Review of Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie

note:  I experienced this in audiobook form.  Initially, I was disappointed that Steven Pacey wasn’t narrating but Michael Page proved to be a superb voice talent as well.

Best Served Cold takes place in the same world as Abercrombie’s outstanding debut The First Law Trilogy.  A few secondary characters from First Law show up in more prominent roles and some of its leading ones are mentioned in context.  The main character of Cold, Monzcarro Murcatto (more often simply Monza), is entirely new though.
.
First, some backstory:  Monza and her brother Benna awake one night to the sound of bandits breaking in the door of their farm house.  They slip out a window and hide in the woods.  Frustrated by the lack of coin to be found, the bandits burn their crop leaving them destitute.  Not knowing which way to turn but outraged by the injustice done them, Monza (with younger Benna in tow) joins a posse to hunt down the bandits.  She discovers she has a taste for killing.  This then ushers in a bloody mercenary’s life where Monza and Benna rise in fame and fortune and soon they’re leading their own large and illustrious band of swords.

The story of Cold begins with the Murcattos paying a visit to Duke Orso of Styria, supposedly to discuss their next assignment.  But they are betrayed.  Soon after they’re escorted into the Duke’s study, a wire is drawn tight against Monza’s throat while she’s held fast from behind and forced to watch Benna’s murder.  Her hand is caught under the wire and denies her own would-be killer.  She manages to escape his embrace but a second assassin stabs her in the ribs and the two wrestle on the floor.  Just when it looks like she might gain the advantage, the strangler returns and stomps repeatedly on her sword-hand turning it into a hideous mess.  Finally, Monza is tossed over the balcony down a mountainside to be finished off on the rocks below.  She survives – barely – cushioned by her brother’s corpse.  A mysterious stranger finds her and puts her back together – or as best he can anyway.  When she regains consciousness, Monza is overcome with grief over her dead brother and a burning hunger for payback.  Barely able to stand, she breaks out of the stranger’s dungeon lab on a dark and stormy night… like Frankenstein’s monster.

Supported by a monetary stash gathered over a decade’s worth of leading mercenaries in nobles’ squabbles across the land, Monza embarks on a mission to kill the Duke and the six other men present in his study on that fateful day.  The story proceeds fairly straightforwardly from there as she maneuvers and puzzles her way to bringing her vengeance down on these men.  Easier said than done.

On the surface, the whole business sounds rather off-putting.  Thankfully, a good deal of fun and intrigue is supplied by a handful of wicked henchmen that Monza employs to help see her plan through.  Among them:  two Poisoners (Morveer and his apprentice Day), a convict obsessed with numbers named Friendly, and three familiar faces from First Law – Vitari (the blade-on-a-chain red-head Practical), the hardy Northman named Shivers, and the flamboyant spirits-loving Nicomo Cosca, Monza’s former Captain and mentor.  They all distrust one another and at any moment could come to blows yet somehow they manage to work together… for a while.  As in First Law, Abercrombie delves into all their heads and does an amazing job of developing each of their psyches.  Cosca provided a great deal of comic relief while Shivers provided a great deal of pathos.

At first, I was sympathetic to Monza’s quest for vengeance, but some of the men she killed I felt didn’t rightly deserve their fate.  In addition, as more of Monza’s past came to light and new conflicts and underhanded gambits played out, I began to squirm and climb up the wall in disgust.

Monza’s cold resolve wavers a little as the death toll rises beyond her control and the lines blur between friend and foe.  But she can’t settle on leaving her quest unfinished, no matter who or what stands in her way.  I found it difficult to stay connected with Monza’s motivation as the deaths were counted off.  She didn’t seem to be fueled by anger or passion so much as simply a matter of principal.

Shivers emerged as my favorite character.  He was easy to identify with, despite his flaws.  At the least, he was more sympathetic than Monza.  I understand that he reappears in Abercrombie’s next book – The Heroes.

There were some enjoyable plot twists toward the end of the book.  However, one was a little cheesy.  An overpowered being conveniently drops into a climactic scene and alters the outcome of a fight.  I believe this was done to show the influence of bigger outside forces at play within Abercrombie’s world, but I felt cheated out of a great climax.  The ending wasn’t bad really, it’s just that I was expecting a different twist.

