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A review by sonice
Half a War by Joe Abercrombie
4.0
3.5 stars. A satisfying enough conclusion, but compared to the other two SS books it falls into the middle of the pack. Slightly better than HaK, but nowhere near as good as HtW.
While being a neat idea - albeit not one I haven't encountered before - the whole Elf relic thing was fairly predictable and sort of hampered the stakes towards the last half. It was fun to read as we went along, trying to figure out exactly what modern structure or technology is being described by someone to whom this is all completely alien and fantastical. It had some major 'Broken Empire' vibes, which is a series I love. Just like in that series, ancient (or modern, to us anyway) lost technology plays a major part of the protagonists' success - however here I felt that it came across as a little...cheap? Hard to say exactly why, but at no point during the final battle did I feel like it wasn't going to be a complete blow out - which of course, it was.
The twist with Yarvi being the traitor in the group? I'm not someone who actively tries to solve these kinds of riddles right away; I'm more of an 'along for the ride' kind of reader. This, however, was just so obvious. So much so that when Skara calls him on it, my only reaction was "OK finally someone says it out loud".
It really came down to the characters (like most of Abercrombie's stuff) as well. My favourites from the last two were put into more of a supporting role in this one, and the new additions didn't have quite the same appeal. I needed more THORN. Having someone to root for, who makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up, who makes you fist-pump the air as you're following along with them - THAT'S what I wanted more of.
On the whole, I would still recommend this series to people, but I can see why people are mostly lukewarm about it.
While being a neat idea - albeit not one I haven't encountered before - the whole Elf relic thing was fairly predictable and sort of hampered the stakes towards the last half. It was fun to read as we went along, trying to figure out exactly what modern structure or technology is being described by someone to whom this is all completely alien and fantastical. It had some major 'Broken Empire' vibes, which is a series I love. Just like in that series, ancient (or modern, to us anyway) lost technology plays a major part of the protagonists' success - however here I felt that it came across as a little...cheap? Hard to say exactly why, but at no point during the final battle did I feel like it wasn't going to be a complete blow out - which of course, it was.
The twist with Yarvi being the traitor in the group? I'm not someone who actively tries to solve these kinds of riddles right away; I'm more of an 'along for the ride' kind of reader. This, however, was just so obvious. So much so that when Skara calls him on it, my only reaction was "OK finally someone says it out loud".
It really came down to the characters (like most of Abercrombie's stuff) as well. My favourites from the last two were put into more of a supporting role in this one, and the new additions didn't have quite the same appeal. I needed more THORN. Having someone to root for, who makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up, who makes you fist-pump the air as you're following along with them - THAT'S what I wanted more of.
On the whole, I would still recommend this series to people, but I can see why people are mostly lukewarm about it.