Best Served Cold

Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie is a stand-alone novel set in the same world as Abercrombie's The First Law trilogy (a future re-read and review), and includes characters that debuted in the trilogy as well.

On the continent of Styria, a war is raging between city-states. Duke Orso of Talins is attempting to conquer Styria and proclaim himself king. His weapon is Monza Murcatto, who leads the Thousand Swords mercenary company with her brother, Benna. Monza, with a reputation for ruthless efficacy, has claimed many victories for Orso, and has destroyed a majority of his enemies. But the people of Talins love Monza, to the extent that Orso believes she and her brother intend to usurp him and take the crown for themselves. So Orso, with the help of a handful of others, betrays Monza and Benna. But while Benna is slain, Monza miraculously survives. And now, she wants revenge, and woe to all who stand in her way.

Best Served Cold is gruesome, violent, bloody, and a multitude of other descriptors. And every single one of them bad in a good way. Abercrombie's style of writing is obvious after reading The First Law, in the way he manages to capture in his prose the voice of the current point-of-view character. Every voice is unique, and identifiable, to the point where even were the characters not mentioned in the text, a reader would likely be able to pinpoint the speaker's identity. His characters are full of life, and even when unlikable they are likable (in the sense that you can see where they are coming from).

Abercrombie also writes action extremely well. Not overly descriptive, but never missing a beat, the action flows smoothly, and enables mental visualization so vivid that the scene could just as well be shown on the big screen. I'll include sex with the action, since that is pretty graphic (but again, not overly-so). The book isn't swarming with dicks and tits and sex-juices though (in fact, it only happens on a few occassions), so it shouldn't be enough to repel any but the most prudish of prudes.

If you've read The First Law, make sure you get his book. If you haven't read The First Law, you probably should, and then get this book.

Rating: Awesome

The Drawing of the Three and The Wise Man's Fear

I've been lazy about getting around to writing these, but since my last post, I've read three books. I'll write a full-length review for the one I read most recently, since it is fresh in my mind. Here are my short-length impressions of the other two:

The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King continues where The Gunslinger left off, and this time we follow Roland Deschain as he takes three portals to different times in our Earth, in order to learn about the three cards mentioned in prophecy: The Prisoner, The Lady of Shadows, and Death. New characters are introduced, including Eddie Dean, a man involved in the smuggling and use of drugs, and Odetta Holmes, a kind young woman relegated to a wheelchair by an accident in her past, who is not exactly as she initially seems.

This book is an improvement over The Gunslinger, in pace and characterization, and I managed to tear through most of this book at breakneck speed. However, in my opinion, the most exciting part of the book came in the first half, and slowed down after that point, not picking up very much even towards the climax. So while greatly improved over The Gunslinger, I can't give this book an "Awesome" rating, and must relegate it to a tier below.

Rating: Good

Next we have The Wise Man's Fear, by Patrick Rothfuss. I absolutely loved the first in his trilogy, The Name of the Wind (which has not been reviewed by me as of this post), and was hoping for a similar impact from this second installment. That didn't exactly happen, alas.

The Wise Man's Fear continues Kvothe's story at the University, but circumstances some ways through the book force Kvothe to take a break from his education there, and he goes on a side adventure, first to Vintas, a land with ancient noble lines, then to the Fae, led there by the legendary Felurian, then to Ademre, where the greatest mercenaries come from.

I liked this book. But didn't love. I came to dislike a few of the characters that I didn't originally, namely Denna, the subject of Kvothe's endless infatuation, and Kvothe himself (I hated Bast from the start). Their decisions, their feelings, it all seemed forced somehow—put into the book just to drive things out of whack, instead of being the result of a natural progression. Romance doesn't seem to be Mr. Rothfuss' strong suit. On the positive side, Kvothe's time in Ademre was extremely fun to read. On the neutral (unside?), Kvothe gets a lot of (completely unromantic) sweet ass (positive if you like that kind of thing, negative if you don't).

Here's to hoping Mr. Rothfuss can end his trilogy with a bang, instead of a fizzle.

Rating: Good