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A review by katyanaish
Half a War by Joe Abercrombie
4.0
The story was well-woven, as I've come to expect from Abercrombie. But I can't help but be disappointed.
I'm too emotional to judge whether I found it believable that Yarvi could really become so evil - he has not only become everything he hates, he's arguably become worse. Certainly, we haven't seen that Grandmother Wexen regularly staged attacks on her own people and got those closest to her killed, in order to further her plans. And the way he ordered Skara around, right before that final reveal ... it felt too far, to me. Too much. Too overtly villain. But as I said, maybe I'm too emotional to judge.
In the end, I'm left with general unhappiness, because either I didn't connect to the characters (the new main characters in this book), or they became people I didn't like.
Skara ... I found her impossible to warm up to. She was appallingly selfish, and pretty full of herself at the same time.
Koll ... So wishy-washy. He struggled with the same decision for the entirety of the book, and I didn't really feel like the choice was THAT hard.
Raith ... Of the three new main characters in this book, I liked him the best. But I feel like... for a great warrior, we didn't actually get to see him do much (anything really) in battle. And for a great warrior, he sure let himself be kicked around by everyone.
Yarvi ... *sigh*
Thorn ... I finally came to like her in the last book, and by the end I liked her quite a bit. But the person she became after losing Brand... she wasn't even human anymore.
So I don't know. I'm giving it 4 stars, because I love Abercrombie as a storyteller. But he might just be a writer who is not for me. I need characters that I am rooting for. I like shades of gray, complexities in people and situations. But I guess what makes a character someone I can love is... that they are trying to do their best. Choosing to go to war, people dying, I get that. But Yarvi seems to have fallen into a place of casual cruelty, as did Thorn. It makes for a story that is sad. There's no real other takeaway. Just sad.
I'm too emotional to judge whether I found it believable that Yarvi could really become so evil - he has not only become everything he hates, he's arguably become worse. Certainly, we haven't seen that Grandmother Wexen regularly staged attacks on her own people and got those closest to her killed, in order to further her plans. And the way he ordered Skara around, right before that final reveal ... it felt too far, to me. Too much. Too overtly villain. But as I said, maybe I'm too emotional to judge.
In the end, I'm left with general unhappiness, because either I didn't connect to the characters (the new main characters in this book), or they became people I didn't like.
Skara ... I found her impossible to warm up to. She was appallingly selfish, and pretty full of herself at the same time.
Koll ... So wishy-washy. He struggled with the same decision for the entirety of the book, and I didn't really feel like the choice was THAT hard.
Raith ... Of the three new main characters in this book, I liked him the best. But I feel like... for a great warrior, we didn't actually get to see him do much (anything really) in battle. And for a great warrior, he sure let himself be kicked around by everyone.
Yarvi ... *sigh*
Thorn ... I finally came to like her in the last book, and by the end I liked her quite a bit. But the person she became after losing Brand... she wasn't even human anymore.
So I don't know. I'm giving it 4 stars, because I love Abercrombie as a storyteller. But he might just be a writer who is not for me. I need characters that I am rooting for. I like shades of gray, complexities in people and situations. But I guess what makes a character someone I can love is... that they are trying to do their best. Choosing to go to war, people dying, I get that. But Yarvi seems to have fallen into a place of casual cruelty, as did Thorn. It makes for a story that is sad. There's no real other takeaway. Just sad.