Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by zenandroid
Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie
4.0
Joe Abercrombie book. And that means grimdark.
There have been five novels I've read in the first law universe now; (this being the fifth, i read the heroes before this), the Ruthless Lord Grimdark has delivered each and every time the same flavor of intriguing, enthralling plot-driven, character-driven narrative that i come to expect, all wrapped with one of the most unexpected and welcome endings in a book I read.
Writing big, ambitious revenge plots in a living (sort of), breathing (if you squint), sprawling continent with a lot of complicated geopolitics may be hell, but for Joe Abercrombie, [Some adjective that isn't Lord GrimDark], [Some other adjective that isn't Lord GrimDark], it's a damn good way making money (which is the main goal of all this, from what i gather from some of his tweets). With little sub-plots that have far-reaching consequences, unexpected plot twists and backstabbings, cynical descriptions of cynical characters in cynical situations, you won't put this book down (well, you might if you're not into this sort of thing ...)
His narrative includes great characters, one of the 'main' ones of which is Caul Shivers, who has a damn good character arc here (or a damn horrifying one ...), some recurring guests, like Vitari (Glotka's assistant that one time, i don't remember the details of the original trilogy sadly), tragic characters also, like Cosca, whose as much of a witty drunkard as he is a petty plotter, Reevrom, who is a very intriguing character, a very hoity-toity sort of chap, quite unlikable too, but also has an ... interesting viewpoint, and, of course Monza, the main character of this here tome who is avenging herself as well as her brother from an evil, evil man (called Borso); these are only some of the characters, great plot, that twists and turns and is delivered very well, in that the plot developments happens right as the implication of the previous developments have all been well explained/exposed, so you never CAN feel bored.,poetic artistry, the weaving and delivery of which never fails to leave a shit-eating grin on your face, especially when it feels ... as if you're watching a well-plotted movie, and this syntactic artistry also helps serve some semantic meaning when it delivers some insight into the character's thought process, or when it outrights subverts your expectations and delivers a plot twist (or two) (if you know you know), a dénouement most magnificent, that is both fucking fantastic, and completely unexpected, and answers a few questions you never even knew you had, it all fits in so neatly and beautifully.
Joe Abercrombie book. And that means delight.
There have been five novels I've read in the first law universe now; (this being the fifth, i read the heroes before this), the Ruthless Lord Grimdark has delivered each and every time the same flavor of intriguing, enthralling plot-driven, character-driven narrative that i come to expect, all wrapped with one of the most unexpected and welcome endings in a book I read.
Writing big, ambitious revenge plots in a living (sort of), breathing (if you squint), sprawling continent with a lot of complicated geopolitics may be hell, but for Joe Abercrombie, [Some adjective that isn't Lord GrimDark], [Some other adjective that isn't Lord GrimDark], it's a damn good way making money (which is the main goal of all this, from what i gather from some of his tweets). With little sub-plots that have far-reaching consequences, unexpected plot twists and backstabbings, cynical descriptions of cynical characters in cynical situations, you won't put this book down (well, you might if you're not into this sort of thing ...)
His narrative includes great characters, one of the 'main' ones of which is Caul Shivers, who has a damn good character arc here (or a damn horrifying one ...), some recurring guests, like Vitari (Glotka's assistant that one time, i don't remember the details of the original trilogy sadly), tragic characters also, like Cosca, whose as much of a witty drunkard as he is a petty plotter, Reevrom, who is a very intriguing character, a very hoity-toity sort of chap, quite unlikable too, but also has an ... interesting viewpoint, and, of course Monza, the main character of this here tome who is avenging herself as well as her brother from an evil, evil man (called Borso); these are only some of the characters, great plot, that twists and turns and is delivered very well, in that the plot developments happens right as the implication of the previous developments have all been well explained/exposed, so you never CAN feel bored.,poetic artistry, the weaving and delivery of which never fails to leave a shit-eating grin on your face, especially when it feels ... as if you're watching a well-plotted movie, and this syntactic artistry also helps serve some semantic meaning when it delivers some insight into the character's thought process, or when it outrights subverts your expectations and delivers a plot twist (or two) (if you know you know), a dénouement most magnificent, that is both fucking fantastic, and completely unexpected, and answers a few questions you never even knew you had, it all fits in so neatly and beautifully.
Joe Abercrombie book. And that means delight.