Review of Best Served Cold

	Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie 512pp (Hardcover) My Rating: 8/10 Amazon Rating: 4.5/5 LibraryThing Rating: 3.94/5 Goodreads Rating: 4.23/5

Best Served Cold is a stand alone novel by Joe Abercrombie set in the same world as his First Law trilogy with a different set of main characters. It takes place sometime after the end of the series, although I'm not sure exactly how much time has passed other than it must have been at least a couple of years. Although I enjoyed the First Law trilogy, I preferred Best Served Cold since it seemed tighter and better paced, for the most part.

Monza, the infamous leader of a band of mercenaries called the Thousand Swords, fights on the side of Grand Duke Orso of Talins in his war to become King of Styria. She and her brother Benna visit Orso to deliver the news of her latest victory, and as expected, Orso is greatly pleased by the tidings. However, Orso is not so grateful that he wishes to risk his throne being taken over by the two when he realizes Monza's popularity with the people far outreaches his own. Due to this potential threat, Orso has planned to have both of them murdered. Benna, who was never much of a fighter, is killed rather quickly and thrown from the terrace. After a struggle, Monza is thrown down the mountain where she lands atop her brother's dead body, and she survives even though she is terribly injured.

Once Monza recovers, all she can think about is vengeance and she will not rest until all seven men who were present during her attempted murder are as dead as her brother. For that purpose, she hires a small group of assorted men and women to help her with her cause - a master poisoner and his assistant, a former torturer, a convict fixated on numbers, a drunken ex-mercenary, and a Northman looking to make a new start in a new place as a better man. Together they plot to take down each of the seven men, one by one.

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Whether or not I would recommend beginning with Best Served Cold instead of the First Law trilogy depends on reader preference (and I wouldn't recommend either to readers who have issues with violence, language, sexual content, and reading about people who aren't exactly noble). Best Served Cold is a more tightly focused novel about vengeance (of course). The First Law trilogy is traditional epic fantasy with more magic, a wider view of the world, and larger scale events. Overall, I did prefer Best Served Cold to the First Law trilogy, but it also does have some parts that are more fun if you are familiar with characters from the previous novels. Also, starting with Best Served Cold then reading the trilogy means you may know some of how it ends, although I don't think there are enough details mentioned that any big events would be spoiled. Most of the references to major characters from the series are so vague that I suspect I would have forgotten about them by the time I went back and read the First Law had I begun with Best Served Cold. Of course, Best Served Cold is also shorter despite its length since it is self-contained rather than being composed of three volumes, each of which is longer than the previous one.

Best Served Cold follows a clearly defined structure for the entire novel once the prologue is complete. Each section is prefaced by a few pages about Monza and Benna's past, with each section revealing more about the two and how you may not know as much about them as initially thought. Due to this method of weaving past and present, the fun dialogue, the not-so-morally-good characters, and the early plot's focus on using more brains than brawn to reach an end goal, it reminded me a bit of The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch at first. Further into the book, there was a lot more focus on fighting and battles, though, and it reminded me less of Lies the more I read. The middle actually got a bit bogged down with too many fight scenes and it slowed the pacing down, but I tend to enjoy reading about battles of wits to battles involving weaponry, so perhaps others won't feel those parts dragged out as much as I did.

Like the First Law trilogy, most of the characters are not people you would want to be friends with since they are on nobody's side but their own. In spite of that (or perhaps because of that, depending on your point of view), they are all very interesting and fun to read about, particularly since the banter between them is very entertaining and often made me laugh out loud. They each have their own little quirks, such as the mercenary who lived for drink, and the Northman who ended up as a part of Monza's set of hired killers when he came to Styria to get away from killing. What I particularly enjoyed about the characters (in addition to their cynical but oftentimes hilarious outlook on life) was the way in which they were presented. Some of them are revealed to in fact be far better than they appear the more you read - while others end up being far worse. (Even so, none of them are exactly angels - they are all part of a group of hired killers, after all.) Yet I never got the impression that any of them were pure evil but rather a product of circumstances, their past and present situations. They were just doing the best they could to survive in a harsh world where the law is every man for himself.

Best Served Cold is a darkly humorous tale of vengeance filled with schemes and skirmishes. The characters are not models of goodness but also did not seem too despicable since they all had reasons for their behavior. They were certainly amusing enough to keep it from feeling too depressing even when events were not turning out in their favor.

