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 talking about it in the non-spoiler section, so I will leave it there for now.

Another closely related positive has to do with the quick ending. I mentioned in the review of A Little Hatred that I thought the ending was too drawn out, with a sizeable chunk of falling action to sift through. This was not the case in this book. The climax happens near the end, and then there are multiple plot twists that crop up in those final pages that keep the attention of the reader.

Which leads me to the next point, which I also cannot talk about in the non-spoiler section, but I must mention in the abstract. There are two plot twists that happen in the very end of the book that I thought were very well done. I think they are among the best that I have seen from Abercrombie.

I also liked the direction that many of the characters took in this book. Savine, Leo, Orso, and Rikke have by far the most interesting character arcs, and I thought all of them were handled expertly. In the case of Savine and Rikke, I think they have the most unpredictable arcs in the story, but which also seem perfectly natural for the characters all the same. While Orso and Leo's arcs were more predictable, they were still well handled, with Orso probably being my favorite character in the books so far.

There is one brief part of the story that is worth mentioning. In this scene, there is a character who is becoming delirious for some reason I won't specify, and I really liked how Abercrombie wrote the scenes, specifically how he structured them; I thought it was a creative and interesting, and it helped communicate the delirium beautifully.

I also like how Rikke is shown mentioning prophecies that she has seen, but we are not always privy to whether she actually has seen them. So, the reader is left in a place where we don't know whether she is just lying about the prophecies or if she really knows what is coming.

Penultimately, for the positives, I really like the Nail. He's not even that developed, but he stands out to me for some reason, and I hope I get to see more of him.

And I would be remiss not to mention "Body found floating by the docks."

One part of the story that I am in a kind of limbo about is the scene(s) with King Jappo in them. I'm not really sure how necessary the scenes were. I can think of rationales for why they were included. Indeed, I am inclined to think that they should be kept, especially because of what they did for the characters, and simply because of the visceral enjoyment I had for them. At the same time, is King Jappo ever going to take part in the story from this point on? I'm not sure if this was supposed to be a one-off thing. If that is the case, then this is a rather random diversion that is loosely connected to the rest of the story.

(Editing the review in retrospect, after having read Best Served Cold, I am no longer on the fence about this. I'm glad he included it. Good stuff.)

Here is another thing that I am rather in limbo about. I am beginning to realize more and more, just how uneventful Abercrombie books are, overall. They have never been plot driven, and even these newer ones that have more causal structure to them are relatively uneventful when you look back at everything that happened over the course of the story. This doesn't negatively impact my experience. The story was not bloated. Indeed, Abercrombie cut out all the fat imaginable, with the story jumping from location and time to location and time in the space of single chapters. I have no idea if this is supposed to be a criticism or a praise. Lol.

I barely have any issues with the story. But there are two related problems that are worth mentioning. This is the handling of Vick and Broad's characters. I like both characters. But both seem like they are simply running errands or performing side quests throughout the book. I hope they get something more in the next book.

And finally, there is some aspect of the setup that I did not like, but might be coming around to. I just thought things were a bit too neat for my liking. In retrospect, it really wasn't that neat, but that was what I was thinking at the time.

Overall, I really liked the book. I think I will give it an 8/10.

Strides (Spoilers)

The final climactic battle was my favorite part of the story. Part of what made it so appealing was the fact that the whole book was building up to it. This feeling of building anticipation only makes the event more epic when it finally comes. But, of course, the fight must be good in its own right, and I think this is the best fight so far in the trilogy. (I barely remember what the fights were like in the other trilogy, so I won't count those).

I especially liked Abercrombie's use of the character jumping technique, where he inhabits the perspective of many different parties throughout the battle, showing the experiences of the many different people. One that particularly stood out was of one man on Leo's side that was trapped in the ranks and forced to run into a spearhead ramming into his chest under the weight of all the people around him. The powerlessness, the helplessness, even as he knew what was happing to him, and what will happen to him, was visceral and captured quite well the feeling of being one of the many.

I also liked how the story was developing around the battle. We learn that Rikke betrayed Leo's trust and deliberately did not come during the course of the battle, and when the battle comes to a close, you know that the arrival of Orso's reinforcements mean that something shady is up with the Breakers. The idea that they would not take this perfect opportunity to take over the capital is hard to believe. And so, you only grow in suspicion, even as Orso comes out on top.

I also really liked seeing Leo's downfall at the hand's of Orso. Everything about it was so characteristic of each of the characters. Orso is clever and Leo is brash, and that was what brought everything to a close. And while this is very simple and straightforward, I also really like how this was portrayed in perspective. Leo leading a heroic last charge, completely unawares to the obvious signposts laid out before him. I especially liked the part where Leo led his men through a lightly defended area of the battle, only for Broad to comment on it in the next section as an obvious trap.

Finally, I just loved the feeling in the aftermath of the battle. This is particularly seen through the perspective of Savine, who is forced to reflect on her failure and what led to her decision to take part in this revolution. She had seemed so calculating and well-considered, upon learning that Leo was involved, but in retrospect she rather bluntly concludes that she could have persuaded him out of it. Maybe she could have. But I'm actually inclined to say that she played the best card that she could have. She was likely right to note that Leo was in too deep for him to back out. The fact that it all failed does not necessarily mean she made the wrong choice at the time. I noticed that some reviewers were ranting at how dumb her actions were, but I don't agree. Sometimes, the hand you are dealt is so bad that catastrophic failure is the best that can happen. Savine rolled the dice and she failed. So, it goes. That said, she was also obviously trying to advance her own interests, so it's not like she was literally dragged in kicking and screaming.

