Struggling.

I’m roughly a third of the way through and I’m *really* struggling with this.

There’s only so much moralising and self-depricating I can take. The author hasn’t even gone about it in a clever of sympathetic way either.

When you have your protagonist empathizing with literal rapists and murderers of innocents, you’re not being as deep as you think you are. It turns me against the protagonist, and it makes me dislike him more, because I know what’s to come. I know I’m in for more hours of whiney moralising.

The main reason it doesn’t work is the author is bringing in real life morals into this fantasy world, and they do NOT apply. Not even a little. This world and ours are completely different, the circumstances incompatible for tracking these themes.

Having said that, even if it *weren’t*, I’d still not sympathize with the protagonist whining about killing the literal scum of the Earth. Men who roam around the countryside killing, raping and enslaving innocents.

With every whiney protestation, every timid denial, I just dislike him more.

ESPECIALLY SINCE WHAT HE DID TO DOVE IS ARGUABLY WAY WORSE.

This is why I’m struggling. The protagonist isn’t really showing any growth either. He’s doing what needs to be done, but the whining is just getting worse. It’s a choir to listen to.

I don’t know if I’ll finish.