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wsixkiller's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-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? It's complicated
4.75
jrayers97's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
8797999's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 rounded up
A very interesting set of stories, and a nice finish to the First Law World before the latest book comes out. There were some I loved and others I was not too fond of. Thankfully this is a quick and easy enough read. Most of the characters you have met before and some gaps filled and alternate views of events that have gone on in the books.
For some of the stories there seemed to be a thread, I was expecting a standalone set of stories but a story was within. I wasn’t that taken by it and the characters even though it was the dominant thread. I would rate the stories as follows:
1. Beautiful Bastard - A short little story of young Glokta, I'd love prequel series about Glokta before he joined the inquisition 3.5/5
2. Small Kindnesses - Not bad, wasn't invested in this one. Forgettable 2/5"
3. The Fool Jobs - Enjoyed this one, featuring some of the cast from Heroes, a fun battle and plot. Would love more stories of the Northern fighters. 3/5
4. Skipping Town - A continuation of Small Kindness, not too bad but not a lover of this pairing. 2/5
5. Hell - Not bad, featuring Temple from Red Country. A sack of Dagoska with a priest taken by eaters. Not bad 3/5."
6. Twos Company - I enjoyed this one, nice bit of humour and action. 4/5
7. Wrong Place, Wrong Time - Return of Gorst, one of my favourite characters from Heroes. Shows some events from Best Served Cold from a different perspective. 4/5
8. Some Desperado - A story featuring Shy from Red Country, I enjoyed this one. A nice bit of backstory to the character, I felt she lacked a bit of depth in Red Country 3/5
9.Yesterday, Near a Village Called Barden… - Really enjoyed this one featuring Gorst, one of my favourite characters in the series. Nice bit of action and interaction. 4/5
10. Three’s A Crowd - One of the better ones with Shev and Javre . This pairing is growing on me. 3/5
11. Freedom! - Return of Nicamo Cosca. A humourous account by Swarbeck of Coscas campaign in the Near Lands. Completely whitewashed to what happened in Red Country. Enjoyed this one a lot 5/5
12. Tough Times All Over - Couldn’t get into this one, seems the concluding part of the story throughout this collection. 3/5
13. Made A Monster - A Parley amongst the Northmen and leaders Bethod and Rattleneck, featuring a cameo by Logen Ninefingers and the shortest truce known to man 4/5.
A very interesting set of stories, and a nice finish to the First Law World before the latest book comes out. There were some I loved and others I was not too fond of. Thankfully this is a quick and easy enough read. Most of the characters you have met before and some gaps filled and alternate views of events that have gone on in the books.
For some of the stories there seemed to be a thread, I was expecting a standalone set of stories but a story was within. I wasn’t that taken by it and the characters even though it was the dominant thread. I would rate the stories as follows:
1. Beautiful Bastard - A short little story of young Glokta, I'd love prequel series about Glokta before he joined the inquisition 3.5/5
2. Small Kindnesses - Not bad, wasn't invested in this one. Forgettable 2/5"
3. The Fool Jobs - Enjoyed this one, featuring some of the cast from Heroes, a fun battle and plot. Would love more stories of the Northern fighters. 3/5
4. Skipping Town - A continuation of Small Kindness, not too bad but not a lover of this pairing. 2/5
5. Hell - Not bad, featuring Temple from Red Country. A sack of Dagoska with a priest taken by eaters. Not bad 3/5."
6. Twos Company - I enjoyed this one, nice bit of humour and action. 4/5
7. Wrong Place, Wrong Time - Return of Gorst, one of my favourite characters from Heroes. Shows some events from Best Served Cold from a different perspective. 4/5
8. Some Desperado - A story featuring Shy from Red Country, I enjoyed this one. A nice bit of backstory to the character, I felt she lacked a bit of depth in Red Country 3/5
9.Yesterday, Near a Village Called Barden… - Really enjoyed this one featuring Gorst, one of my favourite characters in the series. Nice bit of action and interaction. 4/5
10. Three’s A Crowd - One of the better ones with Shev and Javre . This pairing is growing on me. 3/5
11. Freedom! - Return of Nicamo Cosca. A humourous account by Swarbeck of Coscas campaign in the Near Lands. Completely whitewashed to what happened in Red Country. Enjoyed this one a lot 5/5
12. Tough Times All Over - Couldn’t get into this one, seems the concluding part of the story throughout this collection. 3/5
13. Made A Monster - A Parley amongst the Northmen and leaders Bethod and Rattleneck, featuring a cameo by Logen Ninefingers and the shortest truce known to man 4/5.
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