Half a King (Shattered Sea, #1) in Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy"

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

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Aug 20, 2015 Karl rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2015-08-books-bought, subterranean-own

Joe Abercrombie can sure write adventure. Rousing fight scenes, thrilling sea adventure, great suspense, however, what Mr. Abercrombie can't do is write realistic female characters. Although there are a number of female inclusions in this better than average tale, they are unrealistic and quite two dimensional. This said, it does not detract from the story except for their appearing and disappearing from the plot from time to time.

Speaking of plot, is it just me or did anyone else find the basic ...more

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Oct 28, 2013 Chris Haught rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: review-copy-net-galley, read-owned-paperback

I received a free eARC copy of this on NetGalley.

Say one thing about Joe Abercrombie, say he can tell a good yarn. @LordGrimdark does it again with Half a King.

There were some standard coming of age fantasy things here, but Abercrombie handled them well. He made the characters interesting enough that I cared what happened to them. And he even packed a few surprises and twists in there along the way. Maybe I should have seen some of it coming, but I went with it and was surprised in all the righ ...more

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Nov 11, 2016 J.M. (Joe) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Abercrombie Doesn't Disappoint, Appeals to Gemmell Fans

My all-time favorite fantasy author is the departed David Gemmell. Something about his tales leave an impression like few others. His stories appeal to the noble spirit within us. I've visited several forum threads in the past where readers are seeking another author like Gemmell (there will never be another like Gemmell). In this Shattered Sea series, Abercrombie casts off his trademark descriptions of violence and sundry profanities found ...more

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May 08, 2014 Chompa rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, 2015, grimdark, young-adult

When I started this book, I had forefront in my mind, "This is a young adult novel". Yarvi was designed to be the star of such a book. He was designed to be liked by the teenager types who read these. He was smart, physically flawed and totally misunderstood. The kids who read books would just love him. I hated him because it felt so engineered.

Maybe I was right about that, but after a bit more reading it started getting really good. And it was dark too. Yarvi went from training to be a ministe ...more

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Jun 30, 2014 Nora rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy-1

I did not know this is a YA book though it is strong stuff with a fair amount of violence so i was wondering why Joe was watering it down. But after a couple chapters it really grabbed me. Joe knows how to tell a story, develop a character and deliver on dialog. You often wonder where he is going but it is fun getting there in any case.

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