Lamentation

A very interesting epic fantasy tale, sort of a cross between A Song of Ice and Fire and Lions of Al-rassan. The series proves to come off the rails a bit after a few books â the world building is interesting, the concepts are grand and expansive, but the characters fall very flat. There was potential here, but things didnât take off the way I thought they would early on in the series. Worth reading, but doesnât rise to the potential it could have been. Keyes stunned the fantasy community with his phenomenal new high fantasy novel, The Briar King, a few years ago. This guy is a master of the English language. His writing is both witty and beautiful; sort of an Oscar Wild meets J.R.R. Tolkien synergy. His plot is thick, rich with interesting characters (and the dialogue is top notch and at times, hilarious), and the world fairly gritty, though less so than George R. Martin's. Keyes takes old fantasy cliches and creates something new. I can't recommend this fantasy series enough. Keyes continues his excellent standard throughout the series.