↬ This review is spoiler free for both this book and the original first law trilogy. Even though The HeroeOne battle will decide the fate of the North
↬ This review is spoiler free for both this book and the original first law trilogy. Even though The Heroes is defined as a standalone, the truth is that it’s the continuation of the original trilogy in this same series, so I wouldn’t recommend starting your first law journey with this book.
If you have read and enjoy the original trilogy, The Heroes is going to be a great addition to the series. It covers an epic battle that takes place in only three days, but is filled with an entire cast of characters who will stick with you for a lot longer. As someone who appreciates fights only in small amounts, I was a bit weary of picking this up. But I should have trusted Joe Abercrombie more, once more his characters were the ones stealing the show.
My favorite POV is a group of Named Men-specialized fighters from the North-, who behave like a big family. You have their experienced leader, Craw, who's been saying he’s going to retire for over ten years but keeps coming back. You have a half-naked war semi-god with a big sword that nobody is dumb enough to challenge, a rough second-leader, a couple of newbies and people who keep coming and dying because that’s the downside of their job. If you liked following Logen’s squad in First Law, I can’t see how you wouldn’t enjoy following this new group of old friends.
The other main POVs are a depressed soldier whose reputation has seen better days and a prince who behaves like a silly kid half of the time. To be honest, my experience with this book would have been better if the prince’s POV didn’t exist; everyone kept telling me that he was a thinker, not a soldier, while I kept seeing him sinking every time he opened his big mouth. Only one time did he actually succeed and people were chanting his name as if he had stolen Glotka’s place as the GOAT.
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Apart from Craw’s dozen, what kept me going was the thrill of not knowing whose party was going to win and how, which of the characters were going to fight against each other and who would die. While the ending was not the one I would have chosen, I have to admit it was a solid one.
Overall, The Heroes was probably the book with the best pacing out of all the books I’ve read by Joe Abercrombie. If you like fighting you are probably going to enjoy it more, but if you are like me and need something more, there are plenty of plot twists and scenes with the characters that will keep you on your toes. Also, you have ...more
If you want to betray the most powerful mercenary in the army, be sure to do it right.
They call her a lot of names, but the Snake of Talins only careIf you want to betray the most powerful mercenary in the army, be sure to do it right.
They call her a lot of names, but the Snake of Talins only cares about serving Duke Orso and taking care of her brother. When her allies decide they can’t afford to gamble with her rising popularity, seven people try to kill her. They left her for dead, but she won’t die until she gets her revenge.
With the goal of killing the seven most influential people of the country, Monza Murcatto, the Snake of Talins, puts together a band of experienced murderers: a serial killer, a Northman, a poisoner and his apprentice. Together, they must destroy the same people she used to fight for.
Best Served Cold works as a standalone, but you are going to get spoiled for the original trilogy, so I’d recommend going in order and start with First Law #1: The Blade Itself. If you have read the original trilogy, while this is not really the continuation of the story, you may not want to miss the opportunity to say hi to a few old faces.
Even though I had fun during a lot of scenes-I love Joe Abercrombie’s humor-, I wasn’t very interested in the main plot of the book. While I enjoy following women who are really good at fighting and I don’t mind gray characters-Logen was my favorite character last year-, I didn’t really care for Monza’s revenge. She had killed hundreds of innocent people and kept killing innocent people on her way of getting revenge for only one person, so at times I couldn’t see the difference between her and Duke Orso-other than her being a bit more loyal.
To be honest, I wasn’t passionate about any of the characters we were following. Sometimes I struggle with gray characters because, as much as they have the potential to be a lot more interesting than your typical good hero, if I don’t find them cool enough I don’t care about them. That’s what happened here: they failed in convincing me what they were doing was interesting despite them being bad people.
While this review seems like I hated everything, the truth is that I read Best Served Cold in two days. Characters are important for me, but I love how Abercrombie writes, he always manages to make me laugh out loud in public spaces and surprise me with his little plot twists. Overall, Best Served Cold made me want to keep reading this series because, even if this time the characters didn’t stick, I can’t wait to find out others that will.
