The Heroes

            When it comes to the work of Joe Abercrombie, I tend to be a little overzealous in my praise of it.  When I first wrote my reviews of the First Law Trilogy and Best Served Cold I was still fairly fresh off his work and was still overzealous in my praise.  While my scores of Best Served Cold and The Blade Itself haven't changed I would change the rating of the remaining two.  Looking back at it, I would give Before they are Hanged 9 out of 10 and Last Argument of the Kings 9.5 out of 10. 

            I think anyone who has read his work knows that his stories are very character driven, more focused on their lives and how the event of the story affect them rather than actual plot.  As a result, you always get great cast of characters who are very dynamic and diverse, often coming into full circle at the end of the story.  The trade off for this, however, is that the main story lines tend to be a bit thin.  While they are full of a lot of great head turning twists and the way they are taken is always fresh, they're nothing revolutionary.  This was something I felt needed to be addressed.  The books are still great but that was something I felt I had to mention.   

            With that said, it's time for the Illusive One's Review of his latest book The Heroes.  It was released back in January in the U.K., and in February in the U.S., but I only got it in April and finished it in May.  Why did I wait so long to do a review on it?  I don't know, but here it is now.  For those of you haven’t read the First Law Trilogy or Best Served Cold, I would recommend skipping this review as it contains spoilers for them. 

            The book takes place about seven years after the end of Last Argument of the Kings.  After Logan Ninefingers' apparent death at the hands of Black Dow, Dow took over the North as “Protector of the North”.  For reasons never entirely explained the war between the Union and the North started up again in full earnest.  Neither side has been able to gain an upper hand, as the Union hasn't been able to draw Dow into a decisive battle and the North can't drive the Union out.

            The Magi Bayaz, however, finally gets sick of these delays and offers the Union Commander Kroy a choice: End the war before the campaign season ends or he'll have the Union Government pull their forces out of the North.  After realizing the Union is heading for their capital, Black Dow gathers his forces and heads to intercept the Union Army and both sides collide in a Valley of Osrung,

            Now this is where things start to get interesting.  Ninety percent of the book actually takes place in a time span of three days.  Much of it is the battle itself and just as much is about the planning of the battle, camp life, and how the war is affecting the characters.  Now that may not sound very interesting, but it is executed perfectly.  What really makes it work is that it contains protagonists and points of views from both sides.  You want to see each character make it through this battle and want to see both sides win but know that this can't happen.

            The main three protagonists are the ones who make it all work.  The first of these is Bremer dan Gorst, a disgraced master swordsman.  He was actually a character introduced in the First Law Trilogy and became one of Luthar's body guards and the closest thing he had to a best friend.  During the events of Best Served Cold, however, Monza's revenge mission took her to a whore house that Luthar was at.  Long story short, the whore house burned down and a lot of people were killed and Gorst was the scapegoat.

            Now that's just back story.  He now views himself as a man with nothing to lose and everything to gain.  Off the battlefield he just seems like a spiteful ass hole, (or at least he is in his head), but on the battlefield he is the biggest badass there is.  The fight scenes told from his point of view are the best and the guy is like a damn machine.  No one can stop him and no one can beat him and he is a hell of a character in this regard.  He loves fighting, he's the best at it, and he knows it.  Throughout the book, several champions of the North are introduced and the fights between them and Gorst keep you in suspense and on the edge of you seat, (although they did have a few unexpected results).  There were, however, two major problems I had with this character.  The first was that there was one person I really wanted to see him fight but unfortunately it never happened.  I won't tell you who it was but if you read this book and Best Served Cold, you'll know exactly what I mean.  The second is that he is kind of a static character.  He doesn’t change at all and remains the same throughout the entire book and that may put some people off.

            Then we have “Prince” Calder.  The opening more or less explains his character; Prince Calder isn't interested in honor, and still less in getting himself killed.  All he wants is power, and he'll tell any lie, use any trick, and betray any friend to get it.  Just as long as he doesn’t have to fight for it himself.  That about sums it up.  He was another character originally introduced in First Law, as the son of the King of the North Bethod who was killed by Logan Ninefingers towards the end of Last Argument of the Kings.  His character is actually pretty interesting as he is more of a thinker and a diplomat then a fighter which is in direct contrast with Northern culture.  It's interesting to see how he interacts with people who have no respect for him and would rather see him dead.  He's one character who goes through dramatic changes but how and why is something you'll have to read the book for.

