Paweł’s Comments (group member since Jun 21, 2012)

Paweł’s comments from the Joe Abercrombie Fans group.

Hans Erik wrote: "Hello. My name is Hans Erik Johnsen, and I'm new to this group. I just want to say that Joe Abercrombie right now is my favorite author, so thank you for starting this group. In my opinion no one s..."

Welcome to the group, have fun!

I know Shivers had one of Cosca's men hostage but after he let the guy go they could have stuck him with arrows from a distance any time without any losses on their side.

About Cosca escaping - in my mind it is too big of a "detail" to be left to imagination. Of course it is a fictional story so anything goes but this has to be the first time I don't have a clear explanation for what happened in a book by Joe.

I thought about Hedges' involvement - he went to talk with Cosca before they attacked the Dragon People and also Hedges appears at the end at the farm. So maybe Hedges helped Cosca and Friendly escape? But then again Hedges was wounded so how was he supposed to deal with a handful of Practicals?

I find it hard to go back to other authors now that I've read every book by Joe... The characters created by other authors are just so simplistic, one dimensional or at most two dimensional (you think someone was good but they are in fact evil - wow, what a twist!).

I actually started reading non-fiction recently and find it a better approximation of Joe's work. Or should that be the other way - Joe's work approximates real life so well...

Yes, reading this was tough as Cosca was one of my favorite characters. I loved him in Best Served Cold. However, the passage when Temple asked him repeatedly what it is Cosca wants was a masterpiece. I completely buy into this vision of Cosca as an old tired man who lost his way long ago, has a lot of regrets and pretty much nothing good to show for his life.

It was fun to follow Cosca but I feel that he got what he deserved at the end.

I've just finished reading Red Country (literally - a few minutes ago) and I have a couple of questions...

1. Why do you think Cosca did not kill Shivers when they met at the beginning of the book? Looked like the Company pretty much killed everyone in their path.

2. How did Cosca and Friendly escape from Lorsen's custody at the end? After the Imperial Legate "visit" they were arrested and I think there still were some Practicals left to guard them on the trip back.

My first thought was Carlot but then I couldn't remember if Logen and she ever met (it was implied he and the Mayor now each other).

Then I thought about Ferro but somehow she did not fit the image of the Mayor in my head :-)

Joe has revealed a lot of new information about the book:

http://www.joeabercrombie.com/2012/08...
http://www.joeabercrombie.com/2012/08...
http://www.joeabercrombie.com/2012/08...

Apparently, the book is finished now! Artwork seems to be chosen. Looks VERY good.

@James: welcome to the group. If you in fact randomly selected Joe Abercrombie then I'd say you are a lucky person and you should try to play some kind of lottery :-)

He had a goat at the end and he drank goat milk instead of alcohol - meaning that he kept his promise on not drinking anymore. Later he broke it once he was back on top - but the goat episode was cool.

One of my favorite characters, can't wait to see how he is developed in Red Country!

Here is some cool fan artwork pertaining to Nicomo's appearance in Best Served Cold:

http://klausselhoff.deviantart.com/ar...



Note the goat!

How can you not like Nicomo?! He's a famed soldier of fortune! And he's here for dinner! ;-)

So, let's summarize what we know so far:

Announcement

The book was announced to be in the works almost a year ago:

http://www.joeabercrombie.com/2011/08...

You can track Joe's progress here:

http://www.joeabercrombie.com/categor...

Publication dates

UK: Oct 18th 2012
US: Oct 23rd 2012

Sources:

http://www.joeabercrombie.com/2012/04...
http://www.joeabercrombie.com/2012/06...

Artwork

It's great, as always. See for yourself:

http://www.joeabercrombie.com/2012/07...

Pre-order

http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/books/red...

Summary

They burned her home.

They stole her brother and sister.

But vengeance is following.

Shy South hoped to bury her bloody past and ride away smiling, but she’ll have to sharpen up some bad old ways to get her family back, and she’s not a woman to flinch from what needs doing. She sets off in pursuit with only a pair of oxen and her cowardly old stepfather Lamb for company. But it turns out Lamb’s buried a bloody past of his own, and out in the lawless Far Country, the past never stays buried.

Their journey will take them across the barren plains to a frontier town gripped by gold fever, through feud, duel and massacre, high into the unmapped mountains to a reckoning with the Ghosts. Even worse, it will force them into alliance with Nicomo Cosca, infamous soldier of fortune, and his feckless lawyer Temple, two men no one should ever have to trust…

Let's discuss!

Nick, I actually bought and read Deadhouse Gates (the second Malazan book) for a while (just a few dozen pages) but it turned out that there is another batch of new races, new places, new people, new legends, types of magic etc. etc.

I feel like Joe strikes a perfect balance with world building and with the scope of it all - there is a right number of characters, some are major, some are minor. Some minor characters become major characters, everything is well connected but still I get this impression of vastness.

With Malazan the core story is actually pretty good but there is just too much stuff and also the characters feel a little bit underdeveloped. While reading Gardens of the Moon, I had a quick look at the Malazan Wiki (http://malazan.wikia.com/wiki/Malazan...) and was stunned at the amount of information that is there. Maybe some day I will go back and try again, for now my to-read / to-consider list is just too long.

