Tedious and irritating

Would you try another book written by Walter Jon Williams or narrated by Ralph Lister?

Maybe, but not because of this book.

I bought this book because I thoroughly enjoyed the author's short story in the anthology "Songs of the Dying Earth". "Quillifer" was a huge disappointment, but everyone deserves a second chance.

What will your next listen be?

"For We Are Many", by Dennys Taylor. This is the sequel to "We Are Legion", which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

Yes.

He was irritating too.

What character would you cut from Quillifer?

Quillifer.

Any additional comments?

"Quillifer" isn't a terrible book, but it wasn't for me.

The book is written in the first person. This is an approach which can work well, but often doesn't . In this book it doesn't.

I found the protagonist to be unlikable. A priapic, self-obsessed and self-important blowhard who, despite his tender years (eighteen) and lack of experience and training, possesses talents, abilities knowledge and social skills to shame James Bond. These awesome abilities allow him to best the most talented of opponents in any field of endeavor, no matter how many years or decades they may have devoted to honing their skills.

Quillifer stumbles from one tight spot to the next, achieving triumph after triumph, ravishing every attractive woman he chooses and rapidly growing wealthy and powerful. He commands armies, saves the Kingdom and moves in the highest circles in the land. A butcher boy does all of this - in the course of a few short months. At the end of the book he is still only eighteen years old. One hesitates to wonder what he might achieve in the next three days of his life, let alone the next thirty years.

The story is tedious and laboriously told. The prose is padded by massively over-detailed description. Rambling, irrelevant descriptions of geography, architecture, Quillifer's always-irritating opinions - and, most of all, unending descriptions of the politics of this dull land. Politics, politics, politics. Then, more politics. The author has obviously spent a great deal of time on the backstory to this book. And he is determined to demonstrate this. Ad nauseam

Similarly, the reader is treated to irrelevant details of history, ships, horses, artillery manufacture... every little aspect of the story. The author has studied these things and he is damned well going to let you know it.

This book's storyline is easily summarised; Quillifer gets into a tight spot. He then emerges triumphant, having bedded a great looking woman, made lots of money and gained power and influence. Then he does it again. And again. And again... whilst being extremely tedious, pretentious and irritating about it. Always irritating.

I usually like to persevere with a book series once I have started it. However, in reading the first book of this series I think that I have also read the sequels; I expect that they will all follow the pattern of my preceding paragraph.

As I said at the beginning of my review, this isn't a terrible book. I expect that many will enjoy it. But I didn't.

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