lacks clear promise, progress and pay off

there was never any promise to the reader of what's the story is going to be, so people do things and stuff happens, but nothing feels satisfying or cohesive, I constantly forget one of our main character is an amputee and it seems to be a trait that was given to her for decoration and not for theame or an overarching message. By the end of the book Jein hasn't become empathetic to the reader, has no goal or motivations, is not proactive or compatent and we STILL have no idea why the storey is even continueing on. this book is plaged with in unnecessary POV's and you will be hopping around the world every 15-30 min In an entirely new place with little tieing it all together, having one of the main bad guys randomly bump into Jein in the last quarter of the book to cause the finally to occur really told me there was little planning involved, promise progress and payoff were all disjointed, unearned, and nonsensical.

the book has meny good small moments but they never work together in a way that makes senses. stakes and power levels aren't established and it makes the fight sceans boring also HOW DO YOU FIGHT WITH A WHIP AND A SPEAR INSIDE A SEWER, HOW BIG IS THIS SEWER WESTLY!!? over all the visuals he came up can be very stunning and even captivating at times, but a cool visuals aren't enough to justify multiple POV's for a story with no real promise or progress tieing them together this book is 3/10 for me, Westley exscells at poetic descriptions and interesting dialogue, but it's not supported by anything else in the story. there is no one to root for, no one to ground the reader with and watch grow and improve. no mystery to learn, or important journey to follow. it never made sense why Ty'sha had to visit the orecals temple, and the payoff of him telling us a vauge message for all that time and effort was incredibly unsatisfying.

the book is crowded with unnecessary lore dumps and introductions to people that serve no purpose to the story, it spends way to long talking about the temple monks only to leave them forever the next chapter.

fights are pointless without proper limitations established. it seems wind can do whatever it needs to for Ty'sha in the moment, and stops being as useful when the story needs it, lastly bad guys can't be scary if they never win and your protagonist never loses. it seems like shadow ninja magic wasn't deadly at all.

women are all infallible, as much as the book talks about sexist men, every woman in the book is very strong usually qhisicly, very talented, and very proactive, none have external limitations or shortcomings, EVEN THE APUTEE HAS NO PROBLEMS EVER? and it makes them all seem like shallow caricatures and not characters, I knew from the beginning Ty'sha would never lose because you've never even show her struggle, you had her complain alot about being old and tired, but she never reaches her limmit, even near the end when she loses its because of Jein. this made every fight she had meaningless from the get go how can we think she is in danger if she is infallible?

overall this has taught me alot about writing, Thanks Westley

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