Reviews with content warning for Torture - Best Served Cold

Ugh, wonderful. Hilarious, bloody, inspiring... watching characters overcome crippling adversity to return as immediately as possible to the problematic behaviour that set their adversity in action to begin with? *chef kiss* Just about the perfect book for me, no notes.

Content Warnings

da3m0nic's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

surdiablo's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

My feelings are a bit complicated when it comes to this one, but I believe it's safe to say I didn't love it like the original trilogy, although it's an excellent standalone novel. I will explain what I liked first. As usual, Abercrombie excels at writing characterizations with such distinct voices and having delightful, humorous banter between each other, which often were among the highlights of this book for me. Without getting into direct spoilers, there were indeed several references and appearances of certain characters, both major and minor, from previous trilogy. They all served their purpose very well and was integrated rather tastefully with proper reasons, than just for the sake of cameos. The book also retains a cinematic effect during action sequences and other important scenes, just like in the trilogy and was also reminiscent of 'Kill Bill' movies which I really liked. Some of the character growth might be different from what you may expect at first, but they left me with a lot to ponder about in a bittersweet way, which I actually appreciate.

As for what I didn't like, I found the book to be dragging somewhat in certain sections which felt like a chore to read sometimes, but of course not in an extreme way, like with certain Wheel of time books. My major problem, which I'm sure your mileage will definitely vary, was that the main character wasn't much interesting to me. Now don't get me wrong, Monza is fine on her own and was definitely a strong badass who you can root for, it's just that I personally found her a bit too straightforward and bland with the goals she had in mind and her actions in general, while the side characters were simply more appealing as people to read about. I loved all of their arcs regardless either way, especially the irony surrounding some of them.

Content Warnings

iono's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

kylieqrada's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Simultaneously THE ABSOLUTE SHIT and a little problematic. I have a weak spot for ol' Joe and I am so happy to be back in The First Law. Monza is the Grand Duchess of my heart.

Content Warnings

danprisk's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark fast-paced

Loveable characters? No

3.5

For me this book goes way too far into violence. The other books in the series I've read have similarly awful graphic violence, but it didn't quite put me off like this one. I think that the others balance the violence with a decent amount of tension of other aspects going on which makes the violence feel like just one part of the story, whereas BSC leans fully into constant extreme violence. It feels like barely a page goes by without someone being killed, maimed, or tortured in an extremely graphic and brutal manner. The nihilistic philosophy becomes a lot more pronounced and centre stage here as well, so that the idea that there can be anyone or anything decent or good goes by the wayside. This total darkness kind of nullifies it's impact, so the book just began to feel a bit off putting for me. I think this might be the sort of book that appeals to those who enjoy "torture porn" type horror, but it's a bit too much for me.

Content Warnings

blue123's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

More...