The two plot twists that I think stand out are the reveal that Rikke wrote the letter to Orso exposing the rebellion, and then the reveal that Pike was the Weaver.

The reveal that Rikke wrote the letter was great for both character reasons and for the sake of the schemes she was laying out. It shows that she really is embracing the "make your heart a stone" line that is being repeated to her. And it shows that she had a certain level of guile to her that will make her an effective leader, at least when it comes to beating her enemies. And the way it rounds out her schemes is incredibly satisfying. We already learned that she betrayed Leo by not showing up, but learning that she wrote the letter that notified Orso in the first place is like a gestalt where you realized just how deep her scheming went.

And while we're on the topic Rikke, I just want to mention that her arc overall is great. It's amazing to think that she was the mopey character we were introduced to in the beginning. I never felt like any part of the arc was jolting or unnatural. Rikke was forced into a position and had to find her element.

The second plot twist, that Pike was the Weaver, is also incredibly well done. I can't stop thinking about the scene between Orso and Pike when then were treating with the Breakers in A Little Hatred. Pike explicitly mentioned that he was going to play the bad guy in the situation, so Orso would come off looking good. And then he repeats this idea of playing a role in this book when he is merciful to a deserting boy. Additionally, we know he has a backstory that is similar to Vick's. Vick stands out because she is so loyal to Glokta. It seems unnatural on its face. If so, then what are the odds that both Pike and Vick are loyal to Glokta? It's an excellent reveal that only makes me more suspicious in the next book. Because Pike is probably motivated more by spite and revenge than a desire to makes things better for the people.

I have a question, though. How do the Breakers view Pike? I would imagine that they don't all know, because this is the kind of thing you'd want to keep close to the chest, but then how freely can Pike walk amongst these people that he leads? He's known for hanging Malmer and those other rebels. Do any people have doubts? This isn't a criticism. I imagine we'll get our answers. I know Risineau (?) was received lukewarmly by the Breakers, so I doubt Abercrombie isn't ignoring this factor. In fact, Pike may even go the way of Robespierre, which will be a cute historical parallel.

Now, for some speculation. I went through much of this story suspecting that Glokta was the Weaver, and that this was a scheme to destroy Bayaz. The one problem was that he was the king of villains in the story, even more hated than the King himself. But then he yeeted himself out of the Arch Lector position and out of the city simply because his son in law and daughter are rebelling. The idea that he would do this to avoid conflict of interest or suspicion is laughable in this world. It's such a convenient way to get out before order starts to break down. Then, because I am an impulsive dumbass, I let my eyes graze over the last line in the book and saw that Pike was saying there was a great change (I saw this a little over halfway through the book), and I spoiled the fact that he was the Weaver, or at least related to the movement in some way. This doesn't necessarily undermine the Glokta theory. Maybe he is behind Pike. But then, this shows that Pike is still in Glokta's pocket, which muddies the reasoning I provided above regarding Pike's motivations. I don't know. We will have to see.

Bayaz is a massive wild card in the story at this point. How is he going to handle the Weaver and this new regime? It is possible that he will simply adapt and take control of the new order. It's also possible that he might be killed finally. All we can do is speculate. Remember, that Bayaz heard Rikke's prophecy about the Wolf eating the Sun, the Lion eating the Wolf, the Lamb eating the Lion, and the Owl eating the Lamb, so I think he must have taken this into account. Like Glokta, he's conveniently left the scene of chaos behind, which is obviously not an accident.

This segues neatly into the prophecy I just mentioned. I said in the A Little Hatred review that none of the prophecy had come to pass on the grounds that Stour had done nothing to beat the Union. It looks like I was wrong, however. I guess Stour burning Uffrith was the Wolf eating the Sun, even though Uffrith is merely under the Union's protection. So, now we are just waiting for the Owl to be explicitly revealed. Though, it's probably the Weaver. The funny thing is, I actually finished the book thinking that the prophecy was still to transpire because I was so fixed on Stour having to do something to the Union. Going into that final confrontation, I came up with theories suggesting that Stour would betray Leo and invade Adua while Orso and Leo were fighting. But now that I broke out of that mold, it's just too obvious that almost everything in the prophecy has come to pass. And Stour really is completely useless. What a pathetic fucking loser.

Something related: I guess the outcome of the battle at the end of the story was basically told to the reader. I wasn't sure how it would go, given that I didn't think the chain events had started. As I said, I had pet theories suggesting that Stour had something up his sleeve in the coming conflict that would kick start the chain of events. But I guess not. I'm not sure why the outcomes were given to us so bluntly.

Finally, the bit about set up that I mentioned last in the non-spoiler section was just how easily the plot to overthrow the Crown was set up. I remember thinking that everything seemed to be going a bit to neat. But, in retrospect, with Rikke's betrayal, and the seeming rejection from King Jappo, I guess it wasn't that easy.

Conclusion

Overall, I really enjoyed the book. I will give it an 8/10.