You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.41 AVERAGE
4.41 AVERAGE
đź“š This is set 28 years after the first law trilogy. The Union has entered the Industrial Age, with chimneys rising across Midderland. However, the ancient powers are still present, and the poor and downtrodden workers are pushed to their limits.
✨ Review ✨
I would highly recommend reading the first law trilogy and the great leveller standalones before driving into this trilogy. You could start here but you would be missing out on so much.
Like the rest of the books in this world this is dark and gritty fantasy with morally grey complex characters, intricate plotting and a deep dive into the human condition.
One of the things I've always appreciated about this series is the way Abercrombie has slowly developed and changed this world. We have now stepped into a new age but I don't feel out of place in it at all.
I feel like I've always said how amazing Abercrombies characters are but never really said how amazing his writing is beyond the obvious of being funny. Joe Abercrombie has a very layered writing style. You could read this at a very surface level and have a blast but there is so much depth to his writing and I have to say he has moments that are incredibly profound.
But again I do have to say that Abercrombies characters are incredible. In this trilogy we are following the younger generation but we still have some of our old favourites. I love every single character even the ones I hate. I can't wait to continue this trilogy.
La encontráis en sons.red, en ivoox, Spotify y en todas partes:
https://sons.red/2020/03/18/52-un-poco-de-odio-joe-abercrombie/
Second read through: having reread all of the books leading up to this one, my enjoyment is not diminished. It's delightful to encounter favorite characters again even when they're not at the center of the story anymore.
Third read through: One thing Abercrombie really excels at is describing action in a crowded scene of mostly unfamiliar characters. Other authors might describe the scene from a bird's-eye view, but Abercrombie daisy chains together a variety of perspectives, using the observations of one character as the bridge into the consciousness of the next. This leaves even the most minor of characters more fleshed out than a simple cardboard cutout.
It’s impossibly to remain completely objective where Joe Abercrombie is concerned, but there are very few authors or series that can stand against his sheer, utter brilliance.
A Little Hatred is the crowned jewel of the First Law world, an incomparable masterpiece in characterization, tension, and tone that contains all the promises of the series to date. Against the traditions of longer running fantasy series, Abercrombie’s Age of Madness grows the world not by adding more precise detailing- because seriously, you’d be hard pressed to find a single area lacking in that regard- but instead by pushing his world into an age of modernization and industrialization. Through the progress of automation, civil unrest arises, setting the stage for a bloodier and darker conflict than previously imaginable from the lord of grimdark.
By now, I find it difficult to articulate how the prowess of one of Abercrombie’s books can rise above the rest when each of them seems better than the last. As an author, Abercrombie only continues to delight. As a long time fan, I am still amazed at what this man can tease out of this world and these characters. If he keeps writing, I will keep reading.
If I had to focus on the one aspect of A Little Hatred as the key point of my absolute obsession, it’s once again his character work. It’s a fairly common cliche, but it exists for a reason. While beloved characters from the original trilogy are still present within the narrative the story is primarily no longer about them. The new generation of central characters are visceral and fully realized iterations of the circumstances from which they are created. Each POV has Abercrombie’s distinctive flair for complete reader immersion. On a second read, these are undoubtably some of my favorite characters he has created so far. There isn’t an author out there I trust more to create female characters that are as poignant and distinctive as their male counterparts. Savine, Rikke, and Vick are phenomenally written with so much personality bleeding out of every page.
More than just the addition of new characters is the way that Joe Abercrombie continues to build the world and the stakes around them. There are new actors on the stage of conflict, whose stakes have continued to build since the curtain closed on The Last Argument of Kings. The world has continued to spin with the old guard and the readers equally aware of the true nature of power and conflict both within the Union and the world as a whole. These new characters are completely unaware of revelations of the past, leaving them in a frightful state of ignorance that the reader can no longer share. There is an added tension that exists outside of the actual conflict of the story because of this well established history that readers who fail to heed the many warnings of established fans that A Little Hatred is not the place to start with the First Law will unfortunately miss. The recommendation that the journey can start here is the greatest disservice any fan of this series can give to a new reader. Everything from the first seven books builds up to an utterly perfect beginning in this new series and I can only claim A Little Hatred is the best of this author’s work to date because of what it means to the series as a whole.
In summation: A Little Hatred is GOAT, Joe Abercrombie is still the master of grimdark, and do not start this series without finishing all of the previous books first!
Why in the Circle Of The World did I wait so long to start the Age Of Madness. I have to admit that I had some trepidation before I read A Little Hatred - I absolutely love the original First Law trilogy and it remains one of my absolute favourite series of all time, and in my experience sequel trilogies often struggle to live up to the high expectations (while I did very much enjoy Abercrombie’s Great Leveller trilogy of standalone novels following the First Law, they were not of the same quality as the original trilogy). I absolutely had no reason to worry - A Little Hatred truly carries on the legacy of The First Law and far surpasses the high standards we have come to expect from the Lord Grimdark.
“Truly clever things are said with short words. Long ones are used to hide stupidity.”
Taking place three decades after the end of The Last Argument Of Kings, A Little Hatred introduces us to a new generation of characters - Orso, Savine, Rikke, Leo and Clover - and we get to rediscover some old familiar faces. As the machines of industry and progress march across The Union, there are whispers of revolution in the air as the Breakers argue for the rights of workers and the common people. Meanwhile in the North, Stour Nightfall, heir to the Skarling’s Throne, makes for war on the Dogman’s Protectorate and Angland.
“We have the authority of the fist. We have the authority of sharpened metal. We have the authority of force… which is the only real authority there is”
Abercrombie is renowned for his incredible character-work and this novel is no different - all the characters are incredibly memorable and well-developed and have an unbelievable level of depth to them. Each has their own distinctive voice and style. Abercrombie is truly an absolute master in this regard.
“It’s a rare man who’s made better by a bit of power.”
A Little Hatred might just be my favourite book by Abercrombie yet and I am thrilled that the Age Of Madness has more than lived up to the amazing First Law trilogy. I will be immediately diving into The Trouble With Peace and cannot wait to find out what happens in the rest of this series.