Wow. Joe Abercrombie has been one of my favourite authors ever since "The Blade Itself" appeared on my radar, but "Half a King" surpasses my highest expectations. I downloaded it to my Kindle very early this morning, and have just finished reading it. Yep. One day. I literally could not put it down. I've missed breakfast AND lunch...! This book has everything I love about good fantasy. His hero is physically flawed, and does not always cover himself in glory, but is totally likeable from the very start. The secondary characters are individual, non-stereotypical, and some of them hide secrets that will make your jaw drop when they are revealed. Abercrombie is a master at keeping the reader in the dark, while, at the same time, revealing everything ...if only we could see it before it bangs us in the face. (I swear you will NOT see the major twist coming in this book.) Abercrombie is very good at making us think the wrong thing, which, for a storyteller, is a delightful talent to possess. Yet he also has the ability to make all his twists and turns believable. Abercrombie doesn't make impossible things happen to his characters. Instead, he makes us believe that the possible is what usually occurs. That may sound mundane, but getting to that point in this story is anything but. Although this could be seen as a coming-of-age story—the protagonist is a young man who is about to take his place in the world—it is definitely not aimed at a strictly YA audience. Young people can read and love it, of course, just as they can read anything. But adults will not only enjoy this to the hilt, but perhaps it takes adult eyes to recognise the wisdom that lurks behind the story. I just can't find a single flaw in this book. Comment
I'm a bit strapped for cash right now, but it'll be the first thing I buy once I'm solvent again. As you know, despite being an Abercrombie fan, I didn't particularly enjoy his last book. There were so many reasons why I should have; the return of Logen being one, the change in genre being another, but I felt something was missing, and I've still not managed to figure out what. Did you notice I haven't been droning on about it? Not at all like me when it comes to Abercrombie. I'm hoping this one will resonate with me, and I'm looking forward to getting acquainted with the new characters and their circumstances.
I think you might like this one. It's quite different from his others. In some ways, it's a more straightforward story, with virtually none of the almost satirical touches the other stories had. However, I got sucked straight into it. I've got to say that more or less NOTHING happened that I expected. And yet, by the end, I was totally satisfied with all aspects of the story. I have hopes that this trilogy will be as memorable in its own way as The First Law was. So glad there is more to come. I really like what Abercrombie does with female characters. There are some really good ones here, although the protagonist is a young man. But it's the females who really make this story work.