            Last we have Cunder Craw, a veteran fighter of the North.  He comes off as being the world weary member of the characters; one who has spent all of his life fighting with next to nothing to show for it.  He's at the point of his life where all he thinks about is his past and what may have been and what he thinks he should have done.  Other than that, there isn't much to say about him as he is the least interesting of the three, though he does go through a good amount of development.

            Then we have a number of minor characters who were great if not as good as the main three.  First you have Beck, a young man fresh off the farm.  He's basically doing what every kid dreams of doing; going into battle and claiming glory for himself but finds that it's not all its hyped up to be.  Another interesting one is Finree dan Brock, daughter of Kroy and wife to a Union Colonel who is venomously ambitious.  The last and best of all, however, is Corporal Tunny.  This guy is just a trip.  He's one of the worst soldiers in the Union Army, yet he has survived and been in more wars then most people his age have.  He's a war profiteer and is just hilarious.  In the book, he has to mentor a number of fresh, clueless recruits who have no idea what they’re in for.  Beneath his funny lines and abrasive personality, he seems to have uncovered a kind of wisdom about the army and society in general that most people never do.  His character isn't the biggest badass around and he's not the smartest either, but he is still probably one of the best fantasy characters ever created.

            As with all of Abercrombie's previous books, it had great characters and great fight scenes.  However, in this book it seems like he finally perfected the fights as they are more vivid, more intense, and still place you in the character's shoes.  The constant shifting of point of views between sides was something that kept the book intriguing and kept you from rooting for either side and was a brilliant move on Abercrombie's part.  Within this book, I also found the exception to my Red Shirt Character Cliché, (see my January Top Ten Biggest and Least Favorite Fantasy Clichés for more details).  Within this book was one of the most surreal chapters I have ever read.  In it, the story is told through the point of view of a random soldier who is killed by another soldier and the point of view shifts to killer who is then killed by another solder and the point of view shifts again and it goes on in this fashion until the end of the chapter.  It was probably one of the best chapters I have ever read in any book and was something that I had to mention.

            The only criticism I have deals with the plot itself.  While it was incredibly well executed, just having it span over the course of a week and having most of it take place during a single battle isn't something that appeals to me.  It just seemed too small in the time scale department and felt more like the climax of a story rather than an entire story.  Also, it didn't have any head turning twists at the books end.  In previous books, it was always about the Magi using the nations of the world to fight their battles for them.  It was something that was never in your face and only subtly suggested and the end always would slam it in your face with a massive twist.  In this one, however, it was apparent from the start and the end twists weren't that shocking.

            Still if you like Abercrombie's previous books, I say give this one a read.  For what it is, it's a great piece fantasy literature.  It's certainly a lot better than all the campy crap that's out their but it's not as good as Best Served Cold or Last Arguments of the King.

All Around

9/10

My Final Thoughts on First Law

      Well, what else can I say about First Law and Best Served Cold that I already haven't?  First Law started off a bit slow but quickly picked up its pace, Best Served Cold was an all around masterpiece and his new book, The Heroes looks like it’s going to be a fast paced story will all of Abercrombie’s usual stuff.   The only warning I have about these books is that they are books written for adults.  They contain cursing, graphically described sexual parts, and the characters are disturbingly realistic and down to earth.  In these books, good and evil are points of view and there is no apparent line in between the two.  After reading these book, to me, everything else seemed clichéd, mediocre and tame in comparison and actually ruined a lot of other series for me because they couldn't measure up to these books.  So if you prefer fantasy like Shannara or Wheel of Time I would suggest staying away from this one.  But if you want something darker and more down to earth then check these out.  I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.  Until next time this is the Illusive One sighing off. 

 

Best Served Cold Review

            About a year after Joe Abercrombie completed The First Law Trilogy, he followed it up with what has proved to be his best work yet.  This is the Illusive One's Review of the standalone novel, Best Served Cold.

