There is a reason people compare it to Martin....

[Upgraydd]

A couple moderately interesting characters. World-building is essentially ASOIAF with the serial numbers filed-off. Language is straightforward, but low-brow, as if he is intentionally catering to a dumber (American) audience.

One of the main characters is a self-absorbed Millennial-type that the author is hell-bent on turning into a hero. I suspect his redemption will be unconvincing if and when it ever arrives, much like the douchebag reading audience at which this blatant lure was directed.

It's a well-polished piece that seems like it has been crafted intentionally to hit a sweet spot in the marketing demographic, and as a result I have a hard time taking the thing seriously. It feels like less of a novel and more of an experiment to see if adding all the generic goodies from recent successes can equate to high book sales.

Truly, the meta-plot smells so strongly of George R.R. Martin, I wonder if it's intentional plagiarism, or alternatively that brand of stupid plagiarism that young people do simply because they're too stupid to understand that stealing is you know... bad.

[Zedsdead]

I wonder if Abercrombie might instead have been funneled in this direction...gritty, violent, political low fantasy. For so long the only real options were heroic high fantasy in which Good triumphs over Evil and there was a yawning void begging to be filled by Martin/Abercromie types.

That's my impression at least...could be wrong. I can't deny the existence of crass commercialism as a force in general.

[H]

Sigh....comparing to GOT. It has similarities, it's not your standard crap fantasy plot. Either author.
Which makes it good. But it's a different world, different heroes, different ends...well if there is an end as such?

GOT had one, this maybe not.

WHo cares? You want the usual, go read the usual. This was funny, violent and engrossing

[Dean]

Spoilers: I'll tell you what, when you first meet Inquisitor Glokta, he's a vile, ruthless man. But by the end of his arc, he's a sympathetic near hero type. His chapters intrigued me, and his redemption near the end was truly satisfying. I think Abercrombie did a splendid job in his story telling. As for the comparison to Martin, sure, it's a gritty story but I find the comparisons end there.