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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last updated Dec 30, 2019 04:34PM

I Skipped August... and September.... and October.... and November.... and December
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last updated Jun 19, 2019 10:49AM

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What Members Thought

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:
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Sep 05, 2014 N. Caelum rated it really liked it

This is a spare book, vivid, visceral, and gorgeously written. I felt like I stood at a distance from the characters, though, which made it hard to really get into the story. But, as the action picked up, there was enough to carry me along until the shining moments of character started to emerge. The world here is a harsh one, with a strong feeling of Norse kingdoms and a fighting sort honor. There are heroes here, but the story is mostly told in the gray areas, and powerfully so. I saw one majo ...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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