            This book, unlike First Law, takes place in a land known as Styria, a large island northeast of the Union, full of Dukedoms ever at war with each other.  After nineteen years of war, the Duke Orso of Talins has finally gained the upper hand against his rivals in the League of Eight and is now poised to make himself king of Styria.  And it's all thanks to his greatest mercenary commander, Monza Murcatto whose victories have made her a bit too popular for the Duke's taste.  Murcatto is betrayed, her brother killed and she thrown off a mountain but by some miracle survives leaving her with a burning desire for revenge against the seven men who killed her brother and tried to kill her. 

            Although it doesn’t fill in to many of the blanks left by Last Argument of the Kings, this is absolutely the greatest edition to the First Law World, (as far as I know the series has no official name).  It seems to take place two to five years after the end of Kings, and reveals that Styria has become a land for proxy wars between the Union and the Gurkish Empire. 

            It had a great plot full of twists with a terrific cast of characters.  While it does seem a little clichéd, it was executed so well that you don't see it that way at all.  As a friend of mine once said, a clichéd device can still be made great if in the hands of a good author.  Each of the men Monza attempts to kill requires a different approach to get to, a different set of skills to kill them and often frequently found herself within the ranks of her former enemies, trying to prevent Orso from solidifying his victory over the League of Eight.   All of these things kept what would normally be a boring story fresh with each section

            The characters in the book were also top notch and even surpass the ones from First Law.  Monza is at first a cynical, abrasive, bitch with no thoughts other then revenge.  As the story progresses however, we find that many of her sins of the past were in fact not her work but the work of her brother, either through negligence or treachery.  As she slowly makes her way up the list, she finds the act of killing the men harder and harder and frequently questions if they truly deserve to die.

            Then there's Caul Shivers the Barbarian.  He was originally introduced in Before They are Hanged as a leader of one of the disgruntled clans with a vendetta against Logan Ninefingers.  But in this book, like Logan, he is just trying to end his carrier in fighting and do some honest work for once in his life but finds that once your hands have been blooded, it's hard to get them clean again.  His character happens to be the most dynamic of the book as he slowly changes from a halfway decent man, to a psychopath far worse then what he was before.

            Other noteworthy characters include Friendly the mass murder, who has an obsession with numbers and is more than a little entertaining.  There is also Nicomo Cosca, a former mercenary leader with a history with Monza and another character introduced in Before They are Hanged.  At this point of his life he is a complete alcoholic who is one day away from dying in the gutter when Monza finds him and recruiters him in her vendetta.  Another member of Monza's group is Shylo Vitari, another character introduced in First Law and helps Monza for the money she is promised.  Another noteworthy character is Castor Morveer the treacherous poisoner with fickle loyalties and deadly intentions. 

            But my personal favorite out of all of these characters and probably my favorite fantasy character of all time is Shenkt the assassin. A man of few words, Shenkt is an assassin with unnatural powers who is the professional Orso sends to track down and kill Monza and her band of killers.  While his page time is short, he made a bigger impression on me than any other character in any other fantasy book.  He refuses to kneel to anyone and kills those who try to make him.  He states that he used to kneel but does not anymore, often referring to an unnamed master who taught him his skills as the reason for this.  At the same time, he gives his enemies one chance to walk away from a fight with him before tearing them to pieces and has a soft spot for orphaned children who remind him of his own tortured and mysterious past.

            In conclusion, this was, so far, the best of Joe Abercrombie's books.  Like his previous books it had a great plot, great characters, great fights, dark humor, great dialog and had great twists that kept your head spinning and I can't praise this book enough.  Unfortunately you need to read the First Law Trilogy before you can read this one, but it's worth the wait, so read them and check this one out.  You'll be glad you did.

All Around

10/10

           

                 

Last Argument of the Kings Review

            Well, it's time for me to give you my take on the last book in the First Law Trilogy.  It's the Illusive One's review of Last Argument of the Kings.

            Like the previous two books, this one has three different storylines.  The war continues to rage in the north and has slowed to a stalemate.  After returning from his journey west, Logan Ninefingers has returned to the north to settle some unfinished business with the King of the North, Bethod, his oldest friend and his oldest enemy.