When I finished Malice, I decided I needed to read everything John Gwynne had ever written. But there was one book that I was looking forward to the mWhen I finished Malice, I decided I needed to read everything John Gwynne had ever written. But there was one book that I was looking forward to the most and that was the ‘peak’ on his career, the beloved Shadow of the Gods. I never expected to feel as conflicted as I feel now.
I wouldn’t say The Shadow of the Gods was a bad book but I finished it feeling underwhelmed instead of excited to continue the series. I don’t know how much is due to the book and how much is on me for choosing the wrong time-reading Malazan is making all the fantasy books I’ve been trying feel flat, unoriginal and too simple in comparison.
Inspired by Norse mythology and Vikings, The Shadow of the Gods sends us to a brutal world where conflicts are solved with blood and pain. Descendents of the dead Gods are now slaved, rulers are constantly challenged and warriors die every day in constant fights of power. It’s not enough: someone is kidnapping children, someone powerful enough to kill everyone who dares to stand in their way. A new era of madness might be coming.
“To be young and naive () Blood is always the answer.
The story started on a high note, with the perfect amount of action and characters that makes you want to say goodbye to sleep. I adore John Gwynne’s prose, I love how short his chapters are and the continuous change of POVs, even if I wished we had more here. This is a personal preference because I know some people were confused with the over six POVs in The Faithful and the Fallen, but I mourned when he shortened them to four in Of Blood and Bone and now we are left with only three.
Maybe I’ve read too many of John Gwynne’s books in too little time-eight books in one year and a half-, because I predicted most of the ‘plot twists’. Even some of the characters reminded me of characters I’ve read before: we have the good-hearted hero CorbanDrem Varg who only wants to revenge his sister, the badass warrior with angry issues Orka and the girl who is trying to show her worth in the wrong side of the battle.
My favorite character was Orka; I always love the badass female character who is the most powerful warrior of the group, the one everyone is afraid of and whose problem seems to be that she’s way too good at killing. How her personality fitted perfectly with her husband Thorkel was the highlight of the book for me but, by the end of the book, I needed something more than her awesome warrior skills to keep me going.
John Gwynne is really good at writing battles, they always play like a movie in my head, so I understand the hype surrounding this book. But for someone who already felt Of Blood and Bone was a bit too action-packed, reading The Shadow of the Gods felt like going back to the same constant battles with a different scenery.
To sum up, I don’t argue that The Shadow of the Gods is Gwynne’s best work to date, but it’s definitely not the one meant for me. I would rather have less fight scenes, otherwise the feeling of thrill becomes a 'here we go again' followed by a sight. I love seeing how the characters interact and how they constantly change and I was expecting this series to be something completely new, not the continuation of what we saw in The Banished Land. Maybe Gwynne’s style and my personal taste are progressing in different directions and there is nothing to be done about it.
Thank you Ren for buddy reading this one with me, even if we are back to picking up the wrong books for us ☃️☃️...more
Am I the only one who can’t read the title without signing the song?
Wren’s fiancé left her for another. Ander’s wife passed away years ago. Neither ofAm I the only one who can’t read the title without signing the song?
Wren’s fiancé left her for another. Ander’s wife passed away years ago. Neither of them are ready to start again but fate doesn’t sync people’s struggles with the opportunity of a lifetime. If only there wasn't a secret ready to destroy all their dreams.
I started this thinking it was going to be a romance but, while there is a love story involved that owns half of the narrative, the spotlight is always on the characters and reads more like a contemporary. I didn’t care; I was too busy being worried about everyone. Paige Toon’s writing it’s one of those voices that trap you and never let you go. Any free moment I had, I saw myself going straight to pick this up to witness how all my new favorite flawed people were doing.
My mother has always told me to trust my instincts. But it’s hard to trust your instincts when they’re breaking your heart.
