At this stage, I know what I'm getting into with Joe Abercrombie's writing. This book has both the things I like and the things I dislike in spades. While I generally find his action writing to be extremely boring, I did enjoy a few of the scenes here, though it's worth noting that the vast majority of this book is battle sequences. The (very few) female characters also leave a lot to be desired, and I'm hoping Abercrombie will eventually write a female POV that isn't relegated to being the object of lust of a male POV for large portions of the page count. Similarly, like the first trilogy and the prior standalone, the ending seems to follow a lot of similar beats that often don't feel as earned. With all that said, I do think the book does an interesting examination of the being a hero in wartime, using multiple different types of characters to showcase a diverse range of flaws. It often feels like Abercrombie writes satire of epic fantasy, and this book exemplifies that the most. In the end though, with pretty much no plot and mostly action and a lack of characters I enjoyed, I would say this is the weakest book I've read of his so far. It probably didn't help that current events caused my mood to shift a lot while I was reading it. That said, I am halfway through the First Law books now, so even if I am not head over heels in love with them, I think I will finish the series (at some point).