            The second deals with Jezal dan Luthar, who, after returning from his journey west, has decided that soldiering, adventuring, and winning glory is too painful an undertaking.  Unfortunately for him, the Magi Bayaz has not yet finished with Luthar and glory has a nasty habit of sneaking up on a man when he least expects it.

            In the third, Superior Glokta has returned to the Union and once again finds himself trying to prove Bayaz is a fake.  Unfortunately for him, he has too little time and too many masters who all are at each other’s throats and sooner or later, Glokta will have to pick a side.

            While all of this is going on, the King of the Union lies on his deathbed, the peasant’s revolt and the nobles scramble to steal his crown.  None of them seem willing to believe that the shadow of Gurkish invasion is about to fall on the Union and only Bayaz knows how to stop it.  But there are risks and there is no risks greater then breaking the First Law.

            Like the previous installments in First Law, I have next to nothing bad to say about this book.  The characters come into full circle, the battles are just as epic as ever, it had a lot of dark humor, and there were so many twist that my head just kept on spinning during the last quarter of the book.  If I had any criticism with this book, it's that their seemed to be too many battles in it and this dominates most of the book.  It also left a few things hanging and there were a few characters whose fates you weren’t sure of and it made the ending a little frustrating.  On a final note, this was the book where Bayaz was revealed to be the villain he is, and if you read this book you will find out why he is my number one villain.

            Unfortunately this review and my first two don't give the books justice.  So check them out and enjoy them.

All Around

10/10

             

Before They Are Hanged Review

           Within a year of the release of The Blade Itself, its sequel, Before They are Hanged was released and this was where the series really got good.

            Like the previous book, it follows along three different storylines that deal with the characters that were introduced in The Blade Itself.  The first of these deals with Logan Ninefingers, Jezal dan Luthar, Ferro Maljinn, and Bayaz as they journey west to retrieve a weapon that will allow Bayaz to defeat his rival who threatens the Union Government.  In order to find this they must cross the anarchic territory of the Old Empire, through warring factions, ancient cites full of monstrous creatures, and across freezing and barren mountains.  The biggest problem, however, is that they all hate each other and it's up to Logan to try to form some kind of fellowship between the three before they all kill each other out of ignorant, bigoted hatreds.

            The second deals with Collem West, now a Colonel in the Union Army, as he tries to keep the Union army from falling apart in the war with the barbarian North Kingdom.  With him is a band of barbarian champions once led by Logan Ninefingers, a few clans of disgruntled barbarians who have no love for their king and army of raw solders who have no experience fighting in the north.  Against him, is an entire army of battle harden barbarians with unnatural creatures supporting them and a seemingly invincible giant fighting as their champion. 

            The third deals with Glokta who has been promoted to Superior Inquisitor of Dagoska; a fortress city on the edge of the Gurkish Empire.  He is assigned to discover what happened to the previous Superior while trying to repair and defend the city from an inevitable invasion by the Gurkish Empire and root out spies within.

            All around, it was a great improvement over The Blade Itself.  Abercrombie quickly rooted out the problems that existed in it, gave more depth to the characters and made the battles more epic in scale and I have nothing negative to say about it.  So check it out after you read The Blade Itself.

All Around

10/10

The Blade Itself Review

            Throughout my reviews, particularly with my fantasy book reviews, I have referenced an obscure fantasy series, known as the First Law Trilogy and its stand alone sequel, Best Served Cold by freelance film editor Joe Abercrombie.  His new book, The Heroes, is due for release later this month, and I thought that this would be an appropriate time to do a review on these books.  The first of these will be The Illusive One's review of The Blade Itself.

            I was first introduced to this series in September of 2009, when an acquaintance referred them to me, describing the protagonists as villains but ones you quickly grow attached to.  Over a year later, I now consider Abercrombie to be the greatest fantasy writer since Tolkien.

