Half a King (Shattered Sea #1)

Say one thing about half a king. say that it\’s not as good as the first law.

Perhaps Joe Abercrombie is a little weary of seeing the word \”gritty\” attached to his name in every other review, however accurate it may be. But formulaic is not an alternative to gritty; it\’s just…formulaic. Most of this book you have read before. Admittedly Abercrombie does it at least as well and mostly better than others, but it is impossible not to sigh and wonder why he decided to attend the party without his best clothes on. Still, reweaving old threads into a costume which is perhaps somewhat more stylish than the original demonstrates skill, albeit little inspiration. Less wise was his impulse to rework a peerless piece of stitching (a scene from Hamlet) and leave it hanging tattered on the rack. The advice comics give to their peers, \”If you are going to steal, steal from the best,\” is not necessarily good counsel for writers. All that being said, this is still Abercrombie, and his second or third best work is well worth reading. The ending, in particular, is very well crafted (will we have to wait until a sequel or two have come and gone before we can get you fully back, Joe?), and I was never really bored or confused. I certainly do not regret the credit, though I was also never astonished, never shocked, never terrified, never convulsed with laughter, never deeply moved, never transfixed by an image. Much more tender, much less muddy. But oh how the mighty have fallen. An extra star off for the descent from the heights, I\’m afraid. John Keating does a perfectly creditable job with the narration. Stephen Pacey or Michael Page, as much as I admire them both, would have been poor choices for this wide-eyed, coming of age story. Keating uses a variety of Scots, Irish and English dialects to set and identify the characters, and he only occasionally misses a meaningful inflection. It is strange hearing him read Abercrombie only because this is not the JA we are all used to.

Maybe it\’s unfortunate that Joe Abercrombie set the bar so high with his previous books, but this was a woeful anticlimax. Having come to expect masterly character development I found these characters rather weak, not believable in the same way as Glokta and the Bloody Nine. Perhaps my review could have gained another star had the narrator been Steven Pacey, but this reader was not into the story in the same way.

I love Joe Abercrombie books and have read them repeatedly, but to my great disappointment the narrator made this one very hard to get through. His voice is one note and does not provide a good character depth. The story itself was a very good one and I would like to eventually read again, but not through the same means.

YOU CANNOT EXPECT ALL HEROES TO SURVIVE A GOOD SONG This is way different then any other book Joe has written. I believe it is meant to be a YA novel. Less violence, no sex and not as dark. I still enjoyed the writing, the wit and the humor. YOU MAY NEED TWO HANDS TO FIGHT SOMEONE, BUT ONLY ONE TO STAB THEM IN THE BACK. If you don\’t read this through to the end you might think it was FORMULAIC or if you are only listening with one ear. Those who listen with both ears, will hear the truths embedded in this story. The truths about friendships or lack of, about ambition, about the people and about the Rulers. A MINISTER NEVER SAYS NO, IF THEY CAN SAY PERHAPS. This is a good book for Teens to read. It does not include the usual happy ending, elves, magic or everything always works out best for those who deserve it that they get in other books. Abercrombie includes in this YA book, the lessons he teaches in his adult novels without all the blood and gore and that is that life is rough and does not always turn out roses and sunshine. STRANGE HOW QUICKLY A KING CAN TURN INTO AN ANIMAL I like any book that shows Kings and Queens for what they truly are. The biggest bullies around. I also like a book that has not so perfect main characters. At first Yarvi seems to be a whinny baby about his hand (as would be expected from a member of royalty). The common man would figure out how to compensate for this deformity. With the lack of medical care and the hard life they lived, most common people would have some sort of handicap. A king to be would probably be a whinny baby. I also like a book that has some surprising twists and turns and this has plenty. THE LAST DOOR OPENS FOR YOU As many others have mentioned this narrator sucks. One reviewer put it best when he said he has only one note. One Note Keating. After having trouble telling characters apart and realizing that lots of the humor was sucked out by this narrator, I put him on fast speed. I found I could tell the characters apart better this way. After an hour or two of this I went back to regular speed and found that now that I knew the characters better I could tell them apart despite One Note Keating. His sad performance lowers the overall experience of this book, buy the hard cover. I will not listen to the next book, since One Note is screwing that one up also.

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