A unique fantasy book in an era of Tolkien clones. The setting is a wonderfully realised pirate city and I’ve never been able to taste the piss, shit and muck of a city through the city before. The characters are memorable, I hate and love almost every one of them but I couldn’t get enough of any of them.

Lynch writes one of the most memorable friendships I’ve ever read. A true bromance that made me laugh and cry; it’s unbelievably hard for a book to evoke both of those emotions, often in quick succession, but Lynch manages all that and more.