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The earliest pages suggested that the dragons were the ones who started the war and it only feels like the story made a slightly clumsy retcon halfway through the first chapter to declare that the wolves started it in response to what reasonably seemed like hostile preparations on their borders. It all feels like a cheap attempt to paint both sides as gray, but falls just as flat as all the other points.
The dragons, altogether, have been nearly consistently acting like monsters. We've seen ONE wolf that acted monstrous, and even he merely took delight in slaying enemies in battle (aside from one comment about selling Bob as a slave, but if the war has only been going on for a few years, how was there enough time for Bob to get free, become so skilled in magic, and rise the ranks? Doesn't make sense). Bob has willingly tortured several wolves, one in particular, for months and they didn't even have ANYTHING to do with his backstory. The other dragons in the castle laughed as they watched the wolf prisoners slowly die and took part in raping the last survivor.
The pirates were pirates, so no need to explain they weren't good people. The last-minute attempt at humanizing them is laughable. We're supposed to feel sorry for their captain because he liked his crew? Caring about someone you live and work with is supposed to be a surprising twist that makes me feel bad about their deaths when you brought it upon yourselves by constantly raping your prisoners?
Even Vlagg. Forcibly starving a fort of soldiers by cutting off their supplies is not the merciful diplomacy he seems to think it is. And then forcing a clearly-traumatized prisoner to act like a servant in a fort FULL of soldiers he was raped by WHILE essentially holding him HOSTAGE simply because if he were to go free, he'd show how monstrous the dragons are is just cruel. And why is Gervic's refusal to surrender supposed to be such a bad thing? We were told the castle was a vital outpost and the bridge would have allowed the dragon army to invade and conquer the wolves. Destroying it was downright heroic. And how often does fiction have the heroes defending a stronghold against an overwhelming onslaught? It's pretty much always seem as a heroic effort, even if sacrificial. And considering what we see dragons do to their prisoners if they don't have a single "noble" commander around to stop them, it's easy to understand why you wouldn't want to surrender and instead fight to the death.
Edited at 2021/01/25 11:33:25
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