8/10

Read the Prologue

Other Reviews:

• Fantasy Book Critic
• Fantasy Book News & Reviews
• Graeme's Fantasy Book Review
• Neth Space
• Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
• The Wertzone

Last Argument of Kings

Right now I've only read one book that I haven't given at least the mini-review treatment - Last Argument of Kings, the conclusion to Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy. Since I read it about a month and a half ago now, I'm not going to review it. I put that one to the back of the review queue when I was busy with wedding planning then getting caught up once that was over, figuring the world didn't really need yet another review of this novel (as you'll see if you scroll down to the links below) and that anybody who had read the first two probably had a pretty good idea of whether or not they wanted to read the final volume in the series (which should definitely be read before this book, starting with The Blade Itself and followed by Before They Are Hanged). Plus I'm a little over halfway through Abercrombie's latest novel, Best Served Cold, right now and will most likely be discussing it in relation to the series in that review.

So I'm just going to say a little bit about the series in general and link to some of the aforementioned numerous reviews for anyone who does indeed want to read a review of Last Argument of Kings.

The First Law trilogy is a partially serious, partially humorous epic fantasy series in the tradition of the trend toward "gritty" fantasy. (Yes, I used that word. Oh well, I'm straying from my review rules in this and just saying whatever comes to mind and not rereading it 100 times and revising it. Note: Haha, that was funny of me as I am writing this sentence after reading it for about the tenth time.)

On the outside, it may seem a little bit like stock fantasy but what sets it apart is the way in which it is told, although I still wouldn't say it's one of the best fantasy series I've ever read. It's full of dark humor and is very readable. For the first part of each book, it didn't seem like a lot was happening plot-wise, but the characters themselves and their cynical observations kept me reading. The part I really enjoyed in the latter part of the series is the way the author started out with a fairly standard predictable, fantasy plot and then took it in a different direction.

Although I found these fun to read, they are not for everyone - especially those who prefer to stay away from books with violence, bad language, and sexual content. I also would not recommend them to people who enjoy likable characters who tend to do the right thing. If you are looking to read uplifting stories about heroics, nobility, and the goodness of human nature, these are not for you, and the final volume is the most depressing of the three.

Now I need to get back to reading Best Served Cold so I can review that one soon. I was hoping to have it finished by Wednesday (the US release date) but that didn't happen so I'm hoping to finish it this weekend instead. If only I could read faster... Now, for the promised links of actual reviews of Last Argument of Kings (conveniently found on the review index on Fantasy Book News & Reviews, with the exception of Jeff's own review):

• Adventures in Reading
• Bill Ward
• The Deckled Edge
• Fantasy Book News and Reviews
  
• Graeme's Fantasy Book Review
• Grasping for the Wind
• Neth Space
• Sandstorm Reviews
• Speculative Horizons
• Strange Horizons
• The Wertzone

SFF News Tidbits/Update

Orbit announced today that Little, Brown UK announced the audio version of Transition by Iain M. Banks will be available as a free podcast beginning on September 3, its publication date. Banks is best known for his series of science fiction novels set in the Culture universe, but he writes some science fiction novels not set in the Culture and this is one of them (he also writes mainsteam fictions as Iain Banks). I've read two of the Culture novels, The Player of Games and Use of Weapons, and absolutely loved them both. They were simultaneously intelligent and entertaining, and The Player of Games was one of my very favorite books I read last year. I really want to read some more of the Culture novels, and Against a Dark Background sounds intriguing, too.

This week over at Babel Clash, the new Borders Sci-Fi book blog, fantasy authors Joe Abercrombie (author of the First Law trilogy and Best Served Cold) and Brent Weeks (author of the Night Angel trilogy) have been virtual brawling. I almost missed this because my RSS feed for this blog had stopped working, but fortunately, I heard about it in time to catch it - it has been a most entertaining debate.

Speaking of Best Served Cold, that's what I'm reading right now. It's already out in some countries, and it will be out in the US on July 29 (although I've heard Amazon is already shipping it). Best Served Cold is a stand alone book set in the same world as the First Law trilogy. So far, it's pretty good - although, like First Law, it's not something I'd recommend to people who like characters with tendencies toward goodness and heroics and all that jazz.

I'm halfway through a review of Archangel by Sharon Shinn and hope to have that up in the next couple of days. It's almost the weekend; I always have more brain power for writing reviews then.

