Karen’s Reviews > Half a War > Status Update

Father Yarvi’s oaths are set to burn vengeance.
One king is dead.
Another stands to win a Queen.
But a tower has fallen, and ten thousand wait to pour through….
Oh, the teeth clench while the swords and axes swing.

And so, the hero of the first Shattered Sea book becomes corrupted by the very oaths he made to bring those down who killed his father.
Corruption by power…uncontrollable power.
It’s a theme that never grows old.
Am I right❓❓❓

Storyline has split in two directions and still hold firm. Battle action on one side and mystery seeking on the other. The balance is sublime.

Wounds that send a Queen outside to be sick.
A Queen whose minister lends assurances.
A writer who gives the reader every tiny essence of his characters.

From the end of chapter Gudrun’s Example, Raith promises Queen Skara:

“Every good killer needs someone to kill for.”

He is a very good killer to be so young.

From the chapter titled Deals, because young Queen Skara is a deal maker if there ever was one:

“The world is full of monsters, after all. Perhaps the best one can hope for is to have the most terrible on your side.”

From the chapter Monsters:
(Young Queen Skara speaks; Owd is her borrowed minister)

“I used to think the world had heroes in it. But the world is full of monsters, Sister Owd.” She turned away from the dead, back toward Bail’s Point. “Perhaps the best we can hope for is to have the most terrible of them on our side.”

That’s a girl after my own heart.

Gotta stop and take a breath.
My favorite character has been killed by the worst of the worst.
If you’ve read Martin’s Game of Thrones, you know the feeling.
You get attached and the writer puts the dagger right in your heart.
It’s the price you pay when you read great epics.💔

And have I said anything yet about how much Sound reverberates off the pages Abercrombie wrote? Example from the chapter titled Killer:

“All was a storm of splintering wood and clattering metal and broken voices that echoed in Raith’s head until his skull rang with it, split with it, burst with it.”

The battle scenes are as loud as they are astounding!

Abercrombie doesn’t just paint characters with subtle ease. His scenery glows with light, shimmers with colors, and dances through every page. I am constantly smiling as I read this series through to the end.