Joe Abercrombie Goes West

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Dear Reader,

There's a gold rush in Joe Abercrombie's fantasy world. Long lines of wagons are rolling out west. We're going with them to search for some missing children, to settle who's boss in the boomtown, and to find out who this enigmatic Northman is who calls himself Lamb.

As for the world, it's the Wild West as you know it from the movies. But the characters aren't your Western movie gunslingers. (Guns haven't been invented yet.) Instead, we get Shy South, a farmer in her twenties whose brother and sister were kidnapped. She doesn't know who, she doesn't know why. She knows she will follow their trail. With her goes her stepfather Lamb, a pacifist Northman if such a thing can exist.

In a parallel line, we follow a young man called Temple. He's everything but a fighter. Literally everything. In his young life he's been a priest's acolyte, a carpenter, a lawyer, the notary of a mercenary band. After a fall into the river he will be a cowherder for some weeks. A coward, but I like him.

And the magic? Joe Abercrombie uses very little of it. Up in the mountains there lives a tribe that can't be found except by those who know where it is. For generations, these Dragon people have been working on a larger magic. But down in the plains and in a boomtown called Crease, people don't need a wizard to help them do good or evil.

If you're new to Joe Abercrombie's novels, you have two options. You can read Red Country as\n a standalone; you'll love how the author weaves plot, characters and \nworldbuilding together into a page-turning adventure. However, the \ncharacters will keep dropping hints at backstories that never get fully \nexplained. It's realistic, but it won't satisfy. Which is why I \nrecommend option two: Read the First Law Trilogy, then the other two not-quite-standalones in the saga, and come to Red Country\n as book six in the series. You will know the backstory already, and \nrecognize those characters as old friends and favourite villains. It \nwill be glorious.

Yours sincerely
Christina Widmann de Fran

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