Guest Review of Before They Are Hanged

	Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie 539pp (Paperback) My Rating: 7/10 Amazon Rating: 4.5/5 LibraryThing Rating: 4.24/5 Goodreads Rating: 4.34/5

Joe Abercrombie's Before They Are Hanged is the middle book in his First Law trilogy, following The Blade Itself and preceding Last Argument of Kings (which has an official US launch date of Sept. 23, but is already available from some outlets). Much like The Blade Itself, Hanged is a book that I enjoyed reading for reasons I don't entirely understand. When viewed separately its components all seem to be between weak and average, but the whole is more than the sum of its parts and it has left me eagerly awaiting the final book in the trilogy.

Having joined forces in the previous book, Logen (21 lvl. human berzerker), Ferro (23 lvl. fey fighter), Bayaz (30 lvl. demi-human mage NPC) and Luthar (5 lvl. human dumbass) set off on a quest to the literal end of the world. They are seeking a weapon of great power, though exactly what that weapon is only becomes clear once they are well on their way. What is known, though, is that they need the weapon to fight Khalul, a rival of Bayaz who has set himself up as a false prophet in the South and is the power behind the growing Gurkish Empire.

Sand dan Glokta, now Superior of the Royal Inquisition, finds himself on the frontlines of the battle with the Gurkish. He has been tasked with the impossible: defend an isolated city on a distant continent with no money, no reinforcements, and a possible conspiracy among the ruling council to hand the city over to the Gurkish. The reason for the lack of reinforcements is that a second a war in the North is also raging, which is where we find Major West in a different, though almost as difficult, situation. He must defend the northern borders from both barbarian invaders and the vastly incompetent crown prince Ladisla who, for better or mostly worse, has taken control of a third of the defending army.

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Before They Are Hanged is a bit of a mystery for me. Without question, it was a fun read. But exactly what made it good is hard to pin down. The story is fairly standard, with no outstanding features or particularly unusual spin to distinguish it from the run-of-the-mill fantasy novel. As I implied above, the characters are also mostly stock. This does not mean that they are without depth and complexity, but even there the depth is the same sort of depth you often find in their character archetypes. I even found the twist ending to be predictable in outcome, if not the exact mechanism used to achieve that outcome.

And yet...I liked it. In fact, I read it from cover to cover in one day. The characters and relationships are well executed, particularly Glokta, who I found to have both the most compelling personality and subplot in the book. While the quest largely turns into an excuse for extended exposition on the backstory of the world and the northern war stalls for time until its conclusion in the next book, Glokta's political, martial, and personal battles in the city of Dagoska keep the book afloat during all of the setup in the other two major subplots. It is also the closest view Abercrombie gives to the central threat overarching all of the plotlines, the violation of the rules of magic.

In Dagoska we can see the effect of Khalul's violation of the Second Law and the great power the violation has granted his forces. Bayaz's storytelling during his quest provides an example of what can go wrong when you violate the laws and shows why his intended violation of the First Law of Magic (which, surprisingly, is not "Don't talk about magic") is so dangerous, but only through Glokta's subplot do we see why the Second Law violation is a threat when it is done correctly. Maybe this is why I see Glokta's story as the most successful in the book; it advances the larger story through action instead of exposition and does so in a well-paced, interesting way.

Before They Are Hanged appears to be a standard middle book in an epic-fantasy trilogy, but it is well executed and entertaining to read. Though slow in places, there is enough plot progression to show glimmers that the final book, Last Argument of Kings, may break out of this mold and provide an exceptional story that is on par with the execution and writing in Hanged. I'd recommend reading Hanged on its on merits, but if Kings can follow through the series may become a must-read for fantasy fans.

7/10

Before They Are Hanged Now Available

Before They Are Hanged, the second book in Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy, was supposed to be released in the U.S. on March 25. Maybe it still is in most stores, I don't know. However, Amazon actually has it in stockas of today.

I really enjoyed the first book in the trilogy, The Blade Itself, so I think I may have to head over there and order myself a copy. It was nothing ground-breaking, but it was enjoyable with interesting characters.

As always, free shipping is a must so maybe I'll order The Well of Ascension while I'm there...

