Half a War

by Joe Abercrombie
500 pgs  (Shattered Sea trilogy #3)

In Half a King Joe Abercrombie began his story of Yarvi, the second son of the King. Born with a severely deformed arm, he was ill-equipped to ever sit on the throne of power. But when his father and older brother were both betrayed and murdered, Yarvi made it his life's purpose to exact revenge.

In Half the World, Yarvi, having maneuvered himself into a position of power as the Queen's minister, furthers his plans for revenge, as he enlists Thorn, a young woman with the developing skills of a ruthless  killer. The book wasn't as compelling as the first book, but it did a good job of building anticipation, and setting the stage for the last book in the series.

Half a War doesn't disappoint. Abercrombie uses the perspectives of three different characters to conclude his story: Skara, the young granddaughter of the King of Throvenland, and Koll and Raith, who were both introduced as minor characters in the last book. Yarvi has put all of the pieces of his machinations into motion, and finally has the opportunity to get his revenge.

Before reading this series, I had been considering reading Abercrombie's books for quite some time. I hadn’t read anything by him before, but I had heard him compared to authors like George R.R. Martin, and others that I enjoy. So I had high expectations when I began the series. Now that I'm done, I'd say that overall I was impressed. I think he wrote these primarily for a slightly younger audience (but they're probably more violent than your typical young adult books) but they were good enough to make me even more excited to read his other books. 

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