I was excited that in this novel, Stover stripped away one of the main things I didn't like about the other two--being forced to read from to POV of the other characters. Reading Heroes Die and Blade of Tyshalle, my favorite POV had always been Caine's POV, and so being able to hitch a ride on the Caine train for the entire story would make Caine Black Knife that much more entertaining.Or so I thought. I can't really explain why I didn't absolutely love this book, since I do like being inside Caine's head, and his inner monologue is about as consistent with the other books as you can expect. It could be an example of too much of a good thing being a bad thing. It could have also been the alternating chapters between Caine's present and his past performance in Retreat from the Boedecken. It was interesting to see first-hand what occurred in Caine's star-making Adventure, but I've never liked frequent flashbacks, and alternating between the two made it difficult to become immersed in either one. Instead of skipping over chapters featuring characters I didn't care for, I found myself wanting to just skip the next chapter so that I could continue to read about what was going to happen in the present or the past.But ultimately, there wasn't really anything to read about. The plot, though substantially less abstract than that of this book's predecessor, still plodded along right up until the last few chapters. The more of the Acts of Caine series that I read, the more I think back wistfully about the fun that I had reading Heroes Die, and wondering where that went. Caine Black Knife is a novel that sees Caine return to the Boedecken Waste to free his adopted brother - who incidentally is part of the tribe that Caine mass-murdered.The book has alternating chapters between the now and the past - the past being the adventure that made Caine's name and led to the wholesale murder of the Black Knife tribe. Young Caine the Adventurer can be an insufferable asshole even for Caine standards, but it works so well. Stover delivers yet another page turner.
What do You think about Caine Czarny Nóż (2010)?
One of the best fantasy series I have read. Dark, brutal and very cool. I recommend it :)
—Mia
Really great. Very violent. Looking forward to the next one.
—brigita