Wren was a really easy character to love, she wasn’t perfect but she wasn’t afraid to apologize when she was wrong and make amends. Her pain of feeling like an outsider in her dad and stepmother’s house was my pain. Her constant struggle with trying to extinguish her jealousy and finally love her step-sister without restrictions was so real I couldn’t help but forgive her as soon as those thoughts crossed her mind. Her moments with her stepmother and dad filled me with more emotions than the actual drama of the story. I just adore seeing flawed people finally communicating and healing each other.
Although Wren is the POV of the story, it’s almost as much hers as her sister Bailey, Anders and his brother Jonas. I still can’t believe how invested I was in the friendship they were slowly building and how much I miss them every time I see the book already finished sitting on my shelves. I know I will go back some day, if only to see them finding in each other the light they were struggling to catch on their own.
On top of loving the characters, the suspense around the secret was also eating me up inside and was the only reason I couldn’t delay my stay as much as I wished. While I started to see it coming towards the middle of the book, I wasn’t very convinced about why they hid it even after it was clear it needed to be out. I couldn’t help but feel it was a bit too convenient that they kept postponing it-but not as convenient as seeing other characters solving the main characters' problems.
Overall, I really loved feeling like I was part of the book, that I was meeting with real friends and not characters made to entertain me. The problem was a bit too dramatic for me, but at least the blurb hinted it would be. Guess I’ll be reading more contemporaries in the future because Paige Toon’s pen is not one I want to ignore now that I’ve found it.
I didn’t know it was possible to love so fully and hurt so deeply at exactly the same time.
Thank you so much Laura for blessing me with this wonderful story and making time to deliver it in person (LOL) I miss you and love you loads ❤️...more
When Landon Stackhouse temporarily leaves his AHL team to go to the NHL as backup goalie, he doesn’t know whether to be happy or resigned about fall tWhen Landon Stackhouse temporarily leaves his AHL team to go to the NHL as backup goalie, he doesn’t know whether to be happy or resigned about fall the bench time he’s about to endure. Being hopeful isn’t in his nature, but Landon knows it’s time to make sure not to pass any possible opportunity. What he isn’t expecting is to have to put his heart also on the line.
Casey hates living alone in a very big house that was ‘a good investment’ but has too many windows to be able to sleep at night. When he discovers that the new backup goalie is living in a hotel, Casey is more than happy to let him crash there. But handsome Landon seems to be already tired of him, always staying in his room and avoiding his gaze. Casey knows he’s a handful, but there is something about Landon’s action that makes him wonder: is there any chance his crush is not so unrequited after all?
Everything started with my obsession for pretty covers; I couldn’t help but click and read the blurb. Something was telling me maybe Rachel Reid could be the one making a sports romance that finally made me feel the warmth and happiness that reading the subgenre used to bring me. Not only was I not disappointed, but this ended my new favorite book by the author.
If you asked me what’s Reid’s biggest strength, I'd say creating a new set of characters for every book she writes. This may sound very logical, but I’m sure you are tired of seeing authors who can only create the same three characters and recycle them in every single book they release. This has its downside: every book she writes seems to have a different kind of reader in mind. What I’m trying to say it’s that you shouldn’t try Time to Shine if you are looking for a copy of Heated Rivalry, because you will be disappointed. I didn’t like Heated Rivalry-it had too much smut too soon for me-, so that may be why I adored how they took their time here (in part it was because Landon’s feelings towards sex, while I don’t think he actually labeled himself, hinted he may be demi).
I have loads of highlights of just me smiling, sighing, crushing and breaking into tiny pieces because I was feeling along with them. Casey was such a sweetheart to follow; he only wanted people around him but he always felt like he was too much: too loud, too chatty, too energetic. I loved how Landon loved being around him especially for that, how he never had the right words yet he always managed to show Casey those thoughts. I also appreciated how the author didn’t create a traumatic experience for Casey’s fear of being alone at night. I was dreading the terrible story so I was extremely glad when it didn’t come!
