Red Country by Joe Abercrombie

A New York Times bestseller! They burned her home. They stole her brother and sister. But vengeance is following. Shy South hoped to bury her bloody past and ride away smiling, but she'll have to sharpen up some bad old ways to get her family back, and she's not a woman to flinch from what needs doing. She sets off in pursuit with only a pair of oxen and her cowardly old step father Lamb for company. But it turns out Lamb's buried a bloody past of his own. And out in the lawless Far Country the past never stays buried. Their journey will take them across the barren plains to a frontier town gripped by gold fever, through feud, duel and massacre, high into the unmapped mountains to a reckoning with the Ghosts. Even worse, it will force them into an alliance with Nicomo Cosca, infamous soldier of fortune, and his feckless lawyer Temple, two men no one should ever have to trust . . . Red Country takes place in the same world as the First Law trilogy, Best Served Cold, andThe Heroes. This novel also represents the return of Logen Ninefingers, one of Abercrombie's most beloved characters.

4.5/5

Hey, someone spilled a western novel all over my favourite fantasy saga! What is fresh hell is this?? It's actually one of Abercrombie's better books as it turns out.

I picked this up after finishing The Heroes and couldn't put it down. Gold rush towns, greedy prospectors, and a sprinkle of characters from previous books fleeing war and violence (or seeking it out) for a better life in “The Far Country”. It's definitely the most disconnected book from the ongoing First Law Saga as not much of consequence happens here to set up the next trilogy, but we do learn a bit more about the lore of the old empire, which is always welcome.

I can't spoil much in this book with my review. Just... if you're a fan of certain characters from The First Law you need to read this because it goes places. Lamb... oh Lamb. My favourite coward, shame he lost that finger at some point...

Executive Summary: Not as good as [b:The Heroes 9300768 The Heroes Joe Abercrombie https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1375671200s/9300768.jpg 12879765], but still quite enjoyable.Audio book: So in the US Steven Pacey reads the original First Law trilogy, but not the first two stand alone novels. Since I read the trilogy, this is the first time I've had him as a narrator. Now I wish I had listened to the trilogy. Mr. Pacey is excellent. I wish he was the narrator for The Heroes as well. I will definitely be on the look out for other books he narrates in the future.Full ReviewSo this book is almost impossible to review without spoilers, but I'm going to try. It's probably going to be a bit on the short side as a result.This book (like all of his in this world) has excellent characters. That's what makes Mr. Abercrombie's novels so enjoyable. They aren't necessarily likable characters, but they are definitely memorable.This book like the last two stand alone novels has a great mix of new characters with appearances of some old “favorites”. I'll refrain from naming which characters show up, and simply talk about the new ones a bit.Shy is pretty enjoyable character. I actually ran into her before in a short story in [b:Dangerous Women 17279560 Dangerous Women George R.R. Martin https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1370759802s/17279560.jpg 19236677]. Lamb is pretty awesome, especially later in the book. Meanwhile I went back and forth on Temple. I found him very annoying early on, and less so later on.For anyone whose watched Yojimbo (or more likely its unlicensed western remake: A Fistful of Dollars), there is a bit of that feel here. Thankfully this is not a retelling of that story, but likely a nod from Mr. Abercrombie.I found the book a little slow in places. But it was also really awesome in other places that made up for it well.Anyone who was a fan of the series so far, should enjoy this one as well.

Very good, plenty of action book, much better than Best Served Cold and about as good as Heroes.
It would have been a full 5 for me unless it were so overwrought with plenty of needless digressions and useless fillers, plus at least 2 ridiculous Hollywood style bullshit deus ex machina just to save the day.
There's a great Logen novel hidden in here and I absolutely loved it, but it amounts to (probably) only half the book.