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4.41 AVERAGE
4.41 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
4.75/5.00
"Mother." He put one hand gently on her shoulder. "Wars may be won by the clever, but battles have to be fought by the brave. It's time."
A Little Hatred is Joe Abercrombie's best promise. It is as close to perfect as a opening act of a series can possibly be. Did you think that you've seen character tropes before? Do you think you cannot be surprised ? Did you think Grimdark books could not be more funny ? A Little Hatred is a conclusive defiance in the face of these high expectations. Every page, every chapter, every comment in this book is dripping with humor and witticism. I feel that I have watched Joe's slow ascent to Terry Pratchett's prose and this book is the final minutes of the journey. Never before have I laughed uncontrollably, momentarily losing control of my car in some chapters. Yes, I listened to this book. Yes, the audiobook is miles better. Please don't read this book, listen to it. It is a masterpiece. Steven Pacey is a god.
So many themes layered in this story! The legacy of past heroes and "heroes", the pyramid of greed in humanity, the failure of self in good men, the nature of violent men, the blending of cultures, society and war, technology and livelihood, economy and life, love and heartbreak, the mistakes of mankind.
"Because that is the nature of people. And their little more must be taken from someone else, and that someone else will be less than delighted. One cannot eliminate unhappiness anymore than one can eliminate darkness. The goal of government, you see," and the Arch Lector prodded at the air with his bony forefinger, "is to load the unhappiness on to those least able to make you suffer for it."
Rikke had never been able to understand why you would care a shit about who someone you'd never even met lay with. How few problems do you need to have before you count that among 'em?
How do I begin to describe the character work? Joe has a way of making me care so deeply for so many characters. Tropes unseen in fantasy, stories of people we don't often hear about, portrayed to perfection. Orso wins the round as the best character work. Savine becomes the most despicable character, and Leo the most lovable. I am so invested. Didn't feel this way about characters since the first law trilogy.
World building takes a back seat in Joe's writing as it usually does. I did enjoy so much of what we got in this book, but I do yearn for more. Where is Gurkul, where is Javra, where is Styria and Starikland, the Near and Far Country ? As an opening act, I can forgive the myopic scope of the story, but I most certainly want the epic tale spanning nations in this trilogy. If the trilogy is vast and spanning nations, then the idea of narrowing the scope in the opening act is an excellent narrative technique that many stories have handled before, and Joe does this to perfection.
Finally, the plot is engaging, the book is a page turner and completely entertaining. Not the greatest plot, but then again, this is the first act.
"Now a useless man can render a useful man useless wheeling him around. There's progress, eh?"
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
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
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Let me start by saying that this is my opinion so you should not take it personally as many fans tend to, I myself am an Abercrombie fan, maybe that's why I was left little disappointed after reading the first entry in Age of Madness Trilogy. Review will contain spoilers hence if you do not want any of it do not read the review.
I find it impossible not to compare A Little Hatred with Blade Itself, after all, and they are both part of First Law world, both are entries in their respective trilogies. So let's go over why was I left disappointed by this entry after reading all previous 6 entries in First Law world. To be honest, if I haven't read Blade Itself maybe I would have liked this book, but well comparison is the thief of joy and in this case I was robbed of joy as I was constantly remembering our beloved Blade Itself.
In terms of plot... well just like in Blade Itself there isn't much of plot, mostly this first entry serves as a set up for events to develop in coming books, Abercrombie is setting up chess pieces on the board. Which, I honestly liked in Blade Itself. Spend an entire book introducing the characters, with minimal plot, after all Abercrombie is best known for his characters and his characters deserve to be introduced in a proper way. As mentioned, A Little Hatred simply introduces new POV and non-POV characters and the world, well how the world has changed and political/ socio-economic environment. Again I was more intrigued by the end of Blade Itself with what would happen in Angland with West and Union Army, where was Bayaz taking Logen and Jezal, what lay ahead of Glokta in Dagoska. Here though, well, sure it is interesting who is the Weaver behind Burners and Breakers (I will be less than surprised if it is Bayaz, considering he already instigated revolt in previous books; not to mention Rikke seeing a bald Weaver with deep pockets pulling strings, whoever that might be *wink *wink), I am not sure if there is anything about Savine at the end of the book, or with Leo. Sure Orso's kingship will be interesting, at least entertaining but then again nothing to make you jump right into the next book. Overall Blade Itself set up the story way better than A Little Hatred.