I won’t say anything about the final problem other than I understood why the characters behaved the way they did. Yes, they were being silly and it was frustrating, but it made sense that Landon’s struggles led him to make those decisions. I was really glad Casey was always ready to save the day, Landon’s POV was breaking my cold heart:
Tonight his attention kept being drawn to the dance floor, and Landon wished he could be different. He wished he could be fun. He wished he was the one laughing at whatever ridiculous shit Casey was saying.
()He just wanted to be someone who could be happy.
Overall, I really enjoyed my time following Landon and Casey. While the structure wasn’t anything earth-shattering, I had a great time reading this book. I’m so glad that now I can admire the cover while feeling all my heart warm at the memory of them.
As a side note, there were moments at the beginning where Landon and Casey’s dynamics reminded me a tiny bit of one of my all time favorite couples, Lan Wanji and Wei Wuxian (Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation), which definitely made me love them even more. I can’t help it, every time I see a shy/social butterfly dynamic I transform into fangirl-mode:
↬Exhibit A: ‘I love you, Stacks,’ Casey finally said. ‘You are hilarious.’ No one had ever accused Landon of that before.
↬Exhibit B:‘Hicks thinks dragons are real.’
[an hour of teasing later]
Landon began to walk away, then paused. He took a step toward Casey, then bent so their faces were close and quietly said, ‘Dragon lizards exist.’
It took Casey a moment to realize Landon wasn’t making fun of him. Then another moment to get over the shock of learning that Landon had been listening to the whole dragon conversation while seemingly being focused on destroying the treadmill. Finally, Casey smiled.
they are so beautiful together *screams in chinese*
I kindly received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own....more
“We supposed to fight all this lot? When do we get a rest?” He shrugged his shoulders, squeezed his lips together like he was thinking about i
“We supposed to fight all this lot? When do we get a rest?” He shrugged his shoulders, squeezed his lips together like he was thinking about it. “When we’re dead?”
While book one felt like a promise of what was yet to come, Before They Are Hanged throws some light on what’s really going on in the bigger picture. The characters stop just letting themselves drift downstream and wonder what they are doing with their lives. Although we may not have started with the right foot, Before They Are Hanged has ended up being the best fantasy book I’ve read so far this year.
I can’t lie to you: reading this after finishing my second five star of the year (2ha) was not ideal, especially taking into account a year has passed since I read the first book in the series. I was this close to dnf it, I kept telling myself ‘why? why are you doing this to me?’ until, somehow, I saw myself laughing at a certain joke, shipping two characters, deciding one of the POVs was indeed my favorite-but that other isn't bad either. Two hundred pages into it, I had decided there was no way I wasn’t going to finish it. Three hundred pages into it, I had realized I was enjoying every single POV. By the time I reached the ending everything I could think of was 1) how much would it take for the third volume to arrive here? 2) should I also order a couple of standalones to binge read the entire universe?
But back to the book. Like real people, Joe Abercrombie characterization manages to keep a continuous evolution that shows how the characters keep changing and maturing and becoming a better version-thank god-of their still very flawed selves.
This time it was Logen who carried the book for me: his loneliness, loyalty and will to be better made his POV my baby. I loved how he made it his duty to create a team out of a handful of strangers picked up at random who kept grunting at each other. I loved him so much that I realized I was-silly me-shipping him with the most unfriendly face between said comrades. I was laughing at myself because there was no way we were having a romance between the two brute warriors in an epic fantasy book. I should have known that Abercrombie wasn’t done charming me into loving this, because we even got some smut–fantasy-level smut, calm your romance reader expectations. It was interesting how this is one of the very few times that the romance inside an adult fantasy doesn't seem shoehorned in. Especially because calling it romance it’s a stretch; there is nothing romantic about it, yet it felt so real I couldn’t help but suffer their confusion along with them. It was almost funny, seeing that very independent warrior lying to herself promising it wouldn’t happen again.
