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teokajlibroj's review against another edition
4.0
Fans of Abercrombie should know what to expect in this book. Plenty of action and fighting, as well as the usual cynical view of war and crushed hopes. If anything it was a bit too cynical, it would have been nice if at least one person succeeded. The only spark in the gloom was the hilarious fake history of Cosca. It was great to catch up with many favourite characters even if there wasn't enough space for them to do much.
peterkeep's review against another edition
5.0
It took me a while to pick this up, mainly because I always had other books to read and short stories can seem disjointed moving from one to the next. When I finally did buy it, I was in the middle of a busy schedule so I thought it would work nicely to read, instead of one long book.
It's really good. It is a collection of short stories, but they're all relatively connected. Maybe it's because I just really like the First Law world, but these are really cool stories in that they have a ton of common themes and they allow Abercrombie to do some cool writing things.
I remember when I was reading The Heroes, there was a scene in the middle of a gruesome battle where we were following some random soldier, and then when he got killed, we switched to follow the soldier that killed him. And as more deaths piled up, we kept switching to follow the killers. It was a cool scene and a neat little technique that I hadn't seen before. Abercrombie does these things in his books, and they're fun to notice. It seems like he took this collection of short stories and really tried some things in it. That little trick in The Heroes gets performed here as well as the main story telling device in one of the later stories and it works really well. He does some
other, different, things as well, and they're all pretty great.
Abercrombie is definitely one of the best out right now and this little collection of stories shows why. He writes snappy, fun stories with a ton of skill, and somehow ends the collection the same way he ends his books. It's awesome to read.
It's really good. It is a collection of short stories, but they're all relatively connected. Maybe it's because I just really like the First Law world, but these are really cool stories in that they have a ton of common themes and they allow Abercrombie to do some cool writing things.
I remember when I was reading The Heroes, there was a scene in the middle of a gruesome battle where we were following some random soldier, and then when he got killed, we switched to follow the soldier that killed him. And as more deaths piled up, we kept switching to follow the killers. It was a cool scene and a neat little technique that I hadn't seen before. Abercrombie does these things in his books, and they're fun to notice. It seems like he took this collection of short stories and really tried some things in it. That little trick in The Heroes gets performed here as well as the main story telling device in one of the later stories and it works really well. He does some
other, different, things as well, and they're all pretty great.
Abercrombie is definitely one of the best out right now and this little collection of stories shows why. He writes snappy, fun stories with a ton of skill, and somehow ends the collection the same way he ends his books. It's awesome to read.
mechimp's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
jquellllin's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
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
4.5
daanjansen96's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
downtowndaly's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.25
A collection of short stories can sometimes be hard to rate.
I ended up at 3.25 stars with some of the stories being excellent, some just ok, and all at least very readable given Abercrombie's writing style, even if some of the stories' plots don't hold up compared to his other works.
I ended up at 3.25 stars with some of the stories being excellent, some just ok, and all at least very readable given Abercrombie's writing style, even if some of the stories' plots don't hold up compared to his other works.
zeallygreen's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
lasagnayo's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
loolaw_reads's review against another edition
2.5
I only enjoyed 3 of these stories but more importantly, I didn't really think they enhanced or expanded the First Law world. I have rated the First Law Trilogy (4.5, 4.75, 4.5) and Best Served Cold (4.5) very high so my expectations were elevated. Abercrombie has quickly become one of my favorite authors, but perhaps I will just stick to the full length books.