Half a War
2015 • 513 pages
Ratings40
Average rating4
15
Ratings40
Average rating4
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY BUZZFEED AND THE INDEPENDENT • New York Times bestselling author Joe Abercrombie delivers the stunning conclusion to the epic fantasy trilogy that began with Half a King, praised by George R. R. Martin as “a fast-paced tale of betrayal and revenge that grabbed me from page 1 and refused to let go.” “The Shattered Seas trilogy has worked its way into a very exclusive group of my favorite fantasy novels of all time.”—James Dashner, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maze Runner Words are weapons. Princess Skara has seen all she loved made blood and ashes. She is left with only words. But the right words can be as deadly as any blade. If she is to reclaim her birthright, she must conquer her fears and sharpen her wits to a lethal edge. Only half a war is fought with swords. The deeply cunning Father Yarvi has walked a long road from crippled slave to king’s minister. He has made allies of old foes and stitched together an uneasy peace. But now the ruthless Grandmother Wexen has raised the greatest army since the elves made war on God, and put Bright Yilling at its head—a man who worships only Death. Sometimes one must fight evil with evil. Some—like Thorn Bathu and the sword-bearer Raith—are born to fight, perhaps to die. Others—like Brand the smith and Koll the wood-carver—would rather stand in the light. But when Mother War spreads her irons wings, she may cast the whole Shattered Sea into darkness. Praise for Half a War “Filled with swift battles, quick plot twists and witty dialogue.”—New York Daily News “A fantasy for all ages, and all times [that] rends the soul as compulsively as anything Abercrombie has written to date . . . Half a War is a success in every way, putting a stupendous capstone on the entire Shattered Sea Trilogy.”—Tordotcom “There’s all the sword-swinging and Machiavellian machinations you could ask for in this tale of a final battle between countries and kings.”—Fredericksburg Free Lance–Star “Engaging, mesmerising and jaw-dropping.”—SciFi Now “Abercrombie piles on shocking betrayals and charges his characters a high price for vengeance in this powerful and fitting final volume.”—Publishers Weekly
Series
3 primary booksShattered Sea is a 3-book series with 3 primary works first released in 2014 with contributions by Joe Abercrombie.
Reviews with the most likes.
Executive Summary: An enjoyable conclusion to a series I didn't think I would like after the first book.Full ReviewWell I read this book in a single day, so that should be a good indicator I liked it. Mind you, I spent 8 hours of that day either sitting in an airport or on a plane, but still.I really didn't think I'd continue this series after [b:Half a King 18666047 Half a King (Shattered Sea, #1) Joe Abercrombie https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1389378321s/18666047.jpg 25641726] (My Review). It was well written, but predictable and uninteresting. It made me thought Mr. Abercrombie should stick to adult fare.However reviews for [b:Half the World 22055283 Half the World (Shattered Sea, #2) Joe Abercrombie https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1402314017s/22055283.jpg 40431126] were all talking about how much better it was. I enjoyed it a lot (My Review), probably the best of the trilogy.This book was a close second though. I feel like this book was even darker than the last, though nothing like his First Law books.There were once again great characters, and great world building. Part of me would like to know more about the elves and their ancient “magic”, but I think I'm largely happy to speculate about what happened rather than having a definitive answer.The new POVs in this book are once again solid, though for me personally I enjoyed Thorn and Brand better. Skara was probably my favorite of the three.It's hard to say much more without spoiling this or previous books in the series, but I'm glad I gave the series a second chance. The last two books are about as good as anything else Mr. Abercrombie's written, albeit not quite so dark.Overall, I thought this was a good conclusion to the series, though a slightly weaker book overall than the second. I think most fans of Mr. Abercrombie will be happy with this series as a whole.
Decent conclusion to the trilogy. I think the additional viewpoints started to become unwieldy by the end, since we're now looking at a lot more people and the story can no longer be as tightly woven as in the first two. I felt the pacing also suffered a bit, having to climax multiple times as the succession of villains was taken down. Koll and Raith were highlights here for me, with some genuine internal turmoil that was painfully precise.
...and another one down.
Jaha: ‘t is Abercrombie. Die niet in happy ends doet zonder bittere pillen en waar de wereld niet zwart-wit is.
We zijn weer wat later, en er komt nog een nieuw personage bij, naast Yarvi, Thorn en Brand. Skara is het enige niet-vermoorde lid van een koninklijke familie, en ook zij gaat van zero naar hero.
Het is helemaal duidelijk geworden dat het een post-apocalyptische wereld is (totaal met stralingsziekte en jodiumpillen!), waar wij de ‘elfen' zijn die de wereld (en God) gebroken hebben – maar uiteindelijk is dat niet eens zo belangrijk, in het grotere beeld.
De gebeurtenissen van boek één en boek twee komen tot een apotheose en een logische conclusie, en Yarvi is veel moreel ambiguër dan een mens zou verwachten van een boek dat voor tieners in de markt gezet wordt.
Waarbij nog maar eens duidelijk wordt dat het niet allemaal drek van het genre Harry Potter moet zijn. Zeker, ‘t is niet totaal onvoorspelbaar, maar het is degelijk uitgevoerd.
Zeer aangeraden, ook voor de tieners in uw leven.