“You expect too much out of life, ().” He grinned. “And here was me thinking you expect too little.” “Expect nothing and you won’t be disappointed.” “Expect nothing and you’ll get nothing.”
But Logen and his love life weren’t the only stars in this book-even if they were the brightest ones. This entire book is an ode to great characterization and there is nothing I value more than layers on my characters. I love when they surprise you, make you love them and hate them and cheer for them and wish they were dead. None of them were pretty human beings, but I enjoyed even that silly prince who was begging to be silenced.
“I owe you a lot, I know. It’s just that…you’re too angry for me. That’s all.” He stared at her as she trudged off up the hill after the Northmen, hardly able to believe his ears. She was happy to bed that stinking savage, but he was too angry? It was so unfair he almost choked on his rage.
Overall, Before They Are Hanged gives us the same ingredients as book one: exquisite humor and people rather than characters, while also adding a sense of progression both in action and character arc. It was so satisfying, seeing all those characters starting to become more, that I’m as excited to read the conclusion as I’m dreading having to say goodbye. I only hope my favorite couple manages to reach the end breathing, but you know what they say:
Hope is for the weak.
↬ The First Law: 1. The Blade Itself: 3 stars 2. Before They Are Hanged: 4 stars 3. Last Argument of Kings: 4 stars
I’m so shocked about not liking this that I don’t even know where to start.
Matt and Rhys met in a bar, one of them ready to meet his new one-night staI’m so shocked about not liking this that I don’t even know where to start.
Matt and Rhys met in a bar, one of them ready to meet his new one-night stand, the other prepared to make him stay at all costs. Despite Matt’s insecurities, Rhys manages to convince him to start dating. They fall in love fast, they marry and figure it out that’s it. They are going to live happily ever after.
But marriage is only the beginning.
I ADORE relationship/marriage crisis books. Maybe that’s why I’m really picky about them. I think we already started on the wrong foot, because I don’t understand why they got married so early on. They didn’t really know each other, it felt as if Rhys wanted to make sure Matt was going to stick with him after being hurt by all those guys in the past who didn’t want to commit to him. I almost felt as if Rhys ‘tricked’ Matt into marrying him because he wanted someone to take care of. I don’t think Matt was ready for marriage, even if I understood why he went along with it. After everything he went through, marriage promised the stability and unconditional love he had missed. In a way, they were both using each other, and marriage, to calm their fears and it didn’t sit well with what marriage means for me.
In any case, they married and lived happily until Rhys had to go on tour and Matt’s insecurities came to life. While Matt’s struggles rang true, I was never really interested in his character. I never felt he was going through something I haven’t read before or that the story was a real one. That’s why I don’t like it when the authors make it obvious that you have a character who is going through a lot (Matt) and one that it’s there to be the supportive secondary character in his own story (Rhys). Maybe it’s because there is nothing I hate more than co-dependency and part of me can't help but wonder whether Rhys would have married Matt if he didn’t carry all the trauma that made him the perfect candidate to fulfill Rhys’ need to protect and care for someone. I know some readers love that dynamic, but I really don’t.
I also don’t understand why nobody thought about therapy from the beginning. Matt works as a counselor! He knew he wasn’t doing alright, everyone around him knew he wasn’t doing alright. Why didn’t anybody suggest therapy? In fact, I would have suggested individual therapy and couple therapy, because sometimes Rhys’ behavior and ‘hero’ complex made everything more difficult. The only explanation I came up with it’s that asking for professional help would have ended the story too fast.
Basically, the whole book felt a back and forth with no real progress to make the reader suffer. Which might have worked if I cared. Or if I was a reader who enjoys depressing books. But I didn’t, and I’m not.
Captive Prince is one of the most popular MM romances, so I would be lying if I said that I never thought about giving it a try. However, thereDNF 55%
Captive Prince is one of the most popular MM romances, so I would be lying if I said that I never thought about giving it a try. However, there was always this hesitance regarding the TWs that kept me from picking it up until a friend dared me to read it in exchange of her finally reading Him series-it was too good to say no. After loving 2ha (which has way more TWs than this), I thought this was also going to be another book I was afraid of for no reason. It wasn’t.
