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Review: A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie
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,…
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Review: Red Country by Joe Abercrombie SPOILERS!!
Red Country for me anyway, was a bit of a departure for the First Law Series. I was very excited at the prospect of a western type fantasy novel but it fell flat. Why do you ask? Firstly, it was slow as all hell. I understand that a new novel based in an entirely new area needs build-up but it just failed to grasp my imagination, unlike, the previous novel, The Heroes. Also, Abercrombie is renowned for his stellar characterisations, but, one character, in particular, Cosca ended up falling, it isn’t what was expected from him. He ended up turning a bit sociopathic and child-killing is something I thought that…
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Review: The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie
“Armour …’ mused Whirrun, licking a finger and scrubbing some speck of dirt from the pommel of his sword, ‘is part of a state of mind … in which you admit the possibility … of being hit.”― Joe Abercrombie, The Heroes What kind of magic does Joe Abercrombie spin? From first reading The Blade Itself I have become entranced at both his unparalleled skill of taking a small minor character and transforming them into huge players of the game, he also is a supreme creator of intricate plots. This has been my favorite installment of the series by far, the NORTH fascinates me. I loved the POV’s from Logen, dogman, and Black…
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Warding by Kev Harrison | Book Review
Kev Harrison proves he can put his magic to anything, whether that’s writing about European Folklore or in the case of Warding, a story of supernatural proportions. As always with Harrison’s work I was intrigued by the premise but let me tell you – nothing prepared me for the intensity and claustrophobia that would have me enthralled. He is the master of uneasiness and reading Warding was no different. It’s a novelette but incredibly fast paced with a small bunch of characters that are instantly relatable with values and working moral compasses. Warding has done the impossible. How on earth can you pack in bucket loads of emotion, heart and…
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Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie | Book Review
Well shit…. Put a fork in me, I’m done. Between my recent readings of John Gwynne and Joe Abercrombie, this has finished me off. I have a book hangover that would rival some of my wilder student days spent drinking tequila on only a few hours sleep. These days it takes the recovery time of minor surgery to get over both drinking and books that are this bloody sublime! “I have learned all kinds of things from my many mistakes. The one thing I never learn is to stop making them.” Last Argument of Kings is the third and final instalment in the First Law Series and what an absolute…
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Tome by Ross Jeffery | Book Review
Tome – its clarity was never more focused and established from the very first page. Dark and depraved. The story is multi-faceted as it strips the layers back of the human condition. Boy does it show the human condition for what it truly is, hungry for power and destruction. Tome is a story that examines many prejudices rife in not only America’s penial system. Racial abuse, misogyny and homophobia feature strongly, and Jeffery has tackled the sensitive themes with both class and tenderness without skipping on the reality. This novel is a highly intelligent and brutal story on multiple levels. Jeffery has birthed a new sub-genre of horror; he mixes…
