My first review! I very much enjoyed this book, which wasn’t too unexpected since I read the first book in the series and very much enjoyed that book as well.
Of course, there was always a danger that I wouldn’t enjoy it since we ditch the main character from the previous book — or turn him into a side character — and follow two new characters.
The first in Thorn Bathu, your basic girl who wants to fight the world. The second is Brand, a guy trying to do the right thing. When Thorn gets unjustly sentenced to death for “murder,” Brand tells the Minister of Gettland what actually happened, trying to do what’s right.
The story itself is basically a travelogue with a cast of fairly memorable side characters and does suffer a little bit from the protagonists’ lack of initiative; they spend the bulk of the novel tossed around by fate or caught up in the machinations of more powerful characters. Also, the ending gets some of the Lord of the Rings treatment, in that there could have been two satisfying endings before the actual ending.
But despite those weaknesses, I found the story entertaining. Brand is the kind of hero I like to play in RPGs – tough and straightforward. I find Thorn somewhat more annoying – at least at the beginning, but it’s all part of her character arc, and the point at which she’s the most insufferable – the beginning – Brand’s chapters help balance that out.
You could probably hop into the series here without too much confusion, but some of the fun is found in seeing what has happened to characters you loved from the previously novel, so I would suggest starting from the beginning with Half a King.
If you like the grim dark genre, but don’t necessarily want the characters you are following not to be total reprobates, Half the World is probably for you. The world is certainly a grim one, but the characters make it enjoyable to spend some time there even if you wouldn’t want to stay permanently.
Half the World by Joe Abercrombie
Thorn Bathu was born to fight. But when she kills a boy in the training square she finds herself named a murderer.
Fate places her life in the hands of the deep-cunning Father Yarvi as he sets out to cross half the world in search of allies against the ruthless High King. Beside her is Brand, a young warrior who hates to kill. A failure in her eyes and his own, the voyage is his last chance at redemption.
But warriors can be weapons, and weapons are made for one purpose. Will Thorn always be a tool in the hands of the powerful, or can she carve her own path? Is there a place outside of legend for a woman with a blade?
