Name Dropping:
After seeing and hearing Joe Abercrombie’s name all over the Internet, I decided to read one of his books. I had no plan. I chose the first book on my Kindle search, Half a King. I didn’t realize it was a YA book until I started reading, which was fine. I love YA books.
Wow, Abercrombie knows how to tell a story. Half a King is a page-turner. The beginning was a little slow, but the storytelling is so good I was pulled into the story immediately. I really like this kid.
Brief Summary:
This story is all about Prince Yarvi, who has a mangled stump for an arm and is basically ignored by family and kingdom. He’s studying magic and soon will test to become a minister, an adviser, and a wise person.
His father and brother are warriors. They are strong, fierce, and beloved. Yarvi is soft, physically weak, and not admired, but he’s happy with his lot and tries to ignore the bullying. Well, he’s happy for a few pages, until he finds out his father and brother are dead. He becomes king and is immediate betrayed and left for dead in the Shattered Sea.
Yeah, the Shattered Sea is as nasty as it sounds.
Bent on revenge, he struggles to return home and take back his throne. Imagine the worst things that could happen on his journey, and you’ll have a good idea of where the story goes. This is not a light-hearted adventure. It’s dark and grueling. It’s full of twists as our soft and kind hero becomes hardened.
What I Liked:
- Yarvi is a reluctant hero, who has problems, issues, and the usual amount of teenage uncertainty, which he hides beneath an acquiescent demeanor. He’s about as real as a character can be.
- He makes several small and major mistakes. I cringed a couple of times, trying to warn him, but alas, fictional characters never listen.
- He also does the right thing often enough to make up for those missteps.
- The other characters are delightful, often not in a good way. This is a gritty tale and with a cast of characters who make Long John Silver look like a sweetie.
- The fantasy world and the magic are engaging and complex.
- There are levels of complexity as the story unfolds. Fantasy sometimes falls into a simple good and evil dichotomy trap. This story doesn’t.
- There’s a twist at the end, which I won’t give away.
What I Wasn’t Crazy About:
- There were parts of the story I would have liked more detail. Sometimes Abercrombie summarized events and the passage of time when I would have liked more scenes. I understand why he did this. I can honestly say there weren’t any passages that I skimmed, which is good–I hate books that slow, and I find myself skimming whole sections.
- Along the same lines, I would have liked more details about the magic system, but this is rather picky because there are two more books, and I’m sure those details will come.
- A few people have complained that the book is too dark. I didn’t think so, but you should realize that I like dark stories and complex characters with dark sides.
Final Thoughts:
Half a King is an excellent fantasy adventure, and I recommend it wholeheartedly.
The Usual Reminders:
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