Half the World by Joe Abercrombie

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY BUZZFEED • ALEX AWARD WINNER • New York Times bestselling author Joe Abercrombie’s thrilling series continues in the follow-up to Half a King, which George R. R. Martin hailed 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 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 a murderer by the very man who trained her to kill. Sometimes a woman becomes a warrior. She finds herself caught up in the schemes of Father Yarvi, Gettland’s deeply cunning minister. 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 the journey is Brand, a young warrior who hates to kill, a failure in his eyes and hers, but with one chance at redemption. And weapons are made for one purpose. Will Thorn forever be a pawn in the hands of the powerful, or can she carve her own path? Praise for Half the World “An excellent page-turner . . . full of drama and energy.”—New York Daily News “Another entertaining burst of battle, magic and political machinations from the always reliable Joe Abercrombie . . . a thoroughgoing blast, a violent, beautiful rabbit hole of craft that is well worth disappearing into.”—Shelf Awareness “Compelling . . . [Thorn] makes Katniss Everdeen look like Dorothy Gale.”—Chicago Tribune “Splendid . . . Abercrombie has a knack for building characters with pathos and wit. . . . The fast-paced story draws readers along while setting up what promises to be an explosive final showdown.”—Publishers Weekly “Clever, exciting and unexpected.”—SFF World Praise for Joe Abercrombie’s Half a King “Half a King is my favorite book by Joe Abercrombie so far, and that’s saying something.”—Patrick Rothfuss “As in all Abercrombie’s books, friends turn out to be enemies, enemies turn out to be friends; the line between good and evil is murky indeed; and nothing goes quite as we expect. With eye-popping plot twists and rollicking good action, Half a King is definitely a full adventure.”—Rick Riordan “Enthralling! An up-all-night read.”—Robin Hobb “Polished and sharp, perhaps his most technically proficient novel yet . . . I dare you to read the first chapter and try not to turn the next page.”—Brent Weeks “Half a King can be summed up in a single word: masterpiece. It’s a coming-of-age story. It’s a Viking saga. It’s a revenge tale and family drama and the return of the prodigal son. But most of all, it’s this: a short time alongside people as weak and blundering as we are and, in the midst of it all, as heroic. Far too short a time, as it turns out. What a wonderful book.”—Myke Cole “Half a King is full of all the adventure I’ve come to expect from Abercrombie and a tenderness I never knew he had.”—Sam Sykes

I liked the new main characters, and I was pleased to see Yarvi and other characters from the previous book. Yarvi's change so much and I can tell he'll be even more interesting in the next book.

Executive Summary: What a difference a book makes. This is more like I'd expect from [a:Joe Abercrombie 276660 Joe Abercrombie https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1421267339p2/276660.jpg]. Can't wait for [b:Half a War 22381326 Half a War (Shattered Sea, #3) Joe Abercrombie https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png 41796499] now!Full ReviewI was reluctant to pick up [b:Half a King 18666047 Half a King (Shattered Sea, #1) Joe Abercrombie https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1389378321s/18666047.jpg 25641726]. I just didn't think Mr. Abercrombie could do YA well. And that book seemed to prove me right. It was alright, but it felt just flat and uninteresting.So I was even more reluctant to pick this one up. My hold for the library seemed to get held up, and I was OK with that. The early reviews I saw for this book were all pretty positive though. They all seemed to use the phrase “much better than [b:Half a King 18666047 Half a King (Shattered Sea, #1) Joe Abercrombie https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1389378321s/18666047.jpg 25641726]”. I'm now adding my voice to that statement.This is more like it. Compared to his First Law books, things are still toned down, but compared to the first book things are a lot more gritty and all around interesting. The first improvement I found is that Yarvi is no longer a POV character. I didn't care much for him in the last book. I thought him a much more interesting character as viewed from the outside than from within. However the difference could also be that some time has passed as he's developed from annoying boy into interesting young man. It's hard to say for sure.The next improvement is his new POV characters. Thorn and Brand are a lot more memorable and well developed than most of the characters in Half the World. They also contrast each other nicely. Thorn is a bit reminiscent of Monza Murcatto or Ferro Maljinn. Brutal, fierce, and angry.Meanwhile Brand reminds me a bit of Collem West. He has a good heart, and sometimes pays the price for it. Neither character is recycled though. Instead he revisits some old ideas in new ways.Being a YA book, I guess it's required to have some awkward will they / won't they love subplots or something? I could have probably done without it, but overall I thought it was handled fairly well.The world building continues to be a bit sparse, but interesting. The elven ruins and magic intrigues me. My discussion group brought up the similarities to modern technology. Is this really a post apocalyptic version of our world? We know there was some sort of major catastrophe in the past. I'd really like to know more about this aspect, but I don't think we'll ever really know.Parts of the books were a bit predictable still, yet still a pleasure to read. It was a real page turner through most of it. Plus, some things didn't go quite as I expected however, so I was never bored.Overall this book does a great job of stepping things up and setting the stage for the final book without feeling too much like a middle book. If like me you were pretty so-so on [b:Half a King 18666047 Half a King (Shattered Sea, #1) Joe Abercrombie https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1389378321s/18666047.jpg 25641726], you should consider giving this series a second chance with this book.I might finally cave and pre-order [b:Half a War 22381326 Half a War (Shattered Sea, #3) Joe Abercrombie https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png 41796499] rather than waiting to get a copy from the library like I did the last two books.

It's amazing how complete the characters are after just meeting them in this book!

I did not know this was second in a trilogy, which says something about how well contained this book is. There are of course plenty of tropes, the selected hero, the love interest, the training montage, the victory from the jaws of defeat. I think that Abercrombie executes well though, with excruciatingly relatable coming of age, with engaging characters, and a fast pacing that left me wanting to know more. Fun quick read.