Steve Harris wrote:
Perhaps I can give a short synopsis of TTotN, just enough to get one into LofSK. But I echo Michael--it's worth pushing through the book, for the pay-off in LofSK.
WARNING SPOILERS WARNING
Not to mention an entirely different scale of story having to do with the Norse gods and a pair of Vikings they send out to kill Hecht, for having the temerity to have invented a god-killer. Well, it is a 400-page book...
Shaggot and his brother are actually the best-drawn characters in the first book. Telling their story from the narrator's viewpoint works better for them than any of the others, because their viewpoint is so warped and alien. Else just worked on securing his position, the brothers had the real narrative arc of the first book.