Half the World
Ratings122
Average rating4.2
I did not know this was second in a trilogy, which says something about how well contained this book is. There are of course plenty of tropes, the selected hero, the love interest, the training montage, the victory from the jaws of defeat. I think that Abercrombie executes well though, with excruciatingly relatable coming of age, with engaging characters, and a fast pacing that left me wanting to know more. Fun quick read.
It's amazing how complete the characters are after just meeting them in this book!
Real good
This one of a few books I read that has no boring page. Real pleasure. Also quite different from first book and I appreciate the fact that had some of previous characters but different view and main ones
I liked the new main characters, and I was pleased to see Yarvi and other characters from the previous book. Yarvi's change so much and I can tell he'll be even more interesting in the next book.
Tenía apartada esta saga de Abercrombie. Su primer libro, medio rey, me pareció bueno, pero es que éste es excelente. La traducción es buenísima, a pesar de que diga muchas veces la palabra “astucioso”, pero se perdona porque es un libro complicado de traducir.
Empezando con muchas ganas el final de la trilogía, y ya con pena de que se acabe
Oh this makes me so sad! I wanted to love this so much but I just couldn't connect at all. I enjoyed the first book but this one just had such a different feel and pace, and at no point did I feel like I was involved the plot or following the characters.
I tried reading it for 2 months and only got 187 pages before skimming the rest. Totally disappointed.
Very strong sequel to [b:Half a King 18666047 Half a King (Shattered Sea, #1) Joe Abercrombie https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1389378321s/18666047.jpg 25641726], perhaps even stronger than the first book. The world is still very interesting, the characters are adorable and the adventures exciting. There's plenty of delicious intrigue, rough battles and full-on adventuring. All in all great work. Will definitely read the last part of the trilogy.
Yay! ‘t Is een vervolg dat de moeite waard is!
En het is inderdaad meer wereld dan het eerste boek: naast het hoge noorden nu ook wat geopolitiek, in een wereld die lijkt op de wereld rond het jaar pakweg 900, met een soort equivalent van het Grootvorstendom Kiev, met een soort equivalent van het Byzantijnse Rijk, en met een High King die niet echt een equivalent heeft, of het zou moeten een soort Karel de Grote moeten zijn maar dan met meer hegemonistische trekken. En met Ministers die een soort parallelle staat naast de staten zijn, die eigenlijk allemaal trouw verschuldigd zijn aan zowel hun lokale heerser als aan de algemene hoofd-Minister.
Van verhaal: ‘t is een paar jaar later dan boek één, Yarvi is Minister van de koning, en de High King heeft het niet voor zijn land, wegens dat het een rijk land is, en dat het handel drijft en dat het op termijn een concurrent zou kunnen worden, en ook wel dat het weigert een nieuwe godsdienst aan te hangen.
Yarvi stelt een expeditie samen om te proberen een alliantie te bewerkstelligen met de keizerin in het zuiden. Op de expeditie onder meer Thorn, een meisje dat graag een krijger zou geworden zijn maar onrechtvaardig van moord beschuldigd is, en Brand, een jongen die graag krijger was geworden maar die eigenlijk te veel rechtvaardigheidsgevoel heeft.
Avontuur! Ontroering! Spanning! Vechten! Romantiek!
Fijn boek. Op naar boek drie.
Executive Summary: What a difference a book makes. This is more like I'd expect from [a:Joe Abercrombie 276660 Joe Abercrombie https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1421267339p2/276660.jpg]. Can't wait for [b:Half a War 22381326 Half a War (Shattered Sea, #3) Joe Abercrombie https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png 41796499] now!Full ReviewI was reluctant to pick up [b:Half a King 18666047 Half a King (Shattered Sea, #1) Joe Abercrombie https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1389378321s/18666047.jpg 25641726]. I just didn't think Mr. Abercrombie could do YA well. And that book seemed to prove me right. It was alright, but it felt just flat and uninteresting.So I was even more reluctant to pick this one up. My hold for the library seemed to get held up, and I was OK with that. The early reviews I saw for this book were all pretty positive though. They all seemed to use the phrase “much better than [b:Half a King 18666047 Half a King (Shattered Sea, #1) Joe Abercrombie https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1389378321s/18666047.jpg 25641726]”. I'm now adding my voice to that statement.This is more like it. Compared to his First Law books, things are still toned down, but compared to the first book things are a lot more gritty and all around interesting. The first improvement I found is that Yarvi is no longer a POV character. I didn't care much for him in the last book. I thought him a much more interesting character as viewed from the outside than from within. However the difference could also be that some time has passed as he's developed from annoying boy into interesting young man. It's hard to say for sure.The next improvement is his new POV characters. Thorn and Brand are a lot more memorable and well developed than most of the characters in Half the World. They also contrast each other nicely. Thorn is a bit reminiscent of Monza Murcatto or Ferro Maljinn. Brutal, fierce, and angry.Meanwhile Brand reminds me a bit of Collem West. He has a good heart, and sometimes pays the price for it. Neither character is recycled though. Instead he revisits some old ideas in new ways.Being a YA book, I guess it's required to have some awkward will they / won't they love subplots or something? I could have probably done without it, but overall I thought it was handled fairly well.The world building continues to be a bit sparse, but interesting. The elven ruins and magic intrigues me. My discussion group brought up the similarities to modern technology. Is this really a post apocalyptic version of our world? We know there was some sort of major catastrophe in the past. I'd really like to know more about this aspect, but I don't think we'll ever really know.Parts of the books were a bit predictable still, yet still a pleasure to read. It was a real page turner through most of it. Plus, some things didn't go quite as I expected however, so I was never bored.Overall this book does a great job of stepping things up and setting the stage for the final book without feeling too much like a middle book. If like me you were pretty so-so on [b:Half a King 18666047 Half a King (Shattered Sea, #1) Joe Abercrombie https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1389378321s/18666047.jpg 25641726], you should consider giving this series a second chance with this book.I might finally cave and pre-order [b:Half a War 22381326 Half a War (Shattered Sea, #3) Joe Abercrombie https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png 41796499] rather than waiting to get a copy from the library like I did the last two books.
Better than the first book in the series. The romance side of things is a little heavy-handed, and the action is still somewhat predictable, but I found the action sequences much more enjoyable than in Half a King. The first book did a great job with character development, but I thought it fell apart during the action-heavy parts of the book. Half the World has a better balance to it. And I like the way the book doesn't really try to rehash the events of the first book. There are little reminders here and there, but the author doesn't try to hold the hand of readers who haven't read the first book. I appreciate this lack of mercy for the misguided fools who try to start a series in the middle.
Better than the first book in the series. The romance side of things is a little heavy-handed, and the action is still somewhat predictable, but I found the action sequences much more enjoyable than in Half a King. The first book did a great job with character development, but I thought it fell apart during the action-heavy parts of the book. Half the World has a better balance to it. And I like the way the book doesn't really try to rehash the events of the first book. There are little reminders here and there, but the author doesn't try to hold the hand of readers who haven't read the first book. I appreciate this lack of mercy for the misguided fools who try to start a series in the middle.