Abercrombie revealed that strong influences for Best Served Cold came from the Lee Marvin film Point Blank (which was later remade into Mel Gibson’s Payback) and the colorful history of the Condottieri from Renaissance Italy.  It’s also not hard to see parallels to Tarantino’s Kill Bill or the more recent revenge flick Faster with tough guy Dwayne Johnson.

Overall, Best Served Cold was a rousing good read loaded with visceral action and sprinkled with dark humor.

8/10

Review of The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie:
book 1:  The Blade Itself
book 2:  Before They Are Hanged
book 3:  The Last Argument of Kings

note:  I experienced these in audiobook form, read by Steven Pacey.  His masterfully varied voice was enthralling and lent even more personality to the many characters.

The First Law Trilogy breaks many of the norms of typical medieval fantasy fare.  Abercrombie wastes little time on world-building or complicated history, but rather brings his world to life through intricately developed characters and a visceral narrative layered with intrigue.  He makes his characters growl and bleed and squirm and ache until you can barely stand it.  He shows us their resilience and their vulnerability too – and they become utterly believable as a result.  His style is oft described as gritty and he’s not shy about using expletives in his dialogue for impact.  Needless to say, you’re pulled up close to the characters.  In fact, you can taste the blood and dirt in your mouth and feel the steel slide into your guts in the fight scenes.  What a breath of fresh air compared to the more usual recipe of archetypal heroes whom emerge from battles with nary a scratch.

The main plot of First Law moves a little slowly as various characters are introduced but that’s okay because it allows you to really get into them and understand their motivations, their colorful backgrounds, and their faults.  Abercrombie uses multiple points of view to great effect.  In addition, there’s several little intrigue plots which were dark delights on their own.

The opening scene of The Blade Itself was breakneck – it reminded me of the opening to Raiders of the Lost Ark.  Soon after we are introduced to Inquistor Glokta, painfully hobbling his way through the dark depths of the House of Questions cursing at the inventor of stairs.  What an unexpected delicious piece of work he was!  His wistful aside remarks were an absolute riot.

The first book lays a lot of the groundwork, but by the second book the main plot gets moving.  The relatively stable but rather complacent central kingdom known as The Union is confronting threats from two sides:  In the North, the Union-controlled territory of Angland is being re-conquered by an army of Northmen.  In the south, the Gurkish Empire is pushing northward, starting with an assault on the port city of Dagoska.  To stir the pot even more, there is corruption within the power circles of the Union, civil unrest, and some frightful beings known as “Eaters” appear with an appetite for human flesh.  A mysterious incredibly self-inflated wizard who calls himself “The First of the Magi” is stirred to action.  A quest takes shape to retrieve a weapon of awesome power that supposedly will help the Union defend itself but if fallen into the wrong hands would open a gateway to the “Other Side” allowing demons into the world once again.  The wizard pulls together a mismatched party to aid him in his quest – namely three of the main characters – Logen Ninefingers, Jezal dan Luther, and Ferro Maljinn.  Meanwhile, Glokta – the forth main character – is having a ball (not really) defending Dagoska from the Gurkish army and dealing with all sorts of machinations within the high council there.   I was enrapt until the end.

Book 3 spends a lot of time in the North with the main force of the Union army confronting Bethod’s invasion into Angland.  Glokta comes home and has a whole range of problems to sort out.  All hell breaks loose when the Gurkish army (aided by the prophet Kahlul and his Eaters) arrives and lays siege to Adua, the Union capital.  The ending was bereft of warm fuzzies but it made sense.  At least a couple main characters didn’t make out too badly.  I was satisfied with how things were tied up and I appreciated that Abercrombie left some ambiguity as to whether some characters might live on and reappear.

On the whole, I thoroughly enjoyed The First Law Trilogy. What an outstanding debut for a new writer!

9/10

***
Just some lingering thoughts about some of the characters…

Ferro Maljinn – yikes! Initially, I loathed Ferro’s hard-boiled super-bitchiness but I warmed up to her somewhat in book 2 during the journey to the Old Empire. More was revealed about her past and she became more interesting.

Jezal dan Luther – an extremely dislikeable character as well… and for a long time. Reminded me a bit of Luke Skywalker crossed with Joffrey Baratheon. However, of the 4 protagonist characters, I saw the most growth in him towards “a better person,” by the end of book 3. I don’t foresee him devolving into a Prince Ladislaw or worse, the former King. Jezal is still naive but at least he has his heart in the right place after seeing more of the real world beyond the sheltered life of a privileged Union officer.  I thought it was funny how he wanted to build free houses for the homeless.

