A.G. Slatter does it again! I adored how, if you hadn't read the other books in the universe, you could read this is a standalone (not unlike Brandon Sanderson whom I love), but if you have read everything else then this turned into a richer, deeper story. Truly delightful and atmospheric AF.

The Crimson Road by A. G. Slatter, while working completely as a stand alone, has cameos from the previous three titles (All the Murmuring Bones, The Path of Thorns and The Briar Book of the Dead). Violet Zennor has been raised to be the perfect assassin/fighter, brutally trained by her Father to survive any situation. When her Father dies she wrongly believes she is finally free to make her own choices, until she discovers she is the only person who could kill an ancient evil that is threatening to destroy the world.
As with all of Slatter's "sourdough' universe stories and novels, traditional fairy tales are wonderfully reworked to form different threads.
While you could read The Crimson Road as your first Slatter book, the story is much richer if you have the knowledge from the previous titles.

A good fantasy and gothic tale. The prose was efficient and good enough but the novel felt a little too long at times. I think maybe the characters could have been more interesting or developed. 3 stars.