From the Bookshelf of Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy…

Half a King (Shattered Sea, #1)

Joe Abercrombie

Start date: September 21, 2015

Finish date: October 16, 2015

Discussion: Current Nominations

Discussion leader: Hillary Major

Why we're reading this: Group discussion September 2015
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Current Nominations

* SF/F Book to Discuss in January 2020 selected
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I Skipped August... and September.... and October.... and November.... and December
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What Members Thought

Aug 18, 2017 Jason Koivu rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, fantasy

I'm glad I finally got around to reading an Abercrombie, as well as this particular fun adventure placed in a brutal world, which I'd heard so much about!

In Half a King a young, but wise prince is placed into a surprising circumstance that immediately turns upon its head. He must "come of age" real goddamn quick. It's sink or swim, baby!

Half a King feels serviceable. The plot and characters march forward with an inevitable predictability. Our prince hero kid goes through the paces, learning from ...more

30 likes · Like · see review

May 06, 2014 Bee rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobook, fantasy, reread, hero-fantasy

Dear Mr Abercrombie. You grow from strength to strength. This was marketed as Young Adult reading, although in my opinion it's just good old fantasy, done right. Not as gritty and bloody and full of swearing and gore as your usual, which is fine. An excellent story. The coming of a crippled prince, hated or scorned by all in the court of his father. Fate deals him some very nasty hands and he ends up in some very difficult situations amidst slavers, bitter cold and starvation to name but a few. ...more

8 likes · Like · see review

Jul 14, 2015 Aurelia rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-i-own, ya, fantasy, 2015, booktubesff-awards

This was a very pleasant surprise. I didn't expect to like it, because I didn't like any YA fantasy that I read lately and because I didn't expect to like Joe Abercrombie. I have never read any of his other books before, because people that know my preferences and read his books told me that I'm not going to like them. So this was my introduction to Joe Abercrombie and it couldn't have been any better.

I think it is easier to start from what I didn't like, since the list is much shorter. Through This was a very pleasant surprise. I didn't expect to like it, because I didn't like any YA fantasy that I read lately and because I didn't expect to like Joe Abercrombie. I have never read any of his other books before, because people that know my preferences and read his books told me that I'm not going to like them. So this was my introduction to Joe Abercrombie and it couldn't have been any better.

I think it is easier to start from what I didn't like, since the list is much shorter. Throughout the whole book I had a feeling that it wasn't quite enough of it: not enough depth, not enough descriptions, not enough world building, not enough of this scene, etc. But I guess this is a curse of YA genre (Is this even a genre or age recommendation or character's age?). On the other hand, I cannot say that the book gave a feeling of not finished or shallow. Moreover, it reads like extremely well polished work, where in very few words a story is moved forward by a mile. Maybe I just was loving it so much that I wanted more.

I loved characters in this book. Male, weak, with a lot of flows, protagonist in YA fantasy - what a pleasure. For a record, I'm female and I do love to read books with strong female characters. However, YA fantasy (at least that I read) didn't have any strong female characters, even though it has lot of female characters and, honestly, I'm just happy to see a bit of a difference. I really enjoyed how open and content Yarvi is about himself, even if it is a bit unbelievable for a character this age. I also very much enjoyed how the character development was done: (view spoiler) Also, Yarvi was downright wit and funny:

"You're doing well," Yarvi's uncle whispered in his ear.
"I am walking."
"You are walking like a king."
"I am a king and I am walking. How could this be otherwise?"

I loved Nothing as a character. (view spoiler)

Last but not least, I love books that have chapter titles. This is not a game changer for me - I will not hate a book for only not having chapter titles and I also will not love one only for this - but this is something that definitely adds on to a plus column for the book. And Half a King odes please me with existence of chapter's titles.

P.S. And here is everything that I loved about the book is marked:
description

...more

1 like · Like · see review

Mar 17, 2014 Emily rated it really liked it

Shelves: teen-fiction, series, fantasy, read-in-2014, netgalley

At first I didn't even realize that this is a young adult book - I appreciate the fact that the author doesn't talk down to his audience. I am looking forward to the rest of this series and now must hunt down other books by this author. ...more

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Jan 20, 2016 V.M. rated it really liked it

not quite The Blade Itself, but a good read nonetheless. JA has the ability to patiently build up the character and story so that the amazing things a hero does later on make sense. It's a great epic story of searching and yearning. A quest type Fantasy with a good amount of action. I'd love to read the other two books if I could find them, but it seems harder since every B&N shrank all the SF&F sections to three small shelve. ...more

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Dec 14, 2016 WhatShouldIRead rated it liked it

Shelves: audio, young-adult, fantasy, 2016

Wasn't sure what to make of this one when I started but I ended up really liking it. The young half-king showed, as the story went on, how he succeeded not by physical strength, but by thoughtful consideration of the situation and what was called for in order to succeed.

And I never saw the ending coming. But are things as pat as they seem?? I'll most likely read the next in this series to find out! ...more

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