Collem West – he seemed genuinely righteous and noble.  A bit of a hot-head, sure, but capable of recognizing and righting his mistakes.  He seemed motivated to always want to do the right thing… only that his temper would sometimes push him too far. The Northmen named him Furious after all.  I wanted to see him grow out of that and make amends with Ardee.

Bayaz – “The First of the Magi” – was a total ass, as wizards often are. I never warmed up to him though I found him quite funny at times. I kept thinking he was Kahlul in disguise and that he’d reveal his true self after he’d secured the seed’s power.

Practical Frost – he didn’t say much but I just found him to be a funny as hell sinister character.

The Dogman – another character that seemed to follow a righteous/noble path. I never really took to him though. I just saw him mainly as a stout companion of Logen’s, the only one who truly understood him and who helped him find his humanity. For some reason, I couldn’t shake the image of him surrounded by big badass Rottweilers or Wolfhounds. The other Northmen were quite entertaining, particularly Crummock.

Logen Ninefingers/The Bloody Nine – loved by the moon! What a masterfully wrought complex character! A tough as nails Northman but a clever sonuvabitch too. His Jekyl and Hyde persona was a source of many thrilling moments. Logen’s humanity shown through in wanting to own up to his past life as a senseless killer… to try and be a better man. To find a little out of the way spot and grow things. He was never very realistic after all…

Sand dan Glokta – ah, the best for last. Glokta, once a master swordsman and hero, a survivor of torture in a Gurkish prison, now a shrewd and methodical inquisitor and torturer himself. His cynical wit, his quick mind, his fierce sense of purpose, his pathos, his whole being was just so incredibly mesmerizing and entertaining. He ranks up there with A Song of Ice and Fire’s Tyrion as one of my all time favorite characters from speculative fiction. The image of Glokta as described by Abercrombie is so revolting and sad though that I sort of rendered him in my mind as resembling Gru from Despicable Me – just to soften it.

Review of A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin

Once a publish date for A Dance With Dragons was announced on GRRM’s site, I decided to go back and re-read the first four books.  I was a little daunted by the magnitude of the reading ahead but I really wanted to get reacquainted with the characters in A Song of Ice and Fire before digging into the latest book.  A friend of mine convinced me to get audio versions of the books and listen to them on my commute.  Damn, was I amazed at how much reading I could get done that way!  I devoured the first four books over a span of about 7 weeks and then snapped up the audio version of Dance as well.  I ended up buying a hardcopy too, to fill out my permanent collection.

So, was it worth the wait?

Sadly, no.

You see, my expectations were exceedingly high.  The first 3 books – A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, and A Storm of Swords – all rank a 10.  Book 4, A Feast for Crows, was more like a 9, since it was muddled with too many new storylines and there were no chapters on Tyrion.  I love GRRM’s writing style and I literally drank up every page of Dance with relish.  Unfortunately, there were no huge events to speak of.  Everyone was constantly in transit somewhere.  Important questions were put off or brushed under the rug.  Certain cliffhangers from books 3 and 4 were not resolved.  Arghhhh…

From his “Cavil on Chronology” in the first pages of Dance, I learned that GRRM intended for book 5 to run parallel to book 4, separated by geography versus chronology.  I didn’t have an issue with that.  It’s just that… for the stuff going on in book 5, most of it wasn’t that interesting.  I expected certain confrontations to occur… perhaps a big battle or two.  Some plot threads did advance, but led to no big climaxes.  There was mainly a lot of building up instead.

I could address specific things, but I don’t want to spoil others from experiencing the full expanse of the story.  The writing is immersive and the dialogue as amusing as ever, but based on how long it took GRRM to write Dance and its length, more of those 1000 or so pages should have been devoted to action versus what Tyrion broke his fast on.  I felt let down.  Honestly, GRRM’s obsession with food filled too many pages.

Some characters continue in their coming of age which was the most rewarding part of Dance, others – that I’d grown quite attached to – were barely touched.  They had brief cameos and don’t really do anything in them.  It seemed like GRRM was merely jostling players around in preparation for the real stuff… which I kept hoping was coming as I got closer and closer to the end…  but it never came.  Instead, I was rewarded with a stomach-lurching cheap shot.  Bastard.

