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Best Served Review
Hey,
So sitting around waiting for some car repairs is always a pain. But one thing you can do to make the work go faster is read. And that's where I pretty much finished up Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie. Mr. Abercrombie wrote a fairly fantasy trilogy called the First Law series (you can backtrack my reviews here) which started off slow, built up well in the second book, went raging along in the third book and then concluded on a very dark (and somewhat off-putting) note.
So I didn't find his style to be well-suited. However, Best Served Cold, while taking place in the same world as First Law and making use of some characters from the trilogy, is a self-contained tale of revenge. Murderous vengeance stories seem to fit his style and his writing was strong enough that I felt compelled to give it a shot.
It was a perfect blend of author to plot.
Monza Murcatto and her brother Benna are working for Duke Orso who is attempting to unite the warring states of Styria and become king. The Duke, however, is a little too worried about Monza's popularity with the common folk and thus has the two of them killed. Alas, he failed to verify the bodies and Monza barely survives. But survive she does and she vows a terrible vengeance on the seven men who killed her brother and nearly killed her.
She sets out to recruit some allies and as with the First Law trilogy, she mostly manages to assemble a dangerous bunch of misfits. There's the barbarian Northman who's trying to be a better person, the number-obsessed serial killer, the poisoner artiste and his hungry assistant, a hard-bitten fixer and the greatest mercenary captain turned drunkard that Monza has ever betrayed.
There are some personnel issues.
They come up with their plans and plots and shemes and one by one the victims fall. But it's a race to see if the group can kill their targets before they kill each other (or Orso's assassins track them down).
It was a fun read with good plotting and dialogue. If you like your fantasy really gritty, this is a clear winner for you.
later
Tom
So sitting around waiting for some car repairs is always a pain. But one thing you can do to make the work go faster is read. And that's where I pretty much finished up Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie. Mr. Abercrombie wrote a fairly fantasy trilogy called the First Law series (you can backtrack my reviews here) which started off slow, built up well in the second book, went raging along in the third book and then concluded on a very dark (and somewhat off-putting) note.
So I didn't find his style to be well-suited. However, Best Served Cold, while taking place in the same world as First Law and making use of some characters from the trilogy, is a self-contained tale of revenge. Murderous vengeance stories seem to fit his style and his writing was strong enough that I felt compelled to give it a shot.
It was a perfect blend of author to plot.
Monza Murcatto and her brother Benna are working for Duke Orso who is attempting to unite the warring states of Styria and become king. The Duke, however, is a little too worried about Monza's popularity with the common folk and thus has the two of them killed. Alas, he failed to verify the bodies and Monza barely survives. But survive she does and she vows a terrible vengeance on the seven men who killed her brother and nearly killed her.
She sets out to recruit some allies and as with the First Law trilogy, she mostly manages to assemble a dangerous bunch of misfits. There's the barbarian Northman who's trying to be a better person, the number-obsessed serial killer, the poisoner artiste and his hungry assistant, a hard-bitten fixer and the greatest mercenary captain turned drunkard that Monza has ever betrayed.
There are some personnel issues.
They come up with their plans and plots and shemes and one by one the victims fall. But it's a race to see if the group can kill their targets before they kill each other (or Orso's assassins track them down).
It was a fun read with good plotting and dialogue. If you like your fantasy really gritty, this is a clear winner for you.
later
Tom