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A review by chasinggrace
The Devils by Joe Abercrombie
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Well, this was a trip. Gory and gruesome, self-indulgent and humorous, I have mixed feelings.
Abercrombie does bodily horror and monster conflicts very well. This is action-packed (AKA, the characters don’t get a break).
Speaking of the characters - given how many we follow, it took awhile for me to warm up to them. Granted, not many are supposed to be likable. But this took away from the story for me. I found myself skimming lines when a battle scene would be drawn out, or when each character would repetitively drone on and on (and they all tend to do so. Repetitively).
Unfortunately, I have just read too many books recently that center around a gaggle of characters traversing a large swath of land. There wasn’t much more that Abercrombie could have done to make that more enjoyable for me.
At about the 60% mark, I warmed up to a few (not all) of the squad (Sunny, Baptiste, and Alex). But I also saw the twists/betrayals coming from leagues away. So while some of the closing conversations were interesting to me (Balthazar and Severa for example), the ending couldn’t pull the weight for the rest of the book.
I see why people say that Abercrombie’s writing has humor. But similarly to Sanderson, I’m just not sure if it’s for me.
Abercrombie does bodily horror and monster conflicts very well. This is action-packed (AKA, the characters don’t get a break).
Speaking of the characters - given how many we follow, it took awhile for me to warm up to them. Granted, not many are supposed to be likable. But this took away from the story for me. I found myself skimming lines when a battle scene would be drawn out, or when each character would repetitively drone on and on (and they all tend to do so. Repetitively).
Unfortunately, I have just read too many books recently that center around a gaggle of characters traversing a large swath of land. There wasn’t much more that Abercrombie could have done to make that more enjoyable for me.
At about the 60% mark, I warmed up to a few (not all) of the squad (Sunny, Baptiste, and Alex). But I also saw the twists/betrayals coming from leagues away. So while some of the closing conversations were interesting to me (Balthazar and Severa for example), the ending couldn’t pull the weight for the rest of the book.
I see why people say that Abercrombie’s writing has humor. But similarly to Sanderson, I’m just not sure if it’s for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism