Review: Half the World

Half the World by Joe Abercrombie

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Half the World is volume two of the Shattered Sea trilogy.

Sometimes a girl is touched by mother war

Thorn is such a girl. Desperate to avenge her dead father, she lives to fight. But she has been named murderer by the very man who trained her to kill.

Sometimes a woman becomes a warrior

Fate traps her in the schemes – and on the ship – of the deep-cunning minister Father Yarvi. Crossing half the world to find allies against the ruthless High King, she learns harsh lessons of blood and deceit.

Sometimes a warrior becomes a weapon

Beside her on her gruelling journey is Brand, a young warrior who hates to kill. A failure in his eyes and hers, he has one chance at redemption.

And weapons are made for one purpose

Will Thorn forever be a tool in the hands of the powerful or can she carve her own path? Is there a place beyond legend for a woman with a blade?

Continuing on from where Half a King left off Half a World, but not really, introduces us to two new point of view characters, Thorn Bathu, a woman born to fight who but is denied, and Brand, a young warrior who hates to kill. I think you cold probably jump straight into this book without ever reading Half a King but what kind of crazy person would deny themselves reading the works of Joe Abercrombie, Lord Grimdark himself.

I enjoyed this book a lot, the characters and story were again detailed and interesting with Abercrombie's usual unpredictability, savagery and humour helping to instil a feeling they were real. While I did enjoy the story it was a little, not much just the tiniest bit, jarring to have brand new point of view character take the lead (or in this case two characters) bur overall I think it worked, mainly due to their likeability.

Beyond giving this book my highest recommendation there's not a great deal left to say here so I'll let you go find a copy and read it yourself.

View all my reviews

Review: Half a King

Half a King by Joe Abercrombie

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Half a King is volume one of the Shattered Sea trilogy.

Prince Yarvi has vowed to regain a throne he never wanted. But first he must survive cruelty, chains, and the bitter waters of the Shattered Sea. And he must do it all with only one good hand.

The deceived will become the deceiver. Born a weakling in the eyes of his father, Yarvi is alone in a world where a strong arm and a cold heart rule. He cannot grip a shield or swing an axe, so he must sharpen his mind to a deadly edge.

The betrayed will become the betrayer. Gathering a strange fellowship of the outcast and the lost, he finds they can do more to help him become the man he needs to be than any court of nobles could.

Will the usurped become the usurper? But even with loyal friends at his side, Yarvi finds his path may end as it began—in twists, and traps, and tragedy.

Often described at Joe Abercrombie's attempt to bring the grim-dark he's famous for to a young adult audience Half a King is ultimately the story of a young man with a disfigured and almost useless hand thrust in to a world he's neither ready nor fit for. Yarvi's disability makes him singularly unfit for the role fate has decreed for him, the warrior king of a savage country. As such he must use such gifts as he has, a formidable mind, to achieve his goals.

I've read Some of Abercrombie's other books, most notably his First Law series, and this story doesn't feel like it's aimed at a younger, less mature, audience it reads like his other works. I liked the story and found it to be engaging and fun, I'd like to say unputdownable but I'm not sure that's a real word. I found the characters to be believable and more than the two dimensional caricatures we sometimes see in YA fiction (side note to authors: kids aren't stupid my dude, they can see right through lazy writing). The settings in the Shattered Sea are breathtakingly described with each country and region having a life of its own. While the plot is pretty standard "dispossessed prince must regain kingdom" fare it's handled in a way that doesn't feel old and the surprise twist worked very well.

As I'm reviewing the Audible edition of this book I should say something about Ben Elliot's narration. I found that his understated, almost quiet storytelling style worked very well for this story and I'm pleased to see he's the narrator of the other books in the trilogy. Elliot does very well in voicing the characters in the book also, each one is distinct and needs no indicators other than his voice acting to tell who's speaking.

All together I would recommend this book to any fan of Abercrombie's or indeed grim-dark fantasy. Additionally I would say this is a great introduction volume to them too.

View all my reviews

Review: The Sandman

The Sandman by Dirk Maggs

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Sandman is a full cast adaptation of the comic book / graphic novel series by Neil Gaiman. This Audible Original edition covers the events of the first three volumes: Preludes & Nocturnes, The Doll House, and Dream Country

Torn from his realm, The Sandman - Morpheus, the immortal king of dreams, stories and the imagination – was imprisoned on earth for decades. On escaping he must restore his power, descend into hell to face Lucifer, chase rogue nightmares, visit a serial killer convention and cross paths with characters from DC comic books, ancient myths, and real-world history.

Audible and DC present the first in a series of audio adaptations of Neil Gaiman’s best-selling graphic novels, adapted and directed by multi-award-winner Dirk Maggs, performed by an ensemble cast with James McAvoy in the title role, and accompanied by an original score by James Hannigan. As narrator, Neil Gaiman will lead you through this dark, literary world in a twisting fantasy journey of myth, imagination and terror.

I really liked this, like a lot. After that I'm not sure there's much to say so gimmie a minute...

...right I've had a bit of a think and I've come up with some specific things I liked and one that took me out of the narrative for a second but really isn't a big deal.

First off I liked just how little had been changed for the audio play. As far as I can recall there wasn't a single thing (except that thing I alluded to before). Not one of the cast sounded like they were phoning it in or just there for the cheque and each voice was spot on. The effort each and everyone one of them put in for an audio play speaks volumes for their talent and dedication. The soundtrack and incidental music were just right though a small number of the louder, higher pitched sounds were distinctly unfriendly to headphones users.

Now on to that one teeny, tiny, niggle...

...they gender swapped Lucien. I'm only raising it as an issue because otherwise I just come off as a frothing fanboy and I'll admit it did take me out of the story in a "huh, Lucien as a woman. Never thought of that" kind of way.

If you're a fan of The Sandman, Gaiman in general or just like good quality listening materiel I cannot recommend this enough. If on the other hand you're a philistine give it a miss.

View all my reviews