Jump to content

Joe Abercrombie: The Collected Works 2 (A new trilogy on the horizon)


Rhom

Recommended Posts

There is no rhyme or reason for these things. Consider Steven Erikson's Forge of Darkness. It tanked in such a way that both his agent and editor suggested that he stop working on the Anomander Rake trilogy after the second volume and concentrate on something else. 

And that's just a few months after The Crippled God was a bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic.

Why didn't all Malazan fans buy the first volume in a new trilogy that would focus on the story of one of the most beloved characters of The Malazan Book of the Fallen? Impossible to say.

It's been seven years since the last First Law book. Will it have an influence on the sales of A Little Hatred? Maybe yes, maybe no.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, Lord Patrek said:

There is no rhyme or reason for these things. Consider Steven Erikson's Forge of Darkness. It tanked in such a way that both his agent and editor suggested that he stop working on the Anomander Rake trilogy after the second volume and concentrate on something else. 

And that's just a few months after The Crippled God was a bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic.

Why didn't all Malazan fans buy the first volume in a new trilogy that would focus on the story of one of the most beloved characters of The Malazan Book of the Fallen? Impossible to say.

It's been seven years since the last First Law book. Will it have an influence on the sales of A Little Hatred? Maybe yes, maybe no.

Speaking personally... I was exhausted with Malazan and read The Crippled God to get closure.  I wasn't about to jump back into more right then.

As you say though, who knows how readers will respond?  I have it pre-ordered.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 8/7/2019 at 12:32 AM, SeanF said:

Every branch of Waterstones has plenty of Abercrombie novels, so I'd expect this one to sell.

Waterstones seem to be keen as this book and at least "the heroes" both have bonus chapters exclusive to their copy of the book. They also have Joe signing them so I think they are pretty confident he'll sell for them and as the largest book store chain in the UK that's probably meaning sales should be good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Lord Patrek said:

My review of A Little Hatred here.

Sounds great - also liked the teases of which characters will appear (I don't consider it a spoiler). And ranked pretty high in terms of your enjoyment of the series so far. A month to wait...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Ran said:

Found a claim, in a spreadsheet compiled from Edelweiss data, that A Little Hatred has a 100,000 first printing. Gives a sense of judged demand by the publisher.

 

31 minutes ago, red snow said:

Waterstones seem to be keen as this book and at least "the heroes" both have bonus chapters exclusive to their copy of the book. They also have Joe signing them so I think they are pretty confident he'll sell for them and as the largest book store chain in the UK that's probably meaning sales should be good.

I expect that it as widely anticipated, and will do as well as, the next Bernard Cornwell.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, red snow said:

Waterstones seem to be keen as this book and at least "the heroes" both have bonus chapters exclusive to their copy of the book. They also have Joe signing them so I think they are pretty confident he'll sell for them and as the largest book store chain in the UK that's probably meaning sales should be good.

Waterstones seem to like Joe’s books, as they were very big with pushing The Shattered Sea too, i can only assume he must be a strong seller.

at the moment Philip Pullman is dominating the Waterstones advertising here and has been for well over a month. With the new Book of Dust and HBO/BBC series though this is not surprising

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

I used to spend hours in book shops. I probably havent been one in 15 years. I dont regret buying a kindle but I do miss the smell and atmosphere. 

THere are many reasons to detest London but the bookshops are a delight imo.

(i cant recall if you live there, work there, or just visit ocassionally for work)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, HelenaExMachina said:

THere are many reasons to detest London but the bookshops are a delight imo.

(i cant recall if you live there, work there, or just visit ocassionally for work)

Waterstones in Piccadilly and Hatchards are simply fantastic (and the former sells new books before their official publication date, which pisses off publishers, but pleases me).  No offence to Joe Abercrombie, but if I can get my hands on A Little Hatred before 17th September, ravening weasels won't stop me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, red snow said:

Sounds great - also liked the teases of which characters will appear (I don't consider it a spoiler). And ranked pretty high in terms of your enjoyment of the series so far. A month to wait...

And I didn't even mention the Bloody-Nine. . . ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 8/6/2019 at 6:48 PM, Lord Patrek said:

There is no rhyme or reason for these things. Consider Steven Erikson's Forge of Darkness. It tanked in such a way that both his agent and editor suggested that he stop working on the Anomander Rake trilogy after the second volume and concentrate on something else. 

And that's just a few months after The Crippled God was a bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic.

Why didn't all Malazan fans buy the first volume in a new trilogy that would focus on the story of one of the most beloved characters of The Malazan Book of the Fallen? Impossible to say.

It's been seven years since the last First Law book. Will it have an influence on the sales of A Little Hatred? Maybe yes, maybe no.

The first book of Erikson's Rake trilogy did not review well and was not received well by the fan-base, the second book more so. The change of style, Erikson doubling down on the type of material his general fans tend to struggle through to get to the convergence, etc. It's not a surprise it tanked. 

Same with Donaldson - the 2nd Covenant trilogy was released in the early 1980's. That's a huge stretch of time for a follow up. It didn't help that the third Chronicles were ... not very good.

Tad William's is a bit of a stranger case, as he's been pretty consistent in releases, but his tendency to ramble and a very basic plot structure, coupled with several unengaging new characters and plot threads, certainly put a damper on the release of the 2nd Osten Ard series.

Abercrombie's released four books in the last seven years, so he hasn't exactly been non-prolific. Of this particular genre, he's probably one of the more consistent authors in terms of releases and consistency in his writing. Moreover, he's pretty well liked in the community, probably for the reasons stated above along with the material itself (I'd say he's substantially improved as an author across his books, though I personally found the last volume of Shattered Sea to be a bit boring and predictable). With proper PR, this new trilogy should do fine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

THere are many reasons to detest London but the bookshops are a delight imo.

(i cant recall if you live there, work there, or just visit ocassionally for work)

Left 2 years ago. Still work in London but on the outskirts so never have cause to go into the centre. There used to be some fabulous places near Tottenham Court Road. I assume they are all gone with the redevelopment? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...