Now the most important part, the characters.
Blade Itself had 6 POV characters while Age of Madness has 7, which in itself is not a problem, what is the problem though is the fact that we could at least get rid of 2 of those POVs and nothing would change (!!! This might change in coming books but in this one those 2 POVs namely Vick and Broad could have been just side characters and nothing would change !!!)
Let's start by comparing 'main' POVs from both books. Sand, Jezal, and Logen from Blade Itself, and Savine, Leo, Rikke, and Orso from Age of Madness.
Sand is way way way way better and more interesting character than Savine whose 'I am a ruthless businesswoman' spiel is rather comical, like I imagined her twirling her moustache after one of her business endeavours. Logen was way more interesting than Leo, I will give props where they are due Rikke is one of three POVs I liked and one of 2 POVs whose stories I actually cared about, Rikke is great. As for Jezal and Orso, I give edge to Jezal but Orso is also amazing, the second POV character whose story was interesting and one of those 3 POCs who were an absolute pleasure to read. Overall, original trio is head and shoulders above quartet of Age of Madness. Leo and Savine were meh characters, one was all muscles no brain and other was all brain and yeah well ruthlessness to a degree I guess...
Now as for secondary POV characters, Collem West, Ferro Maljin, and Dogman are in every way better than Vick, Broad, and Clover. Okay, Clover is fun, love Clover 3rd character whom I liked to read, but his story, it's meh at best. Vick and Broad could be removed entirely as POV characters, they could have been just side characters and nothing would change. Especially Broad, like why we even wasting time on that man? Abercrombie is trying to use Broad to show how soldiers struggle to reintegrate in society after being disbanded from army but I guess I should not have read Remarque's The Way Back, because Abercrombie is simply incapable of writing what it is like to take off the uniform and try going back to being civilian, I know cause I also served, didn't scale walls but wore that uniform for years and when I read The Way Back it felt like Remarque was hitting all the right spots, while Abercrombie is missing all the spots by a mile. "Ooooh I am angry, Broad Smash" sees his daughter who grills him "Ooooh Broad no smash, broad sorry" okay bro whatever.
Overall, this book is a downgrade compared to Blade Itself. The characters are not nearly as interesting or well written as in the original trilogy, plot is also falling short to hook the reader. Credit where credit is due, description of early industrial age in our world is superb, enclosure acts and people being squeezed by rich and powerful, desperation, poverty, kids working at factories, all of it is well described and it is an amazing feature, I loved it. All else, a big big downgrade compared to Blade Itself.
Will definitely read other two books, hopefully will get better.
I find it impossible not to compare A Little Hatred with Blade Itself, after all, and they are both part of First Law world, both are entries in their respective trilogies. So let's go over why was I left disappointed by this entry after reading all previous 6 entries in First Law world. To be honest, if I haven't read Blade Itself maybe I would have liked this book, but well comparison is the thief of joy and in this case I was robbed of joy as I was constantly remembering our beloved Blade Itself.
In terms of plot... well just like in Blade Itself there isn't much of plot, mostly this first entry serves as a set up for events to develop in coming books, Abercrombie is setting up chess pieces on the board. Which, I honestly liked in Blade Itself. Spend an entire book introducing the characters, with minimal plot, after all Abercrombie is best known for his characters and his characters deserve to be introduced in a proper way. As mentioned, A Little Hatred simply introduces new POV and non-POV characters and the world, well how the world has changed and political/ socio-economic environment. Again I was more intrigued by the end of Blade Itself with what would happen in Angland with West and Union Army, where was Bayaz taking Logen and Jezal, what lay ahead of Glokta in Dagoska. Here though, well, sure it is interesting who is the Weaver behind Burners and Breakers (I will be less than surprised if it is Bayaz, considering he already instigated revolt in previous books; not to mention Rikke seeing a bald Weaver with deep pockets pulling strings, whoever that might be *wink *wink), I am not sure if there is anything about Savine at the end of the book, or with Leo. Sure Orso's kingship will be interesting, at least entertaining but then again nothing to make you jump right into the next book. Overall Blade Itself set up the story way better than A Little Hatred.
