JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

Half the World (Shattered Sea #2) by Joe Abercrombie

Sometimes a girl is touched by Mother War.
Thorn is such a girl. Desperate to avenge her dead father, she lives to fight. But she has been named a murderer by the very man who trained her to kill.

Sometimes a woman becomes a warrior.
She finds herself caught up in the schemes of Father Yarvi, Gettland’s deeply cunning minister. Crossing half the world to find allies against the ruthless High King, she learns harsh lessons of blood and deceit.

Sometimes a warrior becomes a weapon.
Beside her on the journey is Brand, a young warrior who hates to kill, a failure in his eyes and hers, but with one chance at redemption.

And weapons are made for one purpose.
Will Thorn forever be a pawn in the hands of the powerful, or can she carve her own path?

Half the World is more interesting and less cliché than the first book, Half a King. This book isn’t told from Yarvi’s point of view anymore. Although Yarvi is in the book, the main character (Thorn) is female, which I feel is rare in fantasy fiction, and she’s a badass son of a *****. She has some witty lines, come backs, and she’s confident. Thorn matures and strengthens her skills over the course of this novel, and Joe Abercrombie has written that gradual growth effectively. At times, she’s weak, and at other times, she’s strong. This sounds like a funny thing to comment on, but it’s easy for a writer to put a strong female character in a novel who doesn’t have any weaknesses. And that’s not believable. Thorn sometimes says this she shouldn’t and sometimes she’s overconfident. At times, this sets her back, believably so.

And this is what’s great about the Shattered Sea novels – all of the characters are flawed and sometimes deformed. Yarvi is half a king, and the other main character, Brand, is the opposite of Thorn. He doubts himself and he’s not a warrior. Over the course of the novel, he develops feelings for Thorn, and at first I thought this a little strange. I didn’t sense an attraction there in the first third of the novel. And then at the end of the novel when they…you know…I seemed a little jarred from it. It didn’t seem organic to have a sex scene between them in this novel.

This book felt like a lot of travel/journey to me, and although a lot of unexpected events occurred, it definitely felt like the novel was in place just to set things up to happen in the final novel, Half a War (due out in August 2015). I think Half the World, which is 500 pages, could’ve been trimmed down a bit. It definitely jumps between the characters a little too often.

I would recommend this to fiction and fantasy lovers, but make sure you read the first in the trilogy.

My Score: 8/10
Buy HERE

Half a King (Shattered Sea #1) by Joe Abercrombie

I swore an oath to be avenged on the killers of my father. I may be half a man, but I swore a whole oath
Prince Yarvi has vowed to regain a throne he never wanted. But first he must survive cruelty, chains and the bitter waters of the Shattered Sea itself. And he must do it all with only one good hand.

The deceived will become the deceiver
Born a weakling in the eyes of his father, Yarvi is alone in a world where a strong arm and a cold heart rule. He cannot grip a shield or swing an axe, so he must sharpen his mind to a deadly edge.

The betrayed will become the betrayer
Gathering a strange fellowship of the outcast and the lost, he finds they can do more to help him become the man he needs to be than any court of nobles could.

Will the usurped become the usurper?
But even with loyal friends at his side, Yarvi’s path may end as it began – in twists, and traps and tragedy…

Finally! A fantasy book that isn’t too heavy. I love the fantasy genre, but sometimes a journey doesn’t need to take 200 pages, nor does the description of lineage. And Joe Abercrombie’s Half a King is just over 300 pages, and is fast-paced and easy to read.

When I say ‘easy to read’, I mean that the story isn’t bogged down with too much description and detail, the main character is three dimensional and therefore relatable, and the events that occur in the novel are realistic and believable. Yarvi isn’t the most handsome or skilled protagonist, and that’s what makes the reader sympathetic towards him. We (the reader) are subjected to his thoughts, doubts and his insecurities, and we keep reading the book because of it.

Joe has written the crowded scenes well – when I say ‘crowded’ I mean scenes with around ten characters in it (also known as Yarvi’s oar buddies when he’s a slave on a ship). As a writer, it’s hard to capture ten different voices and make them stand out to the reader. It’s easy to overcomplicate the exchanges and have the reader confused and desperately flicking back and forth through the pages trying to understand who is saying what. I have great respect to Joe for being able to write those scenes in an easy-to-read way.

There is one negative thing I’ll note about the book. Sometimes the point of view jumps into other heads, which is unnecessary. Although the book is written in third person, it’s mostly focused on Yarvi, so we come to understand his thoughts and feelings. However, occasionally, other characters will be focused on and a sentence or two about their feelings will be featured. This jolts the reader a little and makes them detract themselves from the book.

I’d recommend this book not just for fantasy readers, but for YA readers as well. It’s amazing, and deserves a 10/10 rating. I look forward to reading the second in the series, Half the World (coming out in February 2015).

My Score: 10/10
Buy HERE