History YMMV / TheActsOfCaine

* AssPull: The ends of ''Heroes Die'' and especially ''Blade of Tyshalle'' may seem like this, although they do make narrative sense. However, both are about a model of destiny where expecting events to spin out of your control isn't unnatural but normal and to be expected.

* NauseaFuel: Quite a bit.
* TearJerker: A couple in ''Heroes Die''.

* IdiotPlot: Lampshaded by Toa-Sytel when he realizes that Caine is an ''Aktir''.

* MagnificentBastard: [=Ma'elKoth=] in ''Heroes Die''.

* JerkSue: Caine comes dangerously close, but then he falls in love and becomes fiercely devoted to his family. Getting badly wounded on several occasions and crippled once tends to avert Sue-ism as well.

* FreudWasRight: Oh so much.

* CompleteMonster: [[BloodKnight Berne]] distinguishes himself from other assassins, like Caine, in being a stone cold psychopath, [[TortureTechnician torturer]] and [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rapist]]. We first see his insanity manifest when he kills a nonhuman prostitute for absolutely no reason, and he relentlessly hounds Caine and his allies with murder on his mind. Berne kills any of Caine's allies that he can and, at one point, [[DepravedBisexual tries to rape a captive man]] as an interrogation tactic. At the end of the day, Berne's only goal is to kill whom he can and get away with it. He especially wants a fight with Caine to satisfy his bloodlust.

* CompleteMonster: Berne distinguishes himself from other assassins, like Caine, in being a stone cold psychopath, torturer and rapist. We first see his insanity manifest when he kills a nonhuman prostitute for absolutely no reason, and he relentlessly hounds Caine and his allies with murder on his mind. Berne kills any of Caine's allies that he can and, at one point, tries to rape a captive man as an interrogation tactic. At the end of the day, Berne's only goal is to kill whom he can and get away with it. He especially wants a fight with Caine to satisfy his bloodlust.

* CompleteMonster: Berne distinguishes himself from other assassins, like Cain, in being a stone cold psychopath and torturer. We first see his insanity manifest when he kills a nonhuman prostitute for absolutely no reason, and he relentlessly hounds Caine and his allies with murder on his mind. Berne kills any of Caine's allies that he can and, at one point, tries to rape a captive man as an interrogation tactic. At the end of the day, Berne's only goal is to kill who he can and get away with it. He especially wants a fight with Caine to satisfy his bloodlust.

* TearJerker: A couple in ''Heroes Die''.
* UnfortunateImplications: If you're a homosexual or into BDSM in this universe, you're probably evil in some way.

* AssPull: the ends of ''Heroes Die'' and especially ''Blade of Tyshalle'' may seem like this, although they do make narrative sense. However, both are about a model of destiny where expecting events to spin out of your control is not unnatural but normal and to be expected.
* CompleteMonster: Berne distinguishes himself from other assassins, like Cain, in being a stone cold psychopath, torturer and rapist. We first see his insanity manifest when he kills a nonhuman prostitute for absolutely no reason, and he relentlessly hounds Caine and his allies with murder on his mind. Berne kills any of Caine's allies that he can and, at one point, tries to rape a captive man as an interrogation tactic. At the end of the day, Berne's only goal is to kill who he can and get away with it. He especially wants a fight with Caine to satisfy his bloodlust.
* FoeYay: [=Ma'elKoth=] is completely in love with Caine, and eventually [[spoiler:names him as His Hand]].
** [=Tan'elKoth=] and Shanna/Pallas spend ''Blade of Tyshalle'' and the time leading up to it having a LoveTriangle over Caine, which he eventually acknowledges as such. If anything, [=Ma'elKoth=]'s flirting with his "beloved" gets even more explicit after [[spoiler:Pallas dies]], as if there wasn't enough in the first book.

** Justified with Ma'elKoth because he's AmbiguouslyGay and may or may not have been madly in love with Caine.
** Although Pallas not realizing that [[spoiler: Lamorak turned her in]] doesn't have much of an excuse. She even considers at one point that that might have been what Caine was going to say, but dismisses it because GoodIsDumb.
* JerkassStu: Caine comes dangerously close, but then he falls in love and becomes fiercely (and I mean fiercely) devoted to his family. Getting badly wounded on several occasions and crippled once tends to avert Sue-ism as well.
* MagnificentBastard: Ma'elKoth in ''Heroes Die''
* NauseaFuel: Quite a lot of vomit and piss and crap are mentioned.
* TearJerker: A couple in ''Heroes Die'', as ubiquitous as the philosophizing in ''Blade of Tyshalle'', if not moreso.
* UnfortunateImplications: If you are a homosexual or into BDSM you are probably evil in some way.

* CompleteMonster: Berne and Kollberg.
** But especially Berne.
** Some could make the case for Caine/Hari being one, seeing as how the man helped start a war to essentially help the ratings of a ''reality television show''.

* NightmareFuel: ''Blade of Tyshalle'' has a nasty disease that resembles rabies on steroids, the God of Dust and Ashes, and the scene where the avatars of said god MindRape [[BreakTheCutie the protagonist's daughter]]. The winner, however, would be the scene where the bad guys summon a demon who [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness takes out a mortally wounded and expendable underling]]. The demon feeds off of terror and despair, and to keep that disemboweled sap alive, [[spoiler: ''reaches into his rib cage and manually pumps the heart to keep his blood flowing'']].

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Quite a number; we'll have to move and expand [[CrowningMoment/{{Literature}} the existing entry]].

** ... what? I'm supposed to believe that [[spoiler:Shanna can both regenerate her own body and channel neutron bombs into an inter-dimensional barrier, yet ''can't'' heal Cane,]] makes 'narrative sense'?
*** [[spoiler:Caine didn't want a new body, which means he probably didn't want to be healed either, or no one asked. He seemed to be doing well enough in the finale. Also, the neutron bombs went into Deliann, and then, after he managed to get things done in the few milliseconds before he died, into thin air that melted a building, IIRC. The interdimensional barrier was done by the combined power of Shanna and Ma'elkoth, as Home.]]

*** ... what? Falling in love/obsessing with Caine makes him even ''more'' of an idiot.

* UnfortunateImplications: If you are a homosexual or into BDSM you are probably a CompleteMonster or evil in some way.

* UnfortunateImplications: If you are a homosexual or into BDSM you are probably a CompleteMonster or evil in some way.
** Furthermore, female badasses often asking themselves "What would Caine do?"

* AssPull: the ends of ''Heroes Die'' and especially ''Blade of Tyshalle'' may seem like this, although they do make narrative sense. However, it's notable in that both are about a model of destiny where expecting events to spin out of your control is not unnatural but normal and to be expected.

* CompleteMonster: Berne, Kollberg, and the Board of Governors (by extension of the Blind God, [[spoiler:most of humanity]]).

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel: More with every passing book it seems, and ''Heroes Die'' didn't start off pretty.