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Shattered Sea Trilogy (aka 'So much for Abercrombie's sabbatical')


MisterOJ

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  • 1 month later...

New blurb for Half a King:

“I swore an oath to avenge the death of my father. I may be half a man, but I swore a whole oath.”

Prince Yarvi has vowed to regain a throne he never wanted. But first he must survive cruelty, chains, and the bitter waters of the Shattered Sea. And he must do it all with only one good hand.

The deceived will become the deceiver.

Born a weakling in the eyes of his father, Yarvi is alone in a world where a strong arm and a cold heart rule. He cannot grip a shield or swing an axe, so he must sharpen his mind to a deadly edge.

The betrayed will become the betrayer.

Gathering a strange fellowship of the outcast and the lost, he finds they can do more to help him become the man he needs to be than any court of nobles could.

Will the usurped become the usurper?

But even with loyal friends at his side, Yarvi finds his path may end as it began—in twists, and traps, and tragedy.

http://www.booklounge.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780804178327

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For me guys, I took on Joe Abercrombie's works at a full pace' I bought the entire First Law Trilogy, and all three of his separate stand-alone books. I blame Amazon :bowdown: forcing me to go the whole hog in owning all his books but it was well worth it in my opinion :). So I own all his works in the world the First Law is set, I've read almost all of the First Law trilogy, I have found it initially slow but soon after finishing Before They Are Hanged I found The Last Argument of Kings, opened up very well into the world the first two books began. As for The Blade Itself, I did struggle not to put it down in terms of not relating to the characters in the beginning.



But by the end of Before They Are Hanged, I could relate to the likes of Jezal dan Luthar, Logen Ninefingers, and even Glokta. I am currently left with only 120 pages of TLAoK. I know this is the final part of the trilogy of the First Law, and in some ways I am sad it's coming to an end in particular in regards to the above characters. But I know I can always go back to the First Law trilogy, as I do with A Song of Ice and Fire regularly.



In terms of his stand-alone books I own, I am actually looking forward to moving onto them with their reference to the world of the First Law, and some of the characters I got to know in the trilogy. Once I finish his stand-alone books of the same world, I ask myself would I really want to return to the full world of the First Law trilogy in the form of a new trilogy? Yes, I would. Just as I eagerly wait for GRRM to release works related to the world of ASoIaF and wait for his next big novel of the same world, I would happily do the same for Abercrombie's world. I would enjoy hearing about the ongoing war between Bayaz, and Khalul. I would buy, and read the trilogy happily to see what happens to Bayaz as I think he deserves some punishment for his dark deeds.



As For Half a King. I do tend to enjoy my dark fantasy far more than general fantasy like Abercrombie's original works, and GRRM's own. I may buy it if it is dark enough for my taste, if it has the same vivid characters like Glokta, and Logen. I'll keep my ear to the ground for Half a King, and see if it sways to my liking of the First Law trilogy.



Abercrombie's works own about quarter of one of my long shelves of fantasy literature, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I know I'll more than likely return to his world, and read the First Trilogy again.


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  • 2 weeks later...

I wonder if this is what people mean when they say that there is going to be a second First Law trilogy, unless this news is completely new and separate. Eitherway, great.

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I wonder if this is what people mean when they say that there is going to be a second First Law trilogy, unless this news is completely new and separate. Eitherway, great.

This is completely separate. This is his young adult trilogy, completely different world from First Law. The new First Law trilogy should be next on Joe's plate once this trilogy is finished.

ETA: from a blog post of Joe's from last January:

I’ve got a contract for three more books in the First Law world, and those will be a trilogy, and I have some rough ideas about what the content and characters might be.

http://www.joeabercrombie.com/2013/01/22/on-a-break/

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  • 2 weeks later...

We still didn't have a thread on Abercrombie's upcoming "young adult" trilogy, so here it goes.

The first novel has already been finished for some time, it is titled "Half a King" and will be out this July 2014. An excerpt is already online.

According to Joe himself:

In some ways this is a very different sort of book from what I’ve written so far. It’s aimed partly at younger readers (maybe the 12-16 range). It’s much shorter – 80,000 words compared to 175,000 for my shortest, Red Country, and 230,000 for my longest, Last Argument of Kings (though still over twice the length of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, believe it or not). It’s set in a very different world with what you might call a viking or anglo-saxon feel. It’s much more focused, with a single point of view. It’s not so overtly ‘gritty’ although it’s a long way from smooth. It is punchy. It has drive. I aimed to deliver a slap in the face with every page.

Before some of you groan in horror at this wounding betrayal of all you believe in, I also wrote this with established readers, and indeed with a wider adult readership, very much in mind. In some ways it’s a very similar sort of book to what I’ve written so far. It’s fantasy, but light on the fantasy, and heavy on the vivid characters, the visceral action, the mixture of wit and cynicism, the twists and surprises. I hope that it will have a wide appeal. But I don’t feel that I’ve compromised on the way I’ve written. I think it’s as tough, surprising, challenging, and morally ‘grey’ as the rest of my output.

This first chapter is interesting. However, we've already seen the "coming of age" story told in multiple ways. I wonder if Joe will be albe to make it unique somehow.

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It’s aimed partly at younger readers (maybe the 12-16 range).

I aimed to deliver a slap in the face with every page.

Joe Abercrombie's method for the education and instruction of young people sounds interesting, but I expect many people to disagree with it :D

(I also expect less graphic violence, and far less "fuck" in this series)

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This first chapter is interesting. However, we've already seen the "coming of age" story told in multiple ways. I wonder if Joe will be albe to make it unique somehow.

Maybe he dies before he gets to come of age?

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