Karen’s Reviews > Half the World > Status Update

From the chapter entitled Not Like The Songs:

“A fool doesn’t fear. A warrior stands in spite of his fear. You stood.”

Wise old Rulf keeps dishing out the warrior’s lessons.

Good lines like raised drinks
This selection found in the chapter entitled Strange Times:

“Enemies are the price of success.”

Said at the onset of this book that I like the character Brand. After this last chapter, when he shows how heroic he can be to save a child, I don’t like him. I adore him. He is the strength at the core of this book - both physically and at heart.

Lines so pure they could make you cry:

“Seeds blown from half the world away and chosen by some weird luck to put their roots down here.” (Taken from the chapter entitled Damn Them, and in reference to a village sprung from people all over the Shattered Sea.)

I think almost every reader will agree with me that it’s the character build that’s most important. You can create a great plot but fill it with wishy-washy flat people and the book slams shut before you’re a third into it.

Abercrombie is masterful with his characters, and once created, they learn, grow, and age but don’t suddenly lose clarity or fade into nothingness. Pure genius.

Great team-building exercise of pulling down the ship’s mast and rolling the hull so everyone can huddle under it during a massive hail storm. No, really, it was an amazingly successful explanation. Very visual and full of sound. Extraordinary stuff!

Chapter titled The Second Lesson and I wish they’d had books like this on the reading lists way back when I was in school. Lovely line found toward the end:

“You are a killer, girl! You are the storm, always moving!”

Chapter titled The First Lesson and it is:

“If I can be hit I deserve it!”

Beautifully orchestrated and rendered

Finally got to meet Mother Wexen and she did not disappoint.
The mother of all ministers brought to mind that incredible actress, the unforgettable Helen Mirren.
It also brought to mind when Mirren played Morgana in Excalibur.
Any resemblance is entirely my own imagination, I’m sure 🆒

Father Yarvi…plain Yarvi of yore… but still the sarcastic witty biting tongue from the first book.
He is Yoda❣️❣️❣️
Maybe Rulf is Solo🥰🤣