Review of The Blade Itself

	The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie 531pp (Paperback) My Rating: 8.5/10 Amazon Rating: 4/5 LibraryThing Rating: 4.14/5 Goodreads Rating: 4.15/5

The Blade Itself, Joe Abercrombie's debut novel, is the first book in The First Law trilogy. The final book in the trilogy (The Last Argument of Kings) will be released in the UK in March 2008, and the second book in the trilogy (Before They Are Hanged) will be released in the U.S. in March 2008. According to Abercrombie's blog, The Last Argument of Kings will most likely be released in the US in September 2008 which I was happy to hear because it is not nearly as long a wait as I had been expecting it to be. I keep hearing that it's the best book in the series and The Blade Itself was already rather good, especially considering it was a first-time novel.

Logen, a barbarian warrior known as the "Bloody-Nine" for his fighting prowess and nine remaining fingers, finds himself and his cooking pot the only survivors of his village after a fight against the Shanka. Since the North is becoming overrun by these creatures and his family and friends are all gone, Logen decides he may as well travel south. While he is camping, a half-dead wizard's apprentice visits the barbarian carrying the message that his master Bayaz, the First of the Magi, is summoning him. Tired of controlling his own destiny and seeing no more enticing options, Logen brings the apprentice back to Bayaz.

Glokta, a nobleman, was a fine swordsman destined for glory, but a war and time as a prisoner in the opposing side's torture chamber changed all that. Now a cripple missing half his teeth, Glokta has joined the Inquisition and is himself a torturer, although he often questions why he does it. The torturer becomes a pawn in the Inquisition's political scheming when the Arch Lector promotes him. Eventually, Glokta is given the task of watching Bayaz and obtaining proof that he is an imposter - after all, everyone knows the First of the Magi must be long dead by now.

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The Blade Itself is somewhat traditional fantasy, but it is also not completely standard fantasy fare. There are warriors, mages, battles, a kingdom, and a prophecy; however, the lines between good and evil are somewhat blurry and there is more realism than in a lot of typical fantasy. For instance, Logen is not a handsome warrior who makes women swoon - he's hideous with scars and a face that's been pretty beat up over the years as he has been involved in fights.

This story is more about the characters than the plot. Personally, I rather enjoyed that aspect of this novel, but I have read a few complaints about the beginning just being a long character introduction and nothing happening until later in this book. It is true that the actual story takes some time to get going, but the well-written characters and the wry, sardonic humor prevalent in their points of view kept me reading even without a lot of action and plot developments. Also, some of the characters who show up less often may seem irrelevant to the story for a little while. Toward the end, the story did begin to come together and there was more actually happening, but some may find the book difficult to get into if character-driven stories are not their kind of book.

The prose was not overly florid but crisp, which is just right for a character-driven epic fantasy. It seemed very quality and fluid - there were not many awkward phrases or typos distracting me from the story. The thoughts of the characters are interjected throughout the story, but I did not find it jarring or out of place. It painted a very clear picture of the people in the book and I found very early in the story that I wasn't just reading the dialogue, but I could hear the tone of voice used and see the facial expressions of each of the characters as they spoke.

Not only were the characters well-developed but they made the story. The three main point of view characters - Glokta, Jezal, and Logen - were very human, flawed yet likable. Abercrombie really got into the head of each character and gave them each their own quirks and personalities, making them feel very real and alive.

This story would not fall into the category of comedic fantasy, but there is a lot of humor prevalent throughout the story. The phrasing, the character's thoughts, and the descriptions of some of the minor characters like the king and the lord chancellor were thoroughly entertaining.

The Blade Itself is an impressive debut novel and I look forward to reading the sequels. It may take a while for events to develop, but the characters and brand of humor certainly made it a worthwhile book that was hard to put down in spite of a slow beginning.

8.5/10

U.S. Releases to Look Forward To

I realized that when I made the list of forthcoming books the other day, I forgot about a couple of books that are out in Canada and the UK that I've really been looking forward to seeing here in the U.S. since I've heard good things about both. It still makes me wish I were British sometimes - they even got Fool's Fate by Robin Hobb first when it came out and she's an American author.

Winterbirth, #1 The Godless World by Brian Ruckley

Amazon US (available September 10)
Amazon Canada
Amazon UK

The Blade Itself, #1 The First Law by Joe Abercrombie

Amazon US (available September 30 - although some copies are available through other sellers now)
Amazon Canada
Amazon UK