The True Bastards

I am disappointed. So far this is my fourth book by this author and the first one I didn't love. Lets get into my reasons.

Even when I just read the first book I pointed out how Fetching is my least favourite character other than the villains. While many, from Oats to Polecat to Beryl have interesting backstories and just something special about them Fetching was always just angsty and grumpy and nothing interesting. So when I heard this book has her as the protagonist I got this bad feeling and man, I was so right about it. Somehow even after hundreds of pages of following her she doesn't feel any more complex an layered than she was in book one.
Call me an asshole, but an angry woman doing angry woman things just doesn't cut it. No, I don't think that makes her strong or special. Especially not when she is really showing the signs of just being “sooo badaaaaaass” and also everyone loving her or being evil. Honestly, people can not love you without trying to murder everyone you care about, duh.

The plot twists are also very soap opera and not really that punchy. In book one certain revelations completely changed how you saw the world and the powers at work in it. Here it's more like things you should care about if you care about Fetching and I do not. They feel very very cliché.

Another thing I feel this book lacks is answers. Somehow the characters manage to blunder from one place to the other, with things happening without a proper explanation and nothing much gets solved and it's kind of... ignored? It feels like these people have no curiosity and they don't even bother wanting to know more about their own circumstances and that makes the long, drawn out parts of everything being bad and gloomy and filled with suffering feel even more boring. The fun was just lost.
Which ties into one more thing. Who, oh why do we have to have people with relevant skills die stupidly because of injuries not nearly as bad as many others survive? You would think for added drama. No, Fetch magically gains the necessary skill like a day later when it is very very needed because... magic.

Mr. French obviously tries very hard to convince me I like Fetching and it's not working.

So far the two books had two different protagonists. If the next one has Jackal again or Oats (still my fave boi) then I am on board and willing to kinda forget about this one ever happening. If not... mehhh. I don't want to read more Fetching. No more ridiculous plot twists that make me roll my eyes more than anything.

I also personally prefer the original book 1 cover. These new ones just don't offer anything that interesting, no cool dynamic art or anything.