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Book Review
Nov. 9th, 2013 11:18 pmBest Served Cold
by Joe Abercrombie
Abercrombie has gotten a lot of attention as one of the top writers of gritty, dark fantasy, and this novel ably demonstrates why. Best Served Cold is the story of Monzcarro Murcatto, a successful mercenary captain with a reputation for violence and ruthlessness. Unfortunately, her victories have made her and her brother/business partner a bit too popular, so their employer Duke Orso carries out a brutal assassination. However, despite being beaten, stabbed, and thrown down a mountain, Monzcarro survives and dedicates herself to pursuing vengeance against Duke Orson and the six other participants.
This was largely a good, entertaining read. Abercrombie is good at sustaining the narrative pace, and his action sequences are often really satisfying. The world-building is solid; I think the occasional thinness of description can be attributed that this is a stand alone follow-on to an earlier trilogy. The characters are also well-defined and while there isn't any deep character development, there is a sense of unfolding. The characters may not be changing to any significant degree, but there is always something new to learn about them. Also, I really, really liked that fact that Abercrombie did not use rape as a motivator, plot point, etc. It's mentioned that rape happens in this world (particularly in the context of war), but there is no on-stage rape, nor are there any serious rape threats or attempts. (There are two suggestions of it, but nothing I read as really going there.) I found it both refreshing and reassuring to see that an author can do gritty, dark, violent fantasy, and do it well, without rape.
My main complaint is that I think Best Served Cold is too long. I really think that Abercrombie could have trimmed some of the fighting and battle sequence. A couple of the minor ones could have been cut altogether and several other scenes could have been shortened. All the combat and violence got monotonous after a while. I actually got a little bored with it all. More importantly, there are some really interesting combat-related things that happen in the last third of the book that would have been much more effective if some of the previous fighting had been cut or shortened. There's some genuinely cool stuff in the climactic fight that could have made a much bigger impact.
by Joe Abercrombie
Abercrombie has gotten a lot of attention as one of the top writers of gritty, dark fantasy, and this novel ably demonstrates why. Best Served Cold is the story of Monzcarro Murcatto, a successful mercenary captain with a reputation for violence and ruthlessness. Unfortunately, her victories have made her and her brother/business partner a bit too popular, so their employer Duke Orso carries out a brutal assassination. However, despite being beaten, stabbed, and thrown down a mountain, Monzcarro survives and dedicates herself to pursuing vengeance against Duke Orson and the six other participants.
This was largely a good, entertaining read. Abercrombie is good at sustaining the narrative pace, and his action sequences are often really satisfying. The world-building is solid; I think the occasional thinness of description can be attributed that this is a stand alone follow-on to an earlier trilogy. The characters are also well-defined and while there isn't any deep character development, there is a sense of unfolding. The characters may not be changing to any significant degree, but there is always something new to learn about them. Also, I really, really liked that fact that Abercrombie did not use rape as a motivator, plot point, etc. It's mentioned that rape happens in this world (particularly in the context of war), but there is no on-stage rape, nor are there any serious rape threats or attempts. (There are two suggestions of it, but nothing I read as really going there.) I found it both refreshing and reassuring to see that an author can do gritty, dark, violent fantasy, and do it well, without rape.
My main complaint is that I think Best Served Cold is too long. I really think that Abercrombie could have trimmed some of the fighting and battle sequence. A couple of the minor ones could have been cut altogether and several other scenes could have been shortened. All the combat and violence got monotonous after a while. I actually got a little bored with it all. More importantly, there are some really interesting combat-related things that happen in the last third of the book that would have been much more effective if some of the previous fighting had been cut or shortened. There's some genuinely cool stuff in the climactic fight that could have made a much bigger impact.
