Half a War by Joe Abercrombie is the third book in the Shattered Sea Series.
The Cover: The cover version I have is mainly black and white with figures on the attack, fighting their way up a hill. It seems to me that defenders sit behind a shield wall with the prow beast of their ship at there backs; a scene from the story itself. The artwork is split across the middle by a mirror image in inverted tones. The title sits in the middle within a circle of scrolling waves and stands out in large red letters. I’m not a fan of font used for the title, but overall it is a nice cover in my opinion and fits the genre.
The Good Stuff: Once again, Abercrombie delivers some solid characters in a grim world. The plot has all the twists and betrayals I have come to expect from this author. My favourite character in this one would have to be Raith, followed by Koll, Rin, and Blue Jenner.
The Bad Stuff: I would like to have seen more of Rin in this story, and I actually expected to see a lot more of Thorn Bathu. In fact I was looking forwards to seeing more of Thorn, but I was left a little disappointed that she didn’t play a bigger part. I suppose her story had been told in the previous book. The elf ruins/relics/weapons also didn’t really work for me, it is clear what they represent and brings reality into the fantasy world, but I want my fantasy to be just that… fantasy.
Overall, I enjoyed this story, but not as much as the previous two in the series. This one gets a sword hammering, shield banging 4 out of 5 golden bookmarks from me.
Allan Walsh writes Fantasy and Horror. If you’re looking for something new to read in these genres, why not check out his books here. You can also find his titles available in libraries.
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