Best Served Cold
2009 • 536 pages
Ratings144
Average rating4.1
15
Ratings144
Average rating4.1
War may be hell, but for Monza Murcatto, a solider of considerable fortune; it's a damn good way of making money too. Her victories have made her popular - a shade too popular for her employer's taste. Betrayed and left for dead, Murcatto's reward is a broken body and a burning hunger for vengeance. Whatever the cost, seven men must die.
Duke Orso imagines that he can become king by ending the civil wars that have devastated Styria, but he errs by trying to kill his overly popular general, mercenary Monza Murcatto. Recovering from her massive injuries and mourning her murdered brother, Monza vows vengeance on Orso and half a dozen of his accomplices.
"Joe Abercrombie takes the grand tradition of high fantasy literature and drags it down into the gutter, in the best possible way." --- Time
"Abercrombie is both fiendishly inventive and solidly convincing, especially when sprinkling his appallingly vivid combat scenes with humor so dark that it's almost ultraviolet." --- Publishers Weekly
"A satisfyingly brutal fantasy quest. BEST SERVED COLD? Modern fantasy doesn't get much hotter than this." --- Dave Bradley, SFX
"Abercrombie has written the finest epic fantasy trilogy in recent memory. He's one writer that no one should miss." --- Junot Diaz on The First Law Trilogy
Featured Series
11 primary books12 released booksFirst Law World is a 11-book series with 11 primary works first released in 2006 with contributions by Joe Abercrombie.
Reviews with the most likes.
It's no surprise I liked this book, I've turned into a massive Abercrombie fanboy. I don't want to spoil anything so I'll just say I liked the whole thing right up until the conclusion.
This book was what I didn't know I wanted. I LOVED the cast of characters here—even when I wasn't rooting for them, I still had a blast reading about them because their interactions, banter, personalities, it's all so lively. I've also realised that I have a thing for gruesome, gritty stories, so there's that. And Monza. MONZA! MY GIRLLLL! I FUCKING LOVED HER!!!!! And also the revenge plot mixed with politics was exactly my cup of tea. Seriously, Abercrombie knocked it out of the park once again.
The ONLY thing I didn't care for in this book was Shivers—NOT because he's a badly written character or anything (because he's not)—but because preference wise I just never liked him all that much, even in the First Law trilogy. This is definitely a ‘me' thing, because if someone like Cosca were to have switched places with him or gotten his exact lines then I know I'd love it; it's just Shivers being, well, Shivers, that I for some reason could not give a damn about.
But aside from that extremely subjective nitpick, I loved everything else!!
http://fantasycafe.blogspot.com/2009/08/review-of-best-served-cold.html
