Half a War by Joe Abercrombie
The final entry in the Shattered Sea trilogy will keep you
turning the pages! While you could have
read the second book without reading the first, I recommend that you read the
first two (Half a King and Half the World) before starting this
book.
The stories of Yarvi and Thorn are at the forefront once again
as the High King’s army kills the king of their ally Throvenland. Yet one royal escapes Throvenland, Princess
Skara, and her gentle way unites the armies building up to fight against the
High King. Only half a war is fought on
the battlefield the rest is words, deception and manipulation. Will our three heroes come out of the war
unscathed in body as well as soul?
I have shied away from epic fantasy for a while because I didn’t
want to get sucked into a story that lasts for multiple volumes, each one long enough
that it seems like three books in one.
This series is different. It is
definitely a trilogy (it ends) and all three volumes are less than 1,000 pages
combined. It is also very different from
any other fantasy I’ve read. The writing
is spare, the world seems to be ours at a point in the very distant future and the
unexpected happens all the time. This is
war after all and sometimes the actions, deaths and betrayals are completely
unexpected.
If you are missing Game of Thrones and want to get completely
absorbed in a fantasy story and still have plenty of time to refresh yourself
in Westeros, try the Shattered Sea.