Dance isn’t in the same league as the previous books.

I’ll certainly continue reading the series and I fully expect it will get back on the track of greatness.  I just hope to hell the next book is out in less than 6 years.

7/10

Review of The Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson:
book 1 – The Final Empire
book 2 – The Well of Ascension
book 3 – The Hero of Ages

note:  I experienced these in audiobook format, read by Michael Kramer.

The Mistborn Trilogy is an extremely well-crafted story with sympathetic characters struggling to survive on a dying planet – a mysterious dystopian world that is doused in ash-fall by day and shrouded in thick mists by night.  The setting is a change of pace from your typical “medieval style” epic fantasy.  It has more of a sci-fi feel to it, though the décor and socio-political environment seem akin to the French Revolution period.

The “magic system” is refreshingly unique and is perhaps the most memorable aspect of the story.  More like science than magic.  In essence, it relates to the use of various metals that are consumed or worn which allow a person (with inherent skill) to tap powerful mental and physical abilities.  Sanderson handled the rules for this brilliantly and consistently and it made for some very cool fight scenes.

The stylish fighting actually reminded me of the physical rule bending in The Matrix films.  But Sanderson’s system has more credibility, I think.  Mistborn is set in a real world after all, not a virtual construct.  So, when I found myself muttering “hmmm… where have I seen that before?” a few times, I just smiled and enjoyed the ride.

The two stories have obvious similarities in theme as well.  Namely:  two forces trying to gain control (or at least balance each other out), survival in the face of imminent destruction, and, actions have consequences.  But their settings and back-story differ vastly and each builds up in a unique way.  Just to be clear, Matrix fandom is not requisite to enjoying these books.

Mistborn’s main character, Vin, is too cool for words and I fell absolutely in love with her from the start.  She’s a svelte brunette hottie endowed with a full arsenal of Mistborn enhanced abilities and not afraid to use them.  Brave, fierce, honest, sensitive, clever…  there’s little about her not to like.  She’s Trinity but with more depth.  Much of the story unfolds through Vin’s eyes.  On the critical side, I thought she was a bit too sad and withdrawn.  Fortunately, by book 2, she makes some tough choices and finally sheds some of her morose demeanor.  As the story proceeds, she gains confidence and an inner fortitude.  In book 3, there’s a showdown between Vin and a bunch of Inquisitors which sort of resembles Neo’s brawls with a bunch of Matrix Agents.  In a particularly sweet moment, Vin soars above the ash clouds and finds the sun.

Kelsier was inspiring and made a great teacher for Vin (I sort of likened him to Morpheus).  Elend, Vin’s love-interest, seemed like he had his head in the clouds a lot (or buried in books rather).  He turned into more of an action man as the story moved ahead.  Sazed, Spook, and Tensoon – all were nicely developed and full of surprises.

Sanderson kept me guessing on the plot’s direction.  Sometimes things seemed completely hopeless, especially with an overwhelmingly bleak cast to the whole latter part of the story – particularly in book 3.  I kept wondering – what the hell are they going to do now?  The puzzle came together well enough at the end but I was hoping for a different result.

A minor gripe I have about Sanderson’s style is that his narrative can feel a bit wooden.  I prefer more grit.  There was blood and pain doled out, yes, but it often felt off-hand or superficial.  Also, too many meandering mental musings by the viewpoint characters took the edge off.  Some of the dialogue sounded unnatural.  But these were minor flaws and style issues.  Overall, I came to understand the characters well, cared about them, and remained engaged until the end.

8/10

Review of Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay.
note:  I originally wrote this review back in May ’07.

Tigana is an epic fantasy masterpiece.

Originally published in 1990, it remained undiscovered by me until I started looking for more books by Guy Gavriel Kay after having truly enjoyed The Lions of Al Rassan.  Tigana was written before Lions but they can be read out of order.  Each parallels a European country at turbulent periods in its history.  Tigana and surroundings are reminiscent of Renaissance Italy.

I was easily drawn in, utterly bewitched, and enjoyed the ride all the way.  When the truth of Tigana’s “erasure” was exposed, the already captivating story acquired an almost mythic quality.  I loved the theme of cultural identity and the importance of memories, the characters, the magic, the setting, and especially Kay’s distinctive eloquent prose.