I have not read Conan novels but I've seen some "old school" "sword and sorcery" books recommended for Joe fans, namely the Fafrd and Gray Mouser series or Swords & Dark Magic: The New Sword and Sorcery. I guess Conan books may fall into that category and be enjoyable.

I've got Chronicles of The Black Company (all three books in one Kindle e-book) high on my to-consider list, it really does sound interesting, I like the "They bury their doubts with their dead." tag line - reads somewhat Joe-ish :-)

One more thing I would recommend is checking out this profile here on Goodreads:

http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/14...

This guy writes good reviews, seems to like Joe's books and has some very interesting bookshelves, like:

hardboiled-and-noir: http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/...
dark-and-gritty: http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/...
kings-of-badassia: http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/...

Nick, Heroes Die is great although keep in mind that it is part fantasy and part science fiction! I am not a big SF fan but in Heroes Die the blend is just perfect. Plus there is a nice dystopian sauce all over it. Great book. I am just starting Blade of Tyshalle today, second book in the series, it's supposed to be solid, can't wait.

As for Gardens of the Moon - I have read it just recently after being inspired by one of the reviews here on Goodreads. I give it 3 stars - I liked it but it is just a little "too epic" for me. And there is too much magic. I am not convinced to invest the time to read the whole series (10 books I think!).

Peter V. Brett is on my "to consider" list, comes recommended from one of my friends.

Welcome Jamie and Nick!

@Nick: I like your idea of the recommendations discussion - I have just created a new thread just for that purpose:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/9...

Do you know any works similar to Joe's in terms of writing style, story depth, character development etc.?

I personally would be most interested in books with a similar amount of realism/cynicism. I mean books with no happy endings but with realistic endings and with realistic characters, with unique characters (like Friendly or Day or Worth).

As for my recommendations, I can definitely recommend Heroes Die if you are looking for action, non obvious story lines and non trivial character development.

Contrary to some people's opinion, I would NOT recommend Scott Lynch nor Patrick Rothfuss - in my opinion they are most certainly not in the same league as Joe and you are better off looking elsewhere if you want to find something on par.

Lastly, I can point you to the following threads on other web sites that have been a food for thought for me when searching for my next book:

http://www.sffworld.com/forums/showth...
http://www.sffworld.com/forums/showth...
http://www.sffworld.com/forums/showth...

Good luck and please share your findings.

I think this character definitely deserves his own thread :-) I just loved how he is developed in the book. Somehow he reminds me of Terry Pratchett's City Watch members, especially Corporal Nobby Nobbs - they may share similar attitude towards their respective responsibilities which is basically being opportunistic and lazy :-)

Here are some quotes I find relevant.

Tunny defending his bad name:

‘Shh,’ hissed Tunny, waving at Yolk to get down. There were men in the trees on the other side of the rise. Three men, and two of them in Union uniforms. ‘Huh.’ One was Lance Corporal Hedges. A squinty, mean-spirited rat of a man who’d been with the First for about three years and thought himself quite the rogue but was no better than a nasty idiot. The kind of bad soldier who gives proper bad soldiers a bad name. His gangly sidekick was unfamiliar, probably a new recruit. Hedges’ version of Yolk, which was truly a concept too horrifying to entertain.

On stealth:

The officer nodded once then strode off, head down, in a way that suggested he’d simply walk through anything and anyone in his way.
‘Who was that?’ muttered one of the lads.
‘I believe that …’ Tunny let it hang in the air for a moment, ‘was Bremer dan Gorst.’
‘The one who fenced with the king?’
‘That’s right, and was his bodyguard until that mess in Sipani. Still has the king’s ear, some say.’ Not a good thing, that such a notable personage should be here. Never stand near anyone notable.

Tunny the messenger:

‘The same Tunny who was court-martialled after that business at Shricta?’
And further yet. The same, sir, though I hasten to point out that the tribunal found no evidence of wrongdoing, sir.’
Mitterick snorted. ‘So much for tribunals. ‘What brings you here, Tunny?’
He held out the letter. ‘I have come in my official capacity as standard-bearer, sir, with a letter from my commanding officer, Colonel Vallimir.’
Mitterick looked down at it. What does it say?’
‘I wouldn’t—’
‘I do not believe a soldier with your experience of tribunals would carry a letter without a good idea of the contents. What does it say?’
Tunny conceded the point. ‘Sir, I believe the colonel lays out at some length the reasons behind his failure to attack today.’

I did not find any Joe related groups here on Goodreads so I created one :)

OK, let me start with introductions. My name is Paweł, I fell in love with Joe's writing last year when I devoured The First Law trilogy. I liked it so much that I decided to savor the experience of reading the other two books. This year I went back to Joe and read Best Served Cold, I loved it as well. Yesterday I have started The Heroes and, as expected, am enjoying it thoroughly.

In Joe's books I like the realism, down-to-earth attitude of characters. I like that the stories are not overloaded with magic. And above all, I like the endings, especially The First Law had me impressed at the end when everything (and everyone) turned out not what it looked like at first.

Welcome one and all, introduce yourself (or not, if you don't want to) and feel at home.