The first few sentences of this book charmed me. I always have a soft spot for clever humor. However, 1/10 through the book, I started to feel like my emotions are toyed with a bit too much for my liking.
First, I was appalled and thoroughly disappointed by Alistair’s behavior. Even though I feel like I understood it, and I can promise that I wouldn’t behave any more admirably in his shoes. However, I hold him, a character in a fiction, to a higher standard, perhaps unfairly. I almost couldn’t not continue. I felt like my heart was broken and I couldn’t bring myself to lift the book again. Until a few days later. And I was joyous to find the restored humanity within Alistair and was delighted with the demise awaits those other awful people, especially the despicable Sergeant Major. The author took such exquisite care to deliciously detail every inch of what had to be their ultimate epic destruction, but wait, no, they sailed on by. Oh well, at least Alistair had found Duggan and there was a new ray of hope to sustain me. As my spirit was gradually and reliably lifted, I was suddenly struck by the impending doom which I knew for almost certain. The author did it expertly and I was left in tatters.
