligence, the author promptly bashed him on the head to destroy any threat of having an intelligent man . By contrast all women are strong, scheming and smart . Actually this is so manichean that as long as Cassen is shown as eunuch, he is quite smart but as soon as he assumes his male self, he becomes stupid like all men too . I can't fathom what the author is trying to tell us with that.- The chapters are much too short because the amount of point of view is much too large . This is very detrimental to character development and to the believability of the plot .All in all this is worth an average . But as 2.5 stars don't exist, I give a bonus to the good writing and rank it 3 .But please, Mr Ireman, for the next book try to find some intelligent men and flesh out the plot so that we can believe in your story .

Book is well written. It is relatively dark and is not for everyone.The beginning can be a bit tiring because every chapter you switch to another person, and there are several storylines you follow.Nevertheless, it is good story, nice and dark

Había leído críticas bastante buenas pero el libro me ha resultado lento. Lo mejor las últimas 50 páginas que es cuando parece que empiezan a pasar cosas. De hecho si hubiera estado disponible la segunda parte la habría comprado, pero no lo está con lo cual me he quedado un poco a medias. No recomendaría leerlo hasta que no esté disponible la segunda parte

Ho comprato questo libro in base ad una classifica su un noto sito, salvo poi accorgermi che non era alle prime posizioni ma uno Sponsored Ad con la medesima grafica dei libri in classifica, inserito tra i libri 3 e 4 in classifica. Ora, non è che sia male, sono arrivata alla fine senza problemi e la "non linearità" temporale di alcuni episodi iniziali è capibilissima. Però ricalca peggio e con più banalità trama, personaggi e persino modo di scrivere di altri libri, vedi ASOIAF (Trono di Spade). Ci sono infatti reucci arroganti e sadici in pieno delirio di onnipotenza, amministratori eunuchi che gestiscono segreti e hanno in realtà più potere degli altri, pirati saccheggiatori e violenti in arrivo, uomini del nord non soggetti al regno che nella loro violenza sono molto più corretti e onorevoli dei cosiddetti cavalieri, regni che si disgregano, personaggi che si scoprono avere poteri dopo un bagno nel fuoco...serve altro? Ovviamente con molto meno spessore e fascino. Insomma, non l'avrei mai comprato se non fosse stato uno sponsored a tradimento ed in compenso ho letto fantasy minori che non ricorrevano alla bassezza di farsi sponsorizzare ingannevolmente che erano infinitamente migliori eppure avevano venduto meno. La cosa mi irrita molto. NB: l'introduzione è una menata che sprizza arroganza da tutti pori. Sono i lettori ed i posteri a decretare la bellezza di un libro. Questo libro non fa nè ridere nè piangere, si capisce benissimo e non ha nemmeno contenuti tanto sconvolgenti, anzi (come se fosse il primo libro con donne violentate e gente ammazzata a colpi d'ascia, ma per favore...ho letto libri femminili per adolescenti più espliciti di così; un qualsiasi cartellone pubblicitario di moda trasuda più nudità e violenza). Semplicemente, non è bello, ed in un genere che ha e ha avuto un'infinità di narratori eccellenti e molto fantasiosi, è mediocre. Io non lo ricomprerei, non comprerò il volume succesivo se mai venisse scritto, ed 8 euro prezzo kindle non sono assolutamente adeguati.

Excellent read. Looking forward to the second book. Elements of grimdark fantasy and plenty of plot twists and strong characters.

This was exactly the type of fantasy novel I had been searching for ever since finishing all of the currently available Ice and Fire novels. Each chapter is told through the eyes of a particular character, and each of those characters is unique, driven, and just fun to read. It read like a faster paced ASoIaF, lacking perhaps some of the miniscule detail and historical intrigue, but making up for it with an incredible array of memorable characters.Typically I tend to favour the male leads (and usually I am forced to when reading fantasy) but this book’s female characters were equally awesome. There are no perfect characters, they all have their quirks, and I especially like how the females are shown to be strong without somehow being superior in all things to the males, like in the teenage dystopias where the heroine somehow wins every important melee. There is nothing teenage about this book really. There’s nothing horribly explicit, but there are strong sexual themes combined with a long list of characters that may be frustrating for younger readers.IMNSHO, this is about as good as it gets for fantasy buffs. I would recommend this in a heartbeat to anyone searching for the diamonds out there, and I am delighted to have found it for myself.