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A review by diarmuid
A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie
4.0
A great return to the First Law universe and FINALLY getting back to Adua, the Union, and some of our favorite characters from the original trilogy. Don't get me wrong, I adored the standalone trilogy, but there's a certain excitement that comes of knowing we'll have three books in a row to tell one single story.
I was a bit worried going in, as the jump to the "next generation" is often fraught and rarely succeeds, but Abercrombie pulls it off with aplomp. The (adult) children of some of our previous POV characters are all very well fleshed out, with Sabine and Orso in particular being great. Worthy successors to their fathers (or, just the one father as it turns out). Seeing Glokta and Jezal again absolutely brought a smile to my face, especially with how successful they both are now. Bayaz returning to mastermind everything and seeing how scared the OGs are of him is just *chefs kiss*. The quality of writing is as great as usual, probably better as Abercrombie is more experienced now.
My only (minor) gripes with the novel are on plot, although it is perhaps not fair as it's only the first in a trilogy. Gurkel is just zero threat now (I know it collapsing offpage is very on brand for the series, but still) and the built up threat of Styria in the standalones and Sharp Ends is nowhere to be seen other than the rear view mirror. Instead, we get a war in . . . wait for it . . . The North! How original. Joe, this is the fifth book out of seven you've had a war in the north. It's time to mix it up.
The revolution in Valbeck was great though. I love the industrial revolution mixed with age of revolution thing he's going for here. I am intrigued to see where it goes next after being "crushed". Although I did dislike that when Valbeck was in full swing we stayed focused on it the whole way through, I felt a break to go somewhere else would have been welcome.
Finally, the book continues for a good 3-4hr after it should end, with the conclusion of hostilities. I get that he wanted to push it up to the new kings, but it meant the last few hours were fairly meandering and I was just waiting for the book to end so I could move on to something else. That's not to say they weren't a good few hours, far from it, but just felt unnecessary putting them in at the end here to take the wind out of the sails and kill the momentum. It does, however, leave us in a good spot for the next book. And of course, this is a trilogy, so it gets some slack for that, and it's a little unfair to judge it on its own.
On the POVs, as I mentioned earlier Sabine and Orso were standouts. Rikke is interesting, I like the long eye, and Leo has a good story (although he gets to be quite insufferable as it goes on). Broad is a nice addition as a "common man". Clover is a little annoying, it's good to have a POV in that camp but I don't care for his character all that much. And if he's such a great old warrior, why have I never heard of him? His ending does set him up to be potentially more interesting going forward though.
Overall, I had a great time with this book. I don't think it quite hits the highs of the original trilogy so far, but considering how difficult it is to write a compelling sequel with a reason for it to even exist, Abercrombie has done a damn good job.
I was a bit worried going in, as the jump to the "next generation" is often fraught and rarely succeeds, but Abercrombie pulls it off with aplomp. The (adult) children of some of our previous POV characters are all very well fleshed out, with Sabine and Orso in particular being great. Worthy successors to their fathers (or, just the one father as it turns out). Seeing Glokta and Jezal again absolutely brought a smile to my face, especially with how successful they both are now. Bayaz returning to mastermind everything and seeing how scared the OGs are of him is just *chefs kiss*. The quality of writing is as great as usual, probably better as Abercrombie is more experienced now.
My only (minor) gripes with the novel are on plot, although it is perhaps not fair as it's only the first in a trilogy. Gurkel is just zero threat now (I know it collapsing offpage is very on brand for the series, but still) and the built up threat of Styria in the standalones and Sharp Ends is nowhere to be seen other than the rear view mirror. Instead, we get a war in . . . wait for it . . . The North! How original. Joe, this is the fifth book out of seven you've had a war in the north. It's time to mix it up.
The revolution in Valbeck was great though. I love the industrial revolution mixed with age of revolution thing he's going for here. I am intrigued to see where it goes next after being "crushed". Although I did dislike that when Valbeck was in full swing we stayed focused on it the whole way through, I felt a break to go somewhere else would have been welcome.
Finally, the book continues for a good 3-4hr after it should end, with the conclusion of hostilities. I get that he wanted to push it up to the new kings, but it meant the last few hours were fairly meandering and I was just waiting for the book to end so I could move on to something else. That's not to say they weren't a good few hours, far from it, but just felt unnecessary putting them in at the end here to take the wind out of the sails and kill the momentum. It does, however, leave us in a good spot for the next book. And of course, this is a trilogy, so it gets some slack for that, and it's a little unfair to judge it on its own.
On the POVs, as I mentioned earlier Sabine and Orso were standouts. Rikke is interesting, I like the long eye, and Leo has a good story (although he gets to be quite insufferable as it goes on). Broad is a nice addition as a "common man". Clover is a little annoying, it's good to have a POV in that camp but I don't care for his character all that much. And if he's such a great old warrior, why have I never heard of him? His ending does set him up to be potentially more interesting going forward though.
Overall, I had a great time with this book. I don't think it quite hits the highs of the original trilogy so far, but considering how difficult it is to write a compelling sequel with a reason for it to even exist, Abercrombie has done a damn good job.