Half the World (Shattered Sea, #2)

by Joe Abercrombie

[violetpeanut]

With well-rounded, strong characters, an exciting plot and detailed world-building, Joe Abercrombie has cemented his place as one of my favorite fantasy authors with this second installment in the Shattered Sea trilogy.

Things started off a little slowly for me because it had been a while since I had read the first book, Half a King. It took a little bit for me to get my bearings and remember who's who and where they are. It also threw me a little that this book does not center on Yarvi, but rather on two other characters, Thorn and Bran. Yarvi is now Father Yarvi and is the minister to his uncle, now the King. He is just as cunning as ever and everything he does has an underlying motivation. Thorn and Bran are young people training to become warriors. Through various circumstances they end up following Yarvi across the world while he's trying to gain allies for his country in what looks to be the coming war with the High King.

Thorn is a seriously bad-ass chick. Everything she has she gets by hard work. She's a flawed character who sometimes jumps to conclusions and makes bad decisions, but you can't help but cheer for her. She's impetuous and acts without thinking. She gains some serious fighting skills. Bran is the opposite. He's the strong, silent type. He's more slow and thoughtful and aims to "do good" above all else. Both characters are well-written and complex. The supporting characters are a mix of new and familiar faces from Half a King. They round out the cast well and even offer some comic relief.

We learn a little more about this world and there are more details peppered throughout that hint that this may be set in the far-future and we, the reader, might be these elves they speak of with such reverence. It's an interesting concept. The setting are described in enough detail that you can visualize them but not so much that you're bogged down.

This book really shines in it's action scenes. This book would translate really well to the screen and I could absolutely "see" all of the battle scenes while reading. They were completely enthralling and I couldn't pull my eyes away.

Overall, while it started out slow, this book quickly built to a fast-paced, exciting read with strong characters and settings. I am very eagerly awaiting the third book in this trilogy. This book has definite crossover appeal and adult fans of fantasy would enjoy as well as YA readers. Highly recommended.