            The first of these books revolves around three central characters whose lives are about to be made extremely difficult by the Magi Bayaz.  The first of these characters is the barbarian, Logan Ninefingers.  With all of his friends and family apparently dead and banished from the recently formed North Kingdom, Logan is just trying to survive with enemies all around him and can only hope his luck holds out until he can join Bayaz for whatever task he wants him for.  He comes off as being the world weary veteran of the characters, who is no longer interested in glory but just wants to survive, even though fighting is all he knows. 

            The second of these characters, (and my personal favorite of the three), is Sand dan Glokta, an Inquisitor of the island based nation, known the Union.  During the first half of the book, Glokta attempts to convict a tax evading trading company of treason and will do all he can to achieve this goal.  During the second half, Glokta is assigned to prove that Bayaz is not the Magi he claims to be and finds his life greatly changed as a result. 

            He is a difficult character to describe.  Originally a war hero, Glokta was severely crippled after a battle with a middle-eastern type empire, known as the Gurkish Empire and was captured and tortured for two years.  He emerged from that war severely crippled, unable to walk straight and states that uncomfortable is as good as it gets for him.  He uses what he learned from his time being tortured for the Inquisition for no reason other than he has nothing else better to do with his life.  He is a character you try to be sympathetic with, but find it difficult because of the line of work he is in and he shows no empathy for it.

            The last of the major characters is nobleman Jezal dan Luthar.  Up until this point, his life had consisted of a cushy desk job in the army, seducing women of the common class, ripping his friends off in games of poker, and training for a dueling completion.  This guy is the most unlikable of the three and is a complete ass.  Like many other nobles of fiction, he believes he is superior to everyone in a lower class then he, is a dick to all those around him, including those who consider him a friend, and throughout the entire book you want to see Logan beat the shit out of him or Gloka torture him.

            Their were also a number of noteworthy supporting characters including Major Collem West who is the closest thing to a good man in this series.  Born a commoner, West rose through the ranks of the Union army after winning a dueling completion and becoming a war hero in the same war that crippled Glokta and was a formally his best friend.

            Their was also Ferro Maljinn, a psychotic woman and former slave who seeks vengeance on the Gurkish Empire  who is introduced during the second half of the book.  Other than that, nothing much is revealed about the character other then she is a skilled fighter.

            The only real criticism I have with this book is that it doesn’t reveal much in plot and it ends with the country going to war and gives no clue as to where the series is heading.  Other than that, it was all great.  I found the characters realistic, extremely complicated and were in no way the usual cookie cutter, two dimensional characters you see in most fantasy books.  The dialogue was realistic, believable, and continued cursing, which you never see in fantasy.  Last to address are the fight scenes in the book.  Like the characters and dialogue, they are realistic, believable, and above all, bloody with the characters getting exhausted and wounded.  You'd be surprised how rare that is in a fantasy book as well.

            All around, however, this book was easily the worst of Joe Abercrombie’s books and obviously the work of an amateur author but that's not saying much.  It's absolutely worth reading and from this point, the books just kept on getting better.

All Around

8.5/10

The Sword of Shannara Trilogy Verdict

My final take on The Sword of Shannara trilogy is one of mixed feelings.  Sword was an unforgivable ripoff of Lord of the Rings.  At the same time, however, I felt it was far more enjoyable then Lord of the Rings.  The Elfstones of Shannara was easily the strongest of the three in plot and protagonists.  Wishsong of Shannara was very close in quality as Elfstones but went back to that campy, feel good, everything’s going to be ok type ending.  At the same time it had some of the greatest characters ever put in a Shannara book.

            They all also seem to be among the founders of all the modern fantasy cliché.  These include, but are not limited, to a protagonist with royal ancestry, average Joe’s becoming heroes, and, the worst fantasy cliché ever, the protagonist getting captured.  In nearly every Shannara book this happens with little to no purpose, other than having an elaborate escape, or to introduce new supporting characters. This tradition would carry on to nearly every fantasy franchise that exists and is one of the most unforgivable things about the series.  Lord of the Rings may have been the first, but these were the books to really popularize these clichés. 

            If you're a hardcore fan of old Tolkien style fantasy then I say give these books and others by Terry Brooks a read.  If not, then skip them and go for books by Joe Abercrombie or Robert Jordan.  Until next time, this is The Illusive One saying “Thanks for Reading.”