Review: Half a King

Half a King by Joe Abercrombie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Having read and loved the First Law books and fleeing from the Malazan book of the Fallen, this was a breath of fresh air. Abercrombie does character development, drama, and action the way that few others can. My only complaint with this book is that its too short..I read it in 2 days.

Yet, no one else that I have read so far, with maybe the exception of the Dark company and GOT, can do "grim" and offer so many layers to characters the way Abercrombie can. Read the first law trilogy and 3 following books first and then pick this up, you wont be disappointing.

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Review: Deadhouse Gates

Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I finally finished book 2 of the Malazan book of the Fallen series and while it was a definite improvement on book 1, I think the series isnt for me. But first what I think it does well:

Despite my general irritation at the story, it has some pretty incredible characters. Coltane, a Wiccan warlord turned general who like northern Germanic tribes during the Roman period ends up being brought into the empire...and then defending it against hordes of religious nomads... Duiker, a warrior historian and cynical bastard, and Kalam, an assassin of near mythical qualities are some epic characters in the fantasy genre. If this book was reduced down to take out all of the stories except for those characters I just mentioned.... this book would have been great. But it had a ridiculously convoluted story with so many random events thrown in to create senses of drama, that it actually just made the story fairly boring for the most part. Any time people have been walking or sailing for too long, lets throw in a random demon or monster for them to fight....just unnecessary.

I have never read a series with as much deus ex machina as this one. Gods coming out to save people from death, or people that are rad dying and then just ascending to become gods... it makes death in this story less final and thus less dramatic. I am not going to say that I didn't enjoy parts of this story... but I seriously dont get why this series is listed near universally on Reddit as being one of the best of the fantasy genre..... i gave it another chance and read book 2, but Im not going any further with a story that isn't that gripping. Its unfortunate, because there are a lot of things to like about it... but not enough.

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Review: Gardens of the Moon

Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book series has been rated highly across reddit and other platforms as one of the best fantasy series ever written. I know its just the first book, but I really dont see it so far. Some of the characters and writing is really riveting, but you really have no idea how the magic system works. There are gods kinda thrown in without any idea of their motivations and why they even give a shit. I like the political intrigue of the Empire on a mission of expanse and the ramifications of a new empress and her murder squads of "claws," but with one or 2 minor exceptions I dont really care about any of the characters that much.

There are deus ex machinas a plenty, tons of situations of a character being mauled and then not dying.....I started to feel a little meh after about half way in.

The 2 exceptions are a wizard who survives a massacre and has to figure out what is going on and an elf demi god who travels around in a floating moon fortress...lol

I am going to give the second book a chance, hopefully it is better than the first. 3 out of 5.

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Review: The Heroes

The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is what would happen if you combined the battle perspective of "Killer Angles" with the grit of game of thrones and the dark view on war in 7 Samurai. The meaningless of the whole thing is played out with humanizing and dehumanizing scenes of two opposing armies fighting over some high ground between their respective lands. Many different arcs and stories intertwine to bring out the true brutality of what happens when armies collide. The harshness against the wounded and prisoners, the politics between factions on your own side, and the difference between officers and the grunts. The level of butchery accepted by the leaders takes any romance out of the whole thing.

As with the other books in this series, I thoroughly enjoyed this and the message that war is horrible and bullshit, is never a bad one in a fantasy series :D

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Review: Best Served Cold

Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have never read a book about revenge which was as visceral as this one before. What starts out as an intense drive to pay back a betrayal turns into a bloody and unrelenting shit show which makes one question whether revenge is every really worth it.

This book is like a combination of the Count of Montecristo and Game of thrones but even more depressing... and ruthless. While I loved the First Law trilogy which preceded this book, I liked this story even more. It was amazingly powerful and poignant and the best story I have ever read dealing with themes of vengence.

The book follows some side characters in the original trilogy and a few others and really fills out another part of the world, which seems a bit like 15th century Italian city states, complete with mercenary armies, and ruthless political machinations. Rated it 5 stars!

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Review: Last Argument of Kings

Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The third installment of this gritty fantasy brings to an epic conclusion the events that were culminating in the last 2 books. Like Game of Thrones, it is also unique in that many of the characters do horrendous things but still simultaneously are 3d enough to make you understand their motivations.

The drive to power and the ruthlessness with which it is carried out, particularly by characters who are supposed to be the good guys flips the genre on its head and makes you question whether several characters are actually the bad guys after all.
It does this while maiming or killing off a number of important characters and continually enticing you to see how it all ends and what this is all leading to.

If you like situations with closure or clean neat divisions of black and white.... this isn't a book for you.

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Review: Before They Are Hanged

Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The second book in this series was even better than the first. I have read few gritty fantasy stories that are worthy of note. This ranks up there with the Black Company and following a little bit behind game of thrones in its character creation and in the unexpected happening.

This story is not always filled with happy endings, but it is filled with some of the most vivid action sequences of any story I have ever read. Furthermore it critiques power, certain ideas of masculinity, makes it unclear in many cases who is actually a "good guy", and meanwhile weaves together interesting cultural, political, and social differences between different lands. Not the best story of this type I have read, but definitely hard to put down. Battles, intrigue, and lots of weird awkward sexual encounters.

Logen Nine-Fingers is Brock Sampson/Conan. I still find Glocta, the tortured and crippled ex hero to be really interesting, and cant wait to see where this leads.

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