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Showing posts from January, 2022

The Trouble With Peace: Book Review

I just finished reading The Trouble with Peace, which is the second book in the Age of Madness Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. This book picks up right where A Little Hatred left off, in the aftermath of the war and uprising that took place in the aftermath of the previous book. The book, as the name suggests, is about the peacetime, and also the problems that surface which drive us right back to war. The directions that the characters go are unpredictable and exciting, and the climax of the story makes the set up well worth it. I have not read any of his stand alone novels, but based on what I remember of the original trilogy and the first of this trilogy, I think this is my favorite Abercrombie novel that I have read to date. The character work is amazing, as ever, and there was a strong plot that drove the story forward from beginning to end. Overall (No Spoilers) The final climactic confrontation is by far my favorite part of the story. But, the nature of the sequence prevents me from

A Little Hatred: Book Review

I just finished reading A Little Hatred, which is the first novel in The Age of Madness Trilogy, by Joe Abercrombie. Abercrombie has also written The First Law Trilogy, which I rather enjoyed. This book is a continuation of that story thirty or so years later, with that gap bridged with three standalone novels that I have not read yet. This new trilogy has a new cast of characters to replace the old, though many of the older characters are mentioned or even appear as side characters. The backdrop of this series is the advent of the industrial revolution, where big business is thriving. And in true grimdark fashion, the advent of the factories led to rampant abuse of commonfolk, with overpopulation and consequent low wages and widespread unemployment. Overall (No Spoilers) Overall, I enjoyed the book. At the same time, after reading many reviews and seeing other people's thoughts, I stopped to reevaluate things and I do have a number of problems that I are not major enough to ruin t