Review: First Watch

First Watch
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Enter Rem: new to Yenara and hungover in the city dungeons with no money for bail. When offered a position with the Watch to compensate for his crimes, Rem jumps at the chance. 

His new partner is less eager. Torval, a dwarf who's handy with a maul and known for hitting first and asking questions later, is highly unimpressed with the untrained and weaponless Rem. 

But when Torval's former partner goes missing, the two must consort with the usual suspects -- drug dealing orcs, mind-controlling elves, uncooperative mages, and humans being typical humans -- to uncover the truth and catch a murderer loose in their fair city.

Okay so...Orbit are on fire lately with the books they're publishing! First Watch was such a fun and enjoyable read, I found myself totally hooked to it with a huge list of theories...all of which where wrong but let's not talk about that! 

First Watch starts brilliantly, and there's humour right from the start. This book cracked me up and had me chuckling to myself multiple times and I loved how well the humour fit with the murder mystery aspect. I'm so intrigued by Rem and who he really is and what his story is, I'm desperate to know! I have a theory but we'll see! 

Rem was such an interesting character because he's not at all used to the life he's now living, and it was interesting to see him adjusting to it, and learning what it's like in the city and for other people and so on. When he finally starts being a badass and really taking on his job role, you see another side of him. Like up until a certain point he'd kind of been holding back a lot and I was a bit like hmmmm but then he found his balls and it was glorious, he just goes for it and you're cheering for him so much. His partnership with Torval brought me much joy as I was reading. Torval was hilarious, and he and Rem where quite the double act. 

First Watch is basically CSI: Fantasy Edition. Every fantasy creature present in Lord of the Rings is in this book...except their less savoury side is showing. So for the Orcs it's same old same old. Humans...let's be honest it's not that shocking. The Dwarves are portrayed interestingly, how it works for them and how they're allocated jobs and so on and the choices they have. It's the elves that might be a bit of a shock. If you're a huge Elf fan like I am then prepare yourself. There's no Legolas's running around, being super hot and chivalrous. With the exception of one elf, all the ones we meet in this book are severely questionable and incredibly unsavoury. I don't think I'll be able to look at an Elf the same way again after this! 

The world is vividly portrayed as are it's inhabitants and I really enjoyed it. I'd like to know and see more! The history and mythology and politics between all of the various denizens of the city where fascinating too. I'm wondering if the treaty might play a bigger part as things where nearly pushed in this book but it's the first one so I think we'll wait a bit before war, yeah? 

First Watch is brilliantly written. Action, intrigue, and humour are all woven together with some brilliant plot threads. The mystery really kept me guessing and the different plot threads that went in to it contributed to that. You thought one thing was happening but then another thread would be revealed and you'd be stumped again. It kept me reading, and entranced until the end. There are some really brilliant secondary characters woven in to the book, Ondego and the other members of the Fifth, not to mention Indilen and Aarna! I can't wait to see more of them! 

First Watch is a brilliant caper. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and became more and more hooked. The humour was on point and kept me amused along with the mystery and characters. Genuinely...CSI: LOTR. You won't look at LOTR the same way again, I guarantee you! I'm eager to know more about the characters and the setting and I'm looking forward to seeing more adventures! Torval and Rem are brilliant main characters and quite the dynamic duo!