It took me a really long time to figure out why reading this book made me so uncomfortable while Erha (2ha) didn’t. In 2ha, the main character tells you he has sexually abused the love interest in his past life. Here, there are explicit scenes of non-consesual sex regarding other characters (slaves, to be specific). It should be the same, right?
Well, there is a huge difference: in 2ha, the main character never excuses himself, always acknowledges that he was the villain of the story and had no morals to care. Here, nobody bats an eye at slaves fighting to rape each other, they don’t wonder about slavery being wrong because they have it so integrated on their mindset that, for them, there is nothing to be sorry about. I understand that this is written as if it was ancient Rome/Greece so the mindset of the characters mirrors the mindset those civilizations used to have about slavery. That doesn’t mean I want to read about a book where characters are okay about slavery ‘as long as the slaves are treated all right’:
“() Good men don’t torture slaves in Akielos. Slaves are trained to obey in all things, but their submission is a pact: They give up free will in exchange for perfect treatment. To abuse someone who cannot resist-isn’t that monstrous?”
I knew it was over the moment I read that quote in Damen’s (MC) POV. I know that he was trying to get them to treat slaves better but it doesn't make his argument valid. Think about Historical Romances: society was very sexist back then. That doesn’t mean we want a hero who says that women are inferior. It's the same here. It was making me sick, following a character who brags about ‘treating slaves fairly’. They are still slaves.
As a side note, non-consensual sex is not better if it’s between two people of the same gender instead of a male and a female. Call me a cynic but I wonder about what the audience reaction would have been if the rape scenes showed a male trying to rape a woman instead of two males trying to rape each other. Male or female, it’s still rape. It’s still rape if it’s oral sex and the main character comes. I hate that I knew the main character will ‘no be raped’ in terms of penetrative sex but it’s fine if he’s being raped in other ways.
I tried to come up with something nice to say about this but, to be honest, I couldn't connect with the writing, hated the low amount of dialogues and I was too disgusted about the whole situation to ship anyone. For those who managed to love this, I get it: sometimes you just want to enjoy a romance without caring about the morality of what's happening. But that wasn't my personal experience with this book....more
I can’t remember the last time I felt so confused. I've been wanting to try Alessandra Hazard for so long but there was something pushing me back; booI can’t remember the last time I felt so confused. I've been wanting to try Alessandra Hazard for so long but there was something pushing me back; books that are only fun if you are able to not take them too seriously hardly ever work for me and sadly this was not an exception.
Just A Bit Confusing is the story of two best friends from childhood, one of them very straight and with a girlfriend, the other one gay and in love with his straight best friend since forever. My main problem with this book was that I didn’t understand one single action made by the characters. I didn’t understand why the straight character kept having dirty thoughts about his friend while also saying he saw him ‘as a brother’. But I’m not someone known for reading incest novels so maybe that one is on me.
The worst part is that their friends made less sense even than them, every single advice they gave them was worse than the previous one. It was so crazy I found myself laughing at the absurdity of it. I guess I have to give it to the author, she wrote a series called ‘straight guys’ made of an entire cast of ‘straight’ guys behaving as stereotypical straight guys.
↬ Exhibit A: No time for a BJ? Let’s fuck for the first time because thas so much faster.
Ironically, I understand why so many people love reading this author: sometimes having fun it’s all you need. I’m giving it two stars because it made me laugh, even if I’m pretty sure I was laughing at the book-but it still kinda works. I don’t know if I’ll be trying another book by the author, I don’t see myself falling in love with this brand of romance. However, since my friends’ ratings follow a pattern of 1 to 5 stars I can’t comprehend, I guess they are trial-and-error kind of books that you need to pick up by yourself to figure out where you lie in....more
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