Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie
I'm only going to give this book 2 stars because it was so gruesome. I don't usually mind gruesome if it advances the storyline, but in this book "gruesome" seemed to be the star. I absolutely loved Joe's "First Law" trilogy and that had gruesome parts as well, but the characters were the center stage. In this book, I think he could have curtailed a bit on the gory details and still got his point across. In the end I really didn't care who survived or who died. I put this book down too many times and only because of my stubbornness to read most books I start that this book was finished.
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I agree with you. I love Abercrombie's writing, but this was not only a bit too gruesome, but the revenge structure became tiresome about halfway through. The only redeeming quality (besides excellent use of POV) was the poisoner character (and even he was a bit caricatured).
ReplyDeleteStill, it was a worthy experiment. Abercrombie is nothing is not brave. His "The Heroes" was a return to form (for me).
Abercrombie takes books to a whole different level with this one. Every chapter makes you want to read more, until you slowly realize you are devouring this book. His characters stand alone and other writers(yes,even the old ones)could learn a thing or two from his style of character progression. His battle sequences are frighteningly realistic and he brings the carnage(meaning his characters aren't always in control of every battle or conflict,and that a stray arrow or spear does exsist in fantasy world.
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