49 of 73 people found the following review helpful:
Abercrombie is here to stay
Best Served Cold, coming this June, is the fourth book from British fantasy wunderkind, Joe Abercrombie. Abercrombie, alongside Patrick Rothfuss and Scott Lynch, has spent the past three years redefining the fantasy genre - producing complex, stylish and character-driven books.
Abercrombie's first three books - The First Law trilogy - were perfect examples of...
40 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
A relentless bludgeoning
I usually enjoy the dirty realism of Joe Abercrombie's form of modern fantasy: Brutal violence instead of gallantry; shades of grey instead of good and evil; characters who swear real swearwords instead of muttering `by the three gonads of Zutheroth'; sex! It's all dragging the genre into some semblance of credibility and makes for good reading.
I usually enjoy the dirty realism of Joe Abercrombie's form of modern fantasy: Brutal violence instead of gallantry; shades of grey instead of good and evil; characters who swear real swearwords instead of muttering `by the three gonads of Zutheroth'; sex! It's all dragging the genre into some semblance of credibility and makes for good reading.
However, I felt it was all getting a bit OTT in `Best Served Cold'. At times I found the novel a real slog - I felt like all the spilled brains and loathsome characters were relentlessly bludgeoning me.
Here's the formula: Big fight scene, brains spilled, people die horribly, primary character questions their actions again, repeat.
As much as Monza was an interesting character in some ways, I never felt any empathy with her and she remained distinctly unlikeable throughout. It was interesting that the repeated questioning of her obsessive quest (which I guess was supposed to add that all-important `dirty fantasy' moral realism) made me believe in it less. If someone is that acutely aware their actions were wrong, wouldn't they question them and stop? And is it terribly old-fashioned of me to want to be able to identify with the 'hero' of the narrative?
I did finish the book, but I felt a bit like I have when I'm emerged blinking from the cinema after a Tarantino film or put down a Garth Ennis comic. Is so much crude sadism really necessary?
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As there are a lot of other reviews going over story and plotline I wont bother.
This is a solid book, a good piece of writing but - its nothing special. Compared to the author's first trilogy this book lacks a certain something or somethings - perhaps its the fact the lead character isn't particularly interesting, shes a pretty buttoned down, unemotional, non quirky kind of gal with a dose of steel a mile wide, or that all the characters are far less developed than any of those in the trilogy, or... well whatever it is, this book doesn't thrill like the First Law set.
Although this book is a standalone - it does help somewhat if you have read the trilogy first, some vague hand waving and nods towards the greater political sphere will fit with a much more satisfying depth if you actually understand some of the bit part players threats, fear and doubt. Without it, I should say that some scenes will come across as a bit light - Who, What, How now ?
In short, this is a fine book, but it doesn't emotionally engage like his other titles, its much more 2D, and reads like its going through the motions in places. Just... another... 1,000 words... and then I'm done with this chapter. Not that its ever boring. Its just not going to set your world alight.
I seem to recall the author fretting that this book wasn't as good as the First Law trilogy, and rationalising that not everything can be great, but maybe his mind was playing tricks on him and it would be great. I would say his first instinct was right in this case - good, but nowhere near best.
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Thoroughly enjoyed the author's First Law trilogy, so was pretty keen to get stuck into this after a wait of a year, or so.
Have to say I was somewhat dissappointed. Possibly because this book focuses on the same group of characters for pretty much the entire story and because there is only the one main plotline, it quickly becomes a bit tiresome as it lacks any of the really interesting characters and the interplay of war, politics and magic that made the previous trilogy so memorable. I found that I just couldn't engage with any of the characters and ultimately didn't really care for Monza, her mission or any of her sidekicks.
Also, I'm no prude and am partial to the odd expletive, but the level of sex and swearing in this book is completely over the top, borders on purile and feels like the author is trying too hard to be "gritty".
The telling fact for me, is that while I couldn't put The Blade Itself et al down and read them in a matter of days each, it took me almost a month to finish this one.
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This book disappointed me. It didn't completely destroy my faith in Abercrombie's writing, but it has dented it. The earlier trilogy was the best thing I've read in fantasy in a long time, even rekindling my waning interest in the genre. Memorable characters, exciting action, dark humour and stylish writing all combined to create intelligent Sword and Sorcery for the modern reader. The plot in truth was repetitive and familiar, but oddly that only added to the charm, showing that there were ways to write the old stories and still be fresh. Well, the latest book, although starting off with plenty of promise (and goodwill as this is billed as a standalone book) also has a poor plot that does nothing original, but sadly the qualities that made the other books work are lacking.
The characters are charmless. Before they were quirky and appealing with their motivations being mainly to survive in a tough world by doing whatever was necessary. This time the author appears to have forgotten the basic rule that readers must find something sympathetic about them to care about the story. As I found everyone loathsome, I couldn't care what happened to them. The action, which before was sparingly done and moved the story on is now often relentless and isn't action as such, being just violence, and repetitive and gratuitously graphic violence at that. Increasingly I skipped those pages. The humour is completely absent, being replaced by a dreary world-weary disinterest. I kept on longing for an amusing aside or a fun play on words to enliven the prose. But perhaps worst of all the writing is pedestrian. Abercrombie appeared to share with George Martin the ability to craft the perfect scene with an intriguing start followed by steadily growing tension all capped off with a great last page and a cliffhanger that makes you want to find out what happens to the character next. Somehow that's all lacking. The scenes are very one-note and the prose just plods along.
In short this was a chore to finish and when I got to the awful ending I wished I had given up earlier. I don't know what went wrong here, but I hope the author works it out and bounces back next time as the fantasy genre needs him.
