Joe Abercrombie

‘Grabbed me and refused to let go’ George R.R. Martin

Half the World (Shattered Sea, Book 2)

Fifteen-year-old girl soldier Thorn learns the ways of war in the king's army while falling in love for the first time. By the New York Times best-selling author of Half a King.

Half the World

Anyaconda

Phenomenal!!! Even better than the first book. I absolutely love the character work. Father Yarvei is my new Glokta. Immediately have to listen to the last audiobook 🎧

Jenna T.

I didn't think there could be much improvement on the first instalment of this series, 
  Half a King
, so color me highly surprised when this one knocked my socks off right out of the starting gate! I grew so attached to Yarvi in the first book, and I was a little disappointed when I realized that this book followed two new characters rather than staying with him. But I ended up loving both Thorn and Brand just as much as Yarvi—and it was amazing getting to see not only Yarvi himself but a good portion of the cast from the first book along for this ride as well.
Worldbuilding continues to be spectacular; I enjoyed getting to see all of these new places with the voyage to the Golden Sea and the First of Cities. I loved that there were such diverse environments and climates, compared to what the characters had to contend with in the first instalment; it really made the world feel larger and more real than if it was all the same (or different, but for no discernible reason). The work with the religions is also immaculate; one feature I find highly interesting is the way the gods are gendered, opposite to what is usually the case with their counterparts in real-world religions. The sea is female (as opposed to Poseidon, for example), and the earth is male (as opposed to Gaea), the moon is male and the sun female (which Tolkien also did, but still cool), war is female and peace male (which flips traditional gender norms on their head, and yet real-world gender norms are still at play in this world!). And the One God is explicitly depicted and understood to have been female before the "breaking".
And again, Abercrombie has surprised me with a wonderful story with unbelievably sweet moments, plot twists I completely failed to call, and a Good Ending™. This story was a joy to read.
Thus do I cower in fear of the last book, knowing the other shoe is long overdue to drop T_T

Half the World (Shattered Sea, Book 2)

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