This is a solid 3.5 star anthology collection. Most of the stories were good, not great, and a few were wonderful. I’m thinking particularly of “The Beautiful Bastard,” which shows us a pre-Gurkish torture ruination Glokta, and the very entertaining “Two’s Company,” which takes two characters that form the backbone of this collection, and pairs them with my personal favorite Abercrombie character, Whirrun of Bligh, aka Cracknut (’cause his nut is cracked). Even though all of these stories could be read on their own, Abercrombie […]
I’m so disappointed that I’m disappointed by this book.
This review has given me real trouble. I LOVED the first book, liked the second quite a bit, and trusted that Abercrombie would give me whatever I needed to love this one, too. In a weird way that I still don’t understand, this third book in his Shattered Sea trilogy has not managed to meet my expectations, even though I’m not sure I had expectations to meet, beyond that I wanted to love it. I’m sort of devastated that it didn’t work for me. While reading, […]
A let-down after the first book, but still pretty good nonetheless.
This definitely wasn’t as good as the first one. It was too straightforward, and the parts that were supposed to be a surprise were pretty obviously telegraphed. Still, it’s a great example of well-written, character based young adult fantasy. It’s just that I expect more from Abercrombie, particularly since he delivered it in Half a King. Half a World is the second book in Abercrombie’s first ever YA series, Shattered Sea, which takes place in a Nordic/Viking type fantasy environment, a post-magic society with verrrrry […]
Gritty fantasy western, with some surprises along the way.
I don’t really like reading Westerns. I don’t really like reading action stories. I don’t really seek out violent stories. And the last time Joe Abercrombie had a female protagonist (Best Served Cold) I was ambivalent about her, and that book in general. Red Country features all of those things, so I was a bit wary about it, to say the least. I probably wouldn’t have picked it up for a while yet, but I’d had such a fun time reading Half a King and The Heroes […]
For glory. For victory. For staying alive.
I may have waited too long to write this review. I read The Heroes over a month ago, as part of my Joe Abercrombie week-long reading frenzy, which started after I read his latest book, the excellent Half a King. I’ve actually owned a copy of this since the day it was released, but for some reason I’d never gotten around to reading it. The Heroes is one of three (so far) standalone fantasy books set in Abercrombie’s First Law universe, all of which are […]
The exact right book at the exact right time.
First, if you haven’t read Joe Abercrombie before, I highly recommend checking out his First Law trilogy. It’s a great exploration/takedown of classic fantasy tropes with some great and very memorable characters. It’s probably most representative of his writing style and the things he likes to write about. But if you don’t feel like reading three rather large books as an intro to an author, Half a King would do nicely as well. Keep in mind, however, this is technically YA, although it’s unlike any […]