Black Sun Rising (The Coldfire Trilogy, Book 1) by by C. S. Friedman

I will first admit that while I like the fantasy novels I've read, I'm not well versed in the fantasy genre as a whole or its conventions. I bought this book because it kept coming up in my Amazon recommendations for Guy Gavriel Kay books, and he's my absolute favorite. I swear I wanted to like this book. I tried to like this book. I read as far as I could -- about 3/4 of the way through -- before I finally gave up and cast it aside. I never give up on books, but I'm a characterization junkie and these cardboard cutout Action/Adventure stock characters had absolutely nothing going for them. Their motivations were sketchy at best, and these walking cliches never grew into anything other than what they were on page 1. I respect Friedman for trying to create a world that was unique, but I believe her ambition outstripped her reach on this one.