Kay has an uncanny ability for digging in and tugging the reader’s guts and this story does a real number on you.  Another hallmark of his style are incredibly well choreographed action scenes.  Suspense and pace are handled masterfully and the imagery pops off the page in lights.  I returned to several passages and re-read them for the sheer pleasure of the amazing word-craft.

Kay starts slow and paints an intricate, richly detailed world with an enigmatic cast.  About 1/4 into Tigana, the main conflict takes shape and the story just rolls along effortlessly from there.  It was painful to set the book down.  Kay handles exposition beautifully.  Usually this is a flaw in a lesser writer – the old adage “show don’t tell” just doesn’t apply with him.  He tells more than he shows but he does it so damned well it will leave you reeling with awe.  In the last third of the book, things really heat up.  The beautiful prose is still present, but action takes precedence.

Curiously, Kay favors the women in Tigana for his best characterizations.  They initiate key actions that drive the plot.  The men seem more reactive and are generally less forthcoming.  Devin and Baerd stand out though.  In fact, if I had to pick a favorite character, it would be Baerd (though I could have done without one specific dark deed from his past).

Tigana is definitely a book I would read again.  While my exposure to Kay’s writing is still rather limited, I’m hugely impressed.  I eagerly look forward to reading more of his work.

10/10

Review of The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay.
note:  I originally wrote this review back in Jan. ’07.

On the first page I was presented with a map that looked quite a lot like Spain.  Al-Rassan was written in huge letters across the southern half.  Hmmm – that looks like Al-Andalus (a region in southern Spain now called Andalucia).  Cartada and Silvenes – hmmm – could those be Cordoba and Sevilla?  I looked again and noticed both cities were positioned beside a river named Guadiara.  Might that correspond to the Rio Guadalquivir?  Ragosa sounds like it might correspond to the city of Saragossa, and there were other parallels.  Strangely absent was a city matching up with Granada  – the last of the Moors’ city-strongholds to surrender to the Reconquest.

Having toured southern Spain – and falling absolutely and completely in love with it like no other place in the world, I was eager for what story might lie ahead of me.  I dug in with gusto.

Almost instantly, I realized that the writing was brilliant.  No, it was more than that.  It possessed a kind of sumptuous gleaming quality that is seldom experienced in modern prose.  The parallels to Spain’s fascinating albeit blood-splattered history extended far past that map on page 1.  As I continued reading, the images that played in my mind blended with fond memories of walking through La Mezquita in Cordoba, El Alcazar in Sevilla, and La Alhambra in Granada.  I was overwhelmed all over again.

I had trouble holding off a flow of tears during the climatic scenes.  The words that described Rodrigo’s feelings in particular were so vivid… so wrenching.

I guessed incorrectly on the outcome of the melee between the two lions.  Actually, it was a real challenge trying to decide which one I should cheer for.  Kay deliberately concealed which man was whom during the fight, I think, to stir his readers.

I have but three criticisms.  First, I wanted more length.  The 20-years later epilogue was a little too cute and tidy.  Second, I wasn’t completely taken by Jehane, the main character.  She was a woman ahead of her time:  proud, resourceful, outspoken, smart, but also kind of humorless and hard-nosed.  A little more sex-appeal would have helped round her out.  Lastly, I thought Kay could have added more elements of the incredible artistic legacy the Moors brought to Spain.  More description about the colorful tilework and intricate carvings would have been nice.  As for the Kindath, who were obviously a group modeled after the Gypsies, where were the flamenco guitars and dancing?  I did like the inclusion of a Carnival event in Ragosa. Still, a little more immersion along these lines would have better colored Kay’s Al-Rassan.

Minor style points:  Kay tends to do most of the story-telling through exposition vs. dialogue rendering it slightly detached in spots.  However, to compensate, he excels at building up emotions in the reader and has a marvelous way of arranging words.  In addition, it bothered me a little that Kay sometimes would fill in a bunch of emotional nuances after a key scene of dialogue and I found myself having to go back and re-read the dialogue to properly appreciate it.  I got used to this pattern but it tended to muddle the flow.

On the whole, The Lions of Al-Rassan was a thoroughly satisfying read.

9/10