Well it’s been a while. Abercrombie is in fine form, perhaps a little too cute, a little too arch, and a little too reliant on dredging up another joke from the same well, but I enjoyed it all the way through. A lot of fun, even if some developments are rather obvious. I do wish Abercrombie would do a little more reading on HEMA to inform his writing, it’s still very Hollywood with lots of huge hacking swings and little armour usage, but the action is still well-written. Solid effort.
This was fun. A pair of everyday workers find an aggressive fungus in their former government weapon storage turned storage business. Written in a slightly wry tone, with some rather haphazard jokes, it is nevertheless a light and amusing, if gory, read. A little too good-natured, but otherwise fine. I am looking forward to the film.
Not ever going to pick on Rosson’s prose, but the choices here (an odd timeskip at a particularly important point, in particular, and the character development that is then elided) regarding the plotting are confusing and suboptimal. Also not a fan of the stereotypical Vietnam vet experience, which seems to have been hauled from the big generic bin of PTSD all writers have laying around. That aside, it’s a touching story of a man and his niece seeking revenge, and takes some new turns in doing so. Some really beautiful moments, and great prose all the way through.
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Are all of Abercrombie’s books in the same universe? I read the First Law trilogy and enjoyed it well enough.
Off the top of my head, they all are except The Devils.
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