The City Stained Red
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Step up to the gates.
After years in the wilds, Lenk and his companions have come to the city that serves as the world's beating heart.
The great charnel house where men die surer than any wilderness. They've come to claim payment for creatures slain, blood spilled at the behest of a powerful holy man.
And Lenk has come to lay down his sword for good.
But this is no place to escape demons.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This dense, overwritten fantasy novel reunites the ragtag crew of adventurers from Sykes's Aeons' Gate series (Tome of the Undergates, etc.). Done with adventuring and the requisite tally of murders, Lenk a hardcore killer with an incongruously sweet face wants out, and he needs his team to help him collect his final payday. Unfortunately, things do not exactly go to plan, and it's up to this comically inappropriate group to save the day as their city descends into chaos and ruin. The fantastical, dangerous world and the creatures that populate it are packed with potential, different enough from standard fantasy fare to be exciting. The delivery is less appealing; Sykes struggles to get a handle on non-human perspectives and the mindset of people who kill for money, and characterization is inconsistent. Meanwhile, the potential for a rousing and gritty adventure is disappointingly smothered by pages of repetitive and meandering narrative.
