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javicat 's review for:
Before They Are Hanged
by Joe Abercrombie
I made it 84% of the way, but I just cannot finish this. I am reading/want to read so many other books that are just so much better.
This book really feels like it wasn't written for me. It feels like it was written for older white straight men and I just can't relate to it. On the other hand, I have enjoyed books like the Hannibal series, which I think are intended for a similar group.
I just don't think the book is very good, at least not in ways that I appreciate. The world-building is so minimal. The characters live in 'Angland'. Angland. One of their rival countries is the brutish northern barbarians. Another 'bad' country is the middle-eastern inspired country with a religion that isn't even pretending not to be Islam. I couldn't bring myself to care about what the characters were doing because I didn't care at all about the world. Half the characters were on some quest that I honestly forgot the point of, and the others were protecting "Angland" from themuslims uhhh, I mean the southern country.
One of the things about this book that was constantly praised was its "gritty and realistic" tone. I didn't see that. The writing was boring and just soooo simplistic. None of the fight scenes really drew me in, it wasn't particularly gritty to me, and I could have used more blood to be honest.
I will say, the only good part of the book, and the only reason it isn't 1 star, is (some of) the characters and their relationships. Glokta is a fun point-of-view and his chapters were usually interesting. I actually prefer Logan-bonding-with-Jezal scenes over Logan-killing-stuff scenes. And Jezal I think was the most fun of the bunch, because he actually did some growing. Everyone else was pretty stagnant, but Jezal went from a character I really didn't like in the first book to my favorite character. If he had been the main character, and the book had been about a pompous show fighter having to go on a real adventure and getting a taste of the real world and bonding with his hardened companions, I think I would have liked it a lot.
Maybe someday I'll finish the book just to see what happens to him. But not today.
P.S. Sorry Dad
This book really feels like it wasn't written for me. It feels like it was written for older white straight men and I just can't relate to it. On the other hand, I have enjoyed books like the Hannibal series, which I think are intended for a similar group.
I just don't think the book is very good, at least not in ways that I appreciate. The world-building is so minimal. The characters live in 'Angland'. Angland. One of their rival countries is the brutish northern barbarians. Another 'bad' country is the middle-eastern inspired country with a religion that isn't even pretending not to be Islam. I couldn't bring myself to care about what the characters were doing because I didn't care at all about the world. Half the characters were on some quest that I honestly forgot the point of, and the others were protecting "Angland" from the
One of the things about this book that was constantly praised was its "gritty and realistic" tone. I didn't see that. The writing was boring and just soooo simplistic. None of the fight scenes really drew me in, it wasn't particularly gritty to me, and I could have used more blood to be honest.
I will say, the only good part of the book, and the only reason it isn't 1 star, is (some of) the characters and their relationships. Glokta is a fun point-of-view and his chapters were usually interesting. I actually prefer Logan-bonding-with-Jezal scenes over Logan-killing-stuff scenes. And Jezal I think was the most fun of the bunch, because he actually did some growing. Everyone else was pretty stagnant, but Jezal went from a character I really didn't like in the first book to my favorite character. If he had been the main character, and the book had been about a pompous show fighter having to go on a real adventure and getting a taste of the real world and bonding with his hardened companions, I think I would have liked it a lot.
Maybe someday I'll finish the book just to see what happens to him. But not today.
P.S. Sorry Dad