What's Elizabeth Reading? ...Joe Abercrombie

I finished editing that manuscript for my friend, so I can finally start reading for myself again. Joe Abercrombie's Half a King, though, was a commuter book. It originally caught my eye in the library because I recognized the title and cover art from somewhere...I later realized it was from a post on my friend Madison's blog. It's a wonderful blog, by the way, pretty insightful for a blog and she goes into a variety of topics, from making me feel sad for how women treat Marilyn Monroe these days to making me feel like my cooking really isn't adventurous enough.
Shameless plug, but hey, it's the only blog I really follow, and there's a reason for that. I have other friends who have blogs, but this one is really something else.

Anyway ... Half a King. The concept is this prince who has only one finger on one hand (other hand is fine) becomes king when his father and brother are both killed. Swearing vengeance (this is a violent culture, where kings are more war kings than anything else), he soon finds himself betrayed and set adrift in the world. He has to fight his way back to regain the kingdom and avenge his father and brother.

I did get caught up in this story at times, but overall, it wasn't my favorite. For one, the troupe of supporting characters Yarvi builds has two characters who I could barely tell apart. There were five of them, and three were pretty unique, but the last two were so similar that when one of them died, I didn't really care. I was more like, "And who was that again?" Perhaps if I had read it instead of listening in spurts, it would have gone across better, but I still think these characters should have been more unique from each other.

I was also let down by Yarvi himself. His character was fine--and the story arc is well done, by the way, no complaints there--but in my point of view, he doesn't become as cunning as the story and author keep saying he becomes. He just becomes average, in my opinion, except for at the very last. That bit was cunning and kind of came from left field. It was something I, as a reader, was not expecting at all, but made sense once it was explained.

I also enjoyed the plot twist the climax hinges on. I'm sorry I can't be more explicit with all this, I don't want to give anything away if you decide to read it.

Madison praised the characters and said she loved the book, so there you go. You may as well read it to see what you think for yourself. And if you do it quickly, you'll be ready for the sequel's release in February.

P.S. - This book mentions elves from time to time, but there are no elves to speak of. There are things that are "elven made"...but no elves. So weird.