DNF 29%. Dark fantasy, I feel, needs better writing than average and a more socially aware person. Because otherwise it’s just the same tired posturing to make it “dark”. More often it seems like short hand for the writer to put in content that isn’t pertinent to the plot, but signals their perception of “realism” and the crueler aspects of life. Of course this just means sexual assault and violence against women are normalized but it’s okay because it’s daaaark.

As such, dark fantasy is just trite to me. And this is sadly no different.

The setup is somewhat interesting, with the death of the emperor and the children trying to unmask assassins. But in reality it’s mostly military fiction, something I don’t get on with either, usually, and so coupled with the, you’re being trained to be a Real warrior/man stuff, I’m just not finding anything to like about this one.

The only dark fantasy I’ve been impressed with are the Second Apocalypse books, which have the “dark” outlook and tropes, but use them as an allegory to communicate that misogyny (literally) destroys the world.

Meanwhile in this book during a 2v2 training exercise, in which platoons are watching, a woman is tricked into falling and the rival thinks it’s funny to make her mad by sexually assaulting her, which nobody does anything about except her sparring partner and narrator, who is made to feel bad because he can’t get to her and save her and he failed.

Aren’t we passed this yet? I sure am.