A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie
Published by Gollancz on September 17, 2019
ISBN: 9780575095908
Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Epic, General, Historical, Action & Adventure
Pages: 480
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased Book
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WAR. POLITICS. REVOLUTION.THE AGE OF MADNESS HAS ARRIVED . . .
'Funny and sardonic, violent and compelling' Guardian
'A tale of brute force and subtle magic on the cusp of an industrial revolution ... Buckle your seat belts for this one' Robin Hobb
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On the battlefields of the North, the next generation of would-be heroes rushes to make the same bloody mistakes as the last.
While the age of the machine dawns, the age of magic refuses to die. One might glimpse the future, through the curse of the Long Eye, but changing it is another matter altogether.
The chimneys of industry rise, the cities seethe with opportunity, and even kings must kneel before the new power of the banks. But in the slums, anger is brewing, and soon it will boil over with a rage that all the money in the world cannot control . . .
Introducing a cast of unforgettable new characters, A LITTLE HATRED begins a new First Law trilogy which will have you gripped from the very start ...
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'Crammed with characters and detail, the intricately woven story never slackens its merciless grip' Daily Mail
'A masterpiece of fantasy fiction' Starburst
'Could scratch an itch for anyone missing Game of Thrones' Den of Geek
'One of Abercrombie's best books yet' SFX
'Will keep you up long after bedtime' The Sun

A Little Hatred is a story that relishes and thrives being in the darkness.  It’s a leveling up from The First Law Trilogy.  The achievements have been collected, the characters have grown and the bloody destruction continues.  Although this is technically a new series, I do believe that your reading enjoyment will be enriched by reading the First Law Trilogy.  The backstories and journeys will be far more satisfying if you do so.  A Little Hatred is like nothing I have read before, I do think that it even surpasses his fantastic first law series – which Is saying something because I loved it!  Abercrombie has settled into his writing, it flows exquisitely, character development is like honey, his craft has been mastered.

A Little Hatred has been moved forward from a time of magic to the industrial revolution.  Magic has lost its day in the circle of the world and the time for machines is at large.  They say the advancement of technology is a good thing, but not everyone sees it that way.  The workers are being pushed out in favour of a machine that can do that of a man in less time.  It’s an investment, a no-brainer, especially for someone like Savine Dan Glockta, where her reputation precedes her.  She’s canny, brutal with a talent for extracting as much money from people as she can whilst increasing the stretch in her purse.

“Aye, well, we all play the cards we’re dealt.”

“Some of us do. Some of us kill men with better cards and play theirs instead.”

A Little Hatred takes place around 30 years after the events in the Last Argument of Kings.  Everything has changed.  The time for innovation and design is upon them.  Although the playbook may have changed the elements of the First Law Series are still there to reel us in.  A game of political intrigue and bloody wars are still on the horizon awaiting its moment to strike once again.  We are introduced to some new characters (Orzo, the crown prince, Rikke, the Dogman’s daughter, and Savine Dan Glockta, Sand Dan Glockta’s Daughter) and some old favourites, I had a warm sensation at having the POV of Glockta back in our midst, how I had missed that crippled old bastard!  Abercrombie knows how to examine the human condition with aspects of manipulation, lies, and deceit hiding in every corner. 

Abercrombie knows how to write the female point of view incredibly well.  Savine Dan Glockta along with Rikke are my favourite characters in this new series.  Savine is a guileless and brutal woman in business (she has to be), what she wants, is what she gets.  BUT, I love the spunkiness of her character, she’s a woman in a man’s world, and she’s nothing if not tenacious, (look at who her father is after all). 

“Funny how, whenever men talked about freedom, they never really meant for the women”

The writing as always is out of this world.  We have a dark world that is held up with sprinklings of hilarity, friendships, and war.  His vivid battle scenes appear to be written in HD, I can always find myself transported into the middle of an Abercrombie-directed battle scene.  I’m thrown a shield and told to get on with it.  It’s full of mayhem and destruction and the battle between the rich and the poor continues and the myth and legend of warriors gone by continues.  The real architect of the mayhem is still around and is still being a giant prick, like always.

“When one man knowingly kills another, they call it murder! When society causes the deaths of thousands, they shrug and call it a fact of life.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joe Abercrombie was born in Lancaster, England, on the last day of 1974. He was educated at the stiflingly all-boy Lancaster Royal Grammar School, where he spent much of his time playing video games, rolling dice, and drawing maps of places that don’t exist. He went on to Manchester University to study Psychology. The dice and the maps stopped, but the video games continued. Having long dreamed of single-handedly redefining the fantasy genre, he started to write an epic trilogy based around the misadventures of thinking man’s barbarian Logen Ninefingers. The result was pompous toss, and swiftly abandoned.

Joe then moved to London, lived in a slum with two men on the borders of madness, and found work making tea for minimum wage at a TV Post-Production company. Two years later he left to become a freelance film editor, and has worked since on a range of documentaries, awards shows, music videos, and concerts for artists ranging from Barry White to Coldplay.

This job gave him lots of time off, and realising that he needed something more useful to do than playing video games, in 2001 he sat down once again to write an epic fantasy trilogy based around the misadventures of thinking man’s barbarian Logen Ninefingers. This time, having learned not to take himself too seriously in the six years since the first effort, the results were a great deal more interesting.

With heroic help and support from his family the first volume, The Blade Itself, was completed in 2004. Following a heart-breaking trail of rejection at the hands of several of Britain’s foremost literary agencies, The First Law trilogy was snatched up by Gillian Redfearn of Gollancz in 2005 in a seven-figure deal (if you count the pence columns). A year later The Blade Itself was unleashed on an unsuspecting public. It now has publishers in thirty countries.  The sequels, Before They are Hanged and Last Argument of Kings were published in 2007 and 2008, when Joe was a finalist for the John W. Campbell award for best new writer.  Best Served Cold, a standalone book set in the same world, was published in June 2009, and a second standalone, The Heroes, came in January 2011 and made no. 3 on the Sunday Times Hardcover Bestseller List.  A third standalone, Red Country, was both a Sunday Times and New York Times Hardcover Bestseller in October 2012.

The first part of his viking-inspired Shattered Sea series for young and old adults, Half a King, came out in July 2014, when it won the Locus award for best young adult novel.  The other two books, Half the World, and Half a War, followed in January and July 2015.

His collection of short fiction, Sharp Ends was published in 2016.  A new trilogy set in the world of the First Law, The Age of Madness, began in September 2019 with A Little Hatred. The Trouble with Peace followed in September 2020, and the final part, The Wisdom of Crowds in September 2021.

Joe now lives in Bath with his wife, Lou, his daughters Grace and Eve, and his son Teddy.  He spends most of his time writing edgy yet humorous fantasy novels…

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