This is in many ways a very uncompromisingly brave fantasy series.. At a glance its fairly standard modern fantasy, lots of graphic violence and sex, some mysterious magic, wars, heroes and politics, and a past coming back to haunt the present.The reason why i think its brave is because of how gay it is..Even though most of us dont mind the fact that some people are homosexuals, we still dont like being "confronted" by gay sex.. There are ways of writing a gay MC that wouldnt hurt anyones sensibilities, just make him/her gay in name primarily (like on tv-sitcoms), but this series arent making any compromises.. The MC is gay and have lots of gay sex and the reader just better learn to deal with it, because.. well.. thats what gays do..I think it gives an authenticity to the story, a feeling that the author cared more about writing a story that was true to what it claims to be than he did about maximizing sales and not shocking anyone.It was very refreshing..Fantasy is a wonderful genre for dealing with bigotry, and although most fantasy-series have some sort of racial or rich-vs-poor theme, homosexuality seem to be oddly neglected as a subject.. so, cudous..The homosexuality also brings interesting "new" dynamics into the story, both as a conflict between character and world, but also as a tool for creating otherwise unlikely alliances and love stories.. I really think Morgan managed to get a lot out of it, it felt as a real and natural part of the story.. That being said, listening to the audiobook i wish i had the option of skimming the pages of the gay sex, instead i was forced to listen to it all or carefully skip ahead.. The first time i skipped ahead, i didnt skip long enough and heard following sentence "...the smell of shit from his open anus" making me happy i wasnt eating..But as i mentioned before, its no fault of the book that i didnt enjoy the gay sex - that was to be expected.. All in all, a very good series with lots of strong points. Especially the main characters were well done, and fun to follow around..The plot have a tendency of getting a bit confusing at times, and it might be the sort of series best served with patience and some good notes on the side.. Listening to the audiobook i was often in doubt whether i had missed some clues, or if i wasnt suppose to know yet, and that got a bit frustrating at times.. Except for that though i have no complains..Recommended for everyone.. End of the year reviews have me swamped, but expect reviews for all three books in this series soon! Until then: this novel is an incredibly original fantasy with a complex protagonist with a strong and engaging narrative voice. The secondary POV characters give the reader a glimpse of the complexity and intricacies of Morgan's world building, and once the plot grabs your attention it will not let go until the novel's end.