Now the most important part, the characters.
Blade Itself had 6 POV characters while Age of Madness has 7, which in itself is not a problem, what is the problem though is the fact that we could at least get rid of 2 of those POVs and nothing would change (!!! This might change in coming books but in this one those 2 POVs namely Vick and Broad could have been just side characters and nothing would change !!!)
Let's start by comparing 'main' POVs from both books. Sand, Jezal, and Logen from Blade Itself, and Savine, Leo, Rikke, and Orso from Age of Madness.
Sand is way way way way better and more interesting character than Savine whose 'I am a ruthless businesswoman' spiel is rather comical, like I imagined her twirling her moustache after one of her business endeavours. Logen was way more interesting than Leo, I will give props where they are due Rikke is one of three POVs I liked and one of 2 POVs whose stories I actually cared about, Rikke is great. As for Jezal and Orso, I give edge to Jezal but Orso is also amazing, the second POV character whose story was interesting and one of those 3 POCs who were an absolute pleasure to read. Overall, original trio is head and shoulders above quartet of Age of Madness. Leo and Savine were meh characters, one was all muscles no brain and other was all brain and yeah well ruthlessness to a degree I guess...
Now as for secondary POV characters, Collem West, Ferro Maljin, and Dogman are in every way better than Vick, Broad, and Clover. Okay, Clover is fun, love Clover 3rd character whom I liked to read, but his story, it's meh at best. Vick and Broad could be removed entirely as POV characters, they could have been just side characters and nothing would change. Especially Broad, like why we even wasting time on that man? Abercrombie is trying to use Broad to show how soldiers struggle to reintegrate in society after being disbanded from army but I guess I should not have read Remarque's The Way Back, because Abercrombie is simply incapable of writing what it is like to take off the uniform and try going back to being civilian, I know cause I also served, didn't scale walls but wore that uniform for years and when I read The Way Back it felt like Remarque was hitting all the right spots, while Abercrombie is missing all the spots by a mile. "Ooooh I am angry, Broad Smash" sees his daughter who grills him "Ooooh Broad no smash, broad sorry" okay bro whatever.
Overall, this book is a downgrade compared to Blade Itself. The characters are not nearly as interesting or well written as in the original trilogy, plot is also falling short to hook the reader. Credit where credit is due, description of early industrial age in our world is superb, enclosure acts and people being squeezed by rich and powerful, desperation, poverty, kids working at factories, all of it is well described and it is an amazing feature, I loved it. All else, a big big downgrade compared to Blade Itself.
Will definitely read other two books, hopefully will get better.
adventurous
challenging
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
3.0/5.0
It's okay I guess... heard a lot of good about abercrombie but this is so light in "fantasy" it should just be military fiction. It was fine, just very.... average
It's okay I guess... heard a lot of good about abercrombie but this is so light in "fantasy" it should just be military fiction. It was fine, just very.... average
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
At first I thought "a generation later, same world as First Law, bleh. Who cares? I thought this was *new*."
And then I got a little further in and quit caring if it was the same old thing. Abercrombie does great with the same old here, and I really liked it.
Very impressed that he ends the "plot" bits part way through and the book continues on wonderfully. It's a good trick; you don't have to end with a big set piece if you know what you're doing, and he certainly does.
And then I got a little further in and quit caring if it was the same old thing. Abercrombie does great with the same old here, and I really liked it.
Very impressed that he ends the "plot" bits part way through and the book continues on wonderfully. It's a good trick; you don't have to end with a big set piece if you know what you're doing, and he certainly does.