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I'll start by stating as many others have that i loved the first trilogy....and stupidly thought that this was the beggining of a second great read in the Abercrombie world ! ITS NOT ! Its basic ! Boring in parts ! And i literally had to chew my way through the final chapters ! Oh and unlike the ending of the first trilogy you can see the ending coming from about half way through ! DISSAPOINTING READ ! Maybe he was just a fluke ?
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There are characters that meet terrible ends in this book but if anyone suffered as much as I did going through the last 80 pages, I'll be surprised.
It wasn't just the size: it's sadly overblown but when you take the water and growth hormones out of this one, you're still left with a turkey. Plotting is weak and characterisation worse. The heroine moves from competent to drug-raddled then back to misunderstood and idealistic without rhyme or reason. It's set in a non-magic fantasy world but the plot is resolved by a Matrix-like deus ex machina without any hint of explanation. Otherwise the only miracle is a character left stabbed through the guts and left for dead who later reappears. His explanation for his survival with a wound that would be certain death in a pre-antibiotic society is he was given the best of attention.
I couldn't believe when one villain with the heroine at his mercy said "ok let's make it best out of three." This was in a climactic fight-scene so cluttered that it took me two days to get through it. At the end as the author starts folding up his cardboard characters and putting them away for the sequel, I could only feel sorry for anyone who has to go through it with them.
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This is a bracing, modern-voiced take on some vintage fantasy themes, written in a swaggering, cocksure and sometimes witty narrative voice that engages most of the time and grates only rarely. The plot is a standard revenge-piece where the villains carelessly neglect to finish off the heroine at the start and she spends the rest of the book knocking them off one by one. The reason this storyline appears so often is that it gives plenty of scope for satisfying action and emotional resolution with a bit of moral doubt thrown in, and Abercrombie handles it very well indeed, with a veneer of knowingness that doesn't detract from its simple pleasures. So it's well-written, original, well-conceived and well-executed.
But it's a fantasy novel. So in the end, when the heroine seems defeated, an omnipotent magic person appears and kills the main baddy, because he was using the heroine for his own ends all along. But he could have done it all himself at any time, since he's inhumanly strong and can stop time, so why did he need the whole folderol of the plot? In the first chapter, instead of nursing the heroine back to life, he could simply have appeared inside the castle, punched the villain through a wall and saved us the bother of the intervening 300 pages.
It makes a game of tennis a lot less interesting when you find out at the end that there was never really a net.
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Let me start by saying that i read the blade itself trilogy and absolutely loved it - one of the best fantasy series I have read, so i was awaiting this latest book with great anticipation.
Sadly it is a crashing let down - it's bascially just lots of fight scenes held together with a very linear plot (the main character wants revenge on the 7 people involved in the death of her brother) - there is none of the subtlety or ambiguity of his other work, the characters are 2-D and i didn't care about any of them.
I did finish it, but it was a chore rather than a page-turner.
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Firstly, I need to state that I so loved Joe Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy that I have read it numerous times. The characters were very convincing and the plot fascinating. I enjoyed his fresh irreverent take on the fantasy genre, and therefore had high hopes for his next offering.
Unfortunately, Best Served Cold was a great disappointment. The linear plot, excessive violence and unlikable characters did not make for an enjoyable read, and after struggling through two thirds of the book and wading through yet another bloody maiming, I decided to call it a day. Perhaps the fault lies in the nature of the tale, one of revenge, which makes the outcome of each individual conflict fairly predictable, as, one by one, the enemies fall. It may also be that the characters are all so similar - evil, scheming and blood-thirsty - with no redeeming qualities to stimulate interest or inspire empathy. Perhaps the author was trying too hard to produce an alternative fantasy novel and felt that the use of bad language, sex and violence would give it the edge. Whatever the reason, it didn't work for me.
If you enjoy tales of revenge, like lots of graphic violence and are not bothered by character depth and development, this may be a book for you. If you want any more than this, avoid it. The ending may vindicate the book - I should probably try and finish it - but I'm not convinced. I can only hope that in his next installment, Mr Abercrombie returns to the quality of writing and story-telling evident in the First Law trilogy.
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Best Served Cold is a standalone novel set in the same fantasy universe Abercrombie created in the much applauded`The Blade Itself' trilogy, and although the world events mean there are interactions between the series of books, in terms of characters who make cameo appearances, large and small, Best Served Cold is very much a different type of story.
The gritty and Tarantino-esque plot of revenge, murder and violence will appeal to fans of Richard Morgan (who is name checked at the end of the novel) while I quickly tired of the repetition and sheer bludgeonous nature of one savagely described death after another, descending into fare at some points. In one scene a character beheads another by throwing a knife at him. I'm not kidding. Mix this in with characters who are fundamentally unlikeable, bereft of any charm and who all appear to talk like they are auditioning for a Guy Ritchie movie, and I found myself losing interest half-way through the book, and completely indifferent for the last third.
Most frustrating is the lack of humour and playfulness I enjoyed so much in The Blade Itself. Abercrombie has elected to play this particular story straight - too straight, relentless as it is in the pornography of its violence without a counterbalance, leaving us with a one-note novel that runs out of steam half-way through and can only attempt to up the ante by multiplying what has previous gone on before by a factor of n.
It is a shame, because for the first third the book had me in the palm of its hand, but as a novel the idea outlives itself. This would be a more satisfying read as a shortened, tightened novella, a segue into the world he has created. Instead we are left with an overlong, disappointing, arduous and grim effort that makes me sincerely hope his next novel avoids the pitfalls of this one.
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