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This is a good book… but also one that’s hard to get into. This is a fantasy that’s more than nonstandard enough to need guideposts, and they’re a bit slow in coming.

Also, while the plot is technically running from the start, it takes a while to figure out what is and isn’t important.

It’s also, obviously, another in the line of fantasy novels that have romanticized assassins over the last several decades, which is a trope I could easily see and end of. At least this one is a new twist, at least for me, since the Gatherers are in religious service, and are more than just assassins. They are simultaneously in the service of ensuring a peaceful passage to the afterlife, easing the pain of the infirm, and rooting out “corruption”. There is a good moral debate on the former halfway through the novel, which adds a good nuance there. While there is some definition of what constitutes corruption, the definition is spread out a bit instead of made accessible, and there’s never any real talk about who decides all this. (At first I thought there was a metaphysical element to it, but seemingly not.)

Now, the slide towards the conclusion does show that the very structures that support all this are themselves corrupt, and that has been powering the plot all along. But, there’s also people who honestly work towards the ideals of the system, and other than one outsider, they make up the cast of viewpoint characters. (One of these is something of a surprise, as he gets a couple partial chapters as the main characters and action have moved elsewhere. He was actually the best character of the lot.)

I guess the best word for this novel is ponderous. There’s a lot here, including some big, weighty ideas, and therefore the writing has to overcome a lot of momentum to get the entire thing moving. Once it does get moving, it is good, but it takes a lot of time getting there, and the writing isn’t entirely up to the task. Overall, I enjoyed it, but it’s not a big recommendation for me.