Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie

10 reviews

mario_g's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Revisitng this world after the first trilogy was "nice".
Some characters we already knew, some were new but the roster was great.
I find myself "cheering" mostly for the northmen in this world although they are not better people than the others. I don't know what makes them somewhat more likeable to me. Anyway.
I had a great time with this one too.
If you are here, you have liked both the cruelty and the humour throughout "Lord Grrimdark"'s pages.
So enjoy the ride!
In case of spoilers the rest shall be hidden.

As previously stated, I liked Shivers pov. I liked how his journey/character arc starts, shifts, and ends in this story. And having both perspectives, with Monza, on their relationship, was a nice touch.
Cosca and Morveer. I didn't warm up to them until their comments and thoughts became the most entertaining thing for me. "Merciful slumber ha indeed released me from her soft bosom......"etc, the locked in a latrine scene, "Harsh Mistress /fortune never missed an opportunity to demean him."
"You one-eyed cocksucker!" Not clever perhaps, but from the heart.
Or the horse shitting while Rogont has his "moment" in the fight....
These insights are always awsome.

Only thing that tired me at some point is that it felt repetitive. On the bigger scale, meaning we go to a new town, new recruit, kill. next town, new recruit, kill. again and again, seven times.
(also Ganmark's death felt anticlimactic to me, but i guess at least one in so many had to rely on luck or be less interesting than others.)
But everyone was creative and "fun"-for a lack of a better word- to read.

Can't wait to delve into the next one!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Sexual content, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

rachelhelmer's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Torture, Violence, Murder, and War

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Excrement, Cannibalism, and Alcohol

gus717's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Torture, Violence, Murder, and War

Moderate: Addiction and Alcohol

Minor: Incest, Rape, and Sexism

downtowndaly's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Gore, Violence, Murder, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, and Cannibalism

chungledown_bim's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny inspiring fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Ugh, wonderful. Hilarious, bloody, inspiring... watching characters overcome crippling adversity to return as immediately as possible to the problematic behaviour that set their adversity in action to begin with? *chef kiss* Just about the perfect book for me, no notes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, and Torture

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation

Minor: Incest

da3m0nic's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Genocide, Torture, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Medical trauma

Minor: Confinement, Incest, and Misogyny

eh1736's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Gore, Violence, Blood, Vomit, and War

Moderate: Sexual content

iono's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Incest and Sexual content

scylla87's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Dark and hilarious from pretty much the start, this book is a great continuation of The First Law trilogy. A lot happened in this book, and occasionally it began to drag a little bit. There could have been an opportunity to dive this into more than one book, but I am glad that Abercrombie chose not to do so. There were some things that could have been expanded upon had there been more than one book, but stretching out the story would have made the slow parts all the more difficult to get through.

Of course, Nicomo Cosca was the best character in this book. From the moment he came back onto the scene the book got all the more better. Absolutely everything he did and said was amazing. I look forward to seeing what happens to him next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, and Incest

nyne's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Torture, Violence, and Blood