Half the World

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.