The Dark Defiles

After the end of The Cold Commands, legendary heroes Ringil, Archeth, and Egar are traveling, at the behest of the Yhelteth emperor, to a distant set of islands in hopes of finding the unholy corpse of a long-dead demonic king in what looks to be a fairly mild quest. Unfortunately, nothing can be as smooth as it appears on paper, and a futile search, dissension in the ranks, and a skirmish against the local population devolves into a much more dangerous scheme.

There was nothing I liked about this book. All of the non-hero characters were nothing but greedy, amoral mooks or mindless sycophants. The main characters, all three of them, were almost identical as well; they were angsty, holier-than-thou jerks who viewed all those who disagreed with them as fools (Ringil), chauvinists (Archeth), or greenhorns (Egar). Situations were carefully tailored so that the protagonists could snarkily put others back in their rightful place. The plot was dull and slow paced, and the dialogue was unimaginative. The book was quite disappointing overall, with no redeeming features.