Joe Abercrombie

Stand-alone novels:

Best Served Cold — (2009) Publisher: Springtime in Styria. And that means war. There have beennineteen years of blood. The ruthless Grand Duke Orso is locked in a vicious struggle with the squabbling League of Eight, and between them they have bled the land white. Armies march, heads roll and cities burn, while behind the scenes bankers, priests and older, darker powers play a deadly game to choose who will be king. War may be hell but for Monza Murcatto, the Snake of Talins, the most feared and famous mercenary in Duke Orso's employ, it's a damn good way of making money too. Her victories have made her popular - a shade too popular for her employer's taste. Betrayed and left for dead, Murcatto's reward is a broken body and a burning hunger for vengeance. Whatever the cost, seven men must die. Her allies include Styria's least reliable drunkard, Styria's most treacherous poisoner, a mass-murderer obsessed with numbers anda Northman who just wants to do the right thing. Her enemies number the better half of the nation. And that's all before the most dangerous man in the world is dispatched to hunt her down and finish the job Duke Orso started... Springtime in Styria. And that means revenge. BEST SERVED COLD is the new standalone novel set in the world of Joe Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy.

Best Served Cold

When the infamous mercenary captain, Monza Murcatto, seems to be getting too powerful, her employer, Duke Orso, attempts to have her and Benna, Monza’s next-in-command, killed. Short work is made of Benna, but, by a cruel twist of fate, Monza survives, just barely. And her quest for vengeance sets a spark to the powder-keg that is the country of Styria during the Years of Blood.

Best Served Cold is a stand-alone novel that takes place in the same world as Joe Abercrombie’s acclaimed The First Law series. To his many fans (of which I’m certainly one), I say: you’ll be more than pleased with Best Served Cold. Along with a colorful array of new characters — criminals, henchmen, assassins, power-hungry nobles, and mercenaries — several of the second-string characters from The First Law play a major part. I’d list them, but half the fun of this book is guessing just who will show up. I will just give you this much: if you liked the despicable soldier-of-fortune Nicomo Cosca before, or maybe even if you didn’t, you’re gonna love him in Best Served Cold.

Mr. Abercrombie’s stories have been called “fantasy noir” and I can’t think of a better description. Think Quentin Tarantino or Guy Ritchie doing a fantasy movie and you just about have the right idea. Mr.Abercrombie’s First Law and Best Served Cold has edginess, a multitude of criminals, raw and gritty dialogue, horrifyingly realistic violence, and dark humor.

Best Served Cold drags the reader along on Monza’s grim and unyielding vendetta which in turn ignites vengeful repercussions that only throw other deadly events into motion. It was fascinated to watch how one person’s obsession can drag so many others down with it and how once someone starts down a dark path, their whole self-concept can change. But, there’s no need to lose heart in the darkness. There just may be (according to the individual reader’s interpretation) a small ray of light at the end of the tunnel.

I do feel compelled to warn that Abercrombie may be too dark for some readers, and the sexual content is raunchy — but it is on par with the tough, roguish characters. I almost knocked off a half star for this, but the ending more than made amends. —Greg Hersom

Best Served Cold

Joe Abercrombie is the new master of dark, gritty, realistic fantasy, and Best Served Cold might well be the masterpiece that represents that subgenre. Monza Murcatto is a renowned and very successful mercenary … or was until she was stabbed, beaten, and thrown from a mountainside by her employer. Monza wants revenge, so she contracts a party of unsavory characters to aid her. Monza’s story goes from dark to black to “a wet match in the bottom of a dark cave” — everyone suffers, lots of people die, and the trail of blood and tragedy that Monza leaves in her wake is unprecedented.

Abercrombie takes what appears to be a simple tale of revenge and twists it into a sanguine journey of self-discovery on the part of each character. The heart of Best Served Cold is how Abercrombie strips our “heroes” down to their core and reveals who they truly are. No other author I’ve found works so hard to create likeable characters out of such nasty individuals. Best Served Cold is exceedingly well-written, so I have to give it 5 stars. It really is a great work.

Reading Joe Abercrombie is always bittersweet for me — I know I’m going to get an amazing story with unique characters told in Abercrombie’s special way. But the wonderful writing comes with a price: you change a little. His books have altered my perception of fantasy literature. Before, I was blissfully unaware of how truly brutal and tragic fantasy can be. Sure, George R.R. Martin loves to kill off his main characters, but I never had any doubt that I was observing his story from the outside. In contrast, Abercrombie brings you in: I feel the character’s spirit break in the hands of the torturer. I know that the person on page 112 has become someone else by page 113, and it makes me sad. There is no redemption — no “making it up” later — they’re irrevocably changed. It’s a very real and unsettling thing for a reader to experience, and it’s a feeling that’s not commonly found in the fantasy genre. I have a love-hate relationship with Joe Abercrombie’s books. I will most certainly continue to read them — they are just too incredible not to. But I need something exceedingly optimistic to read afterwards.

Best Served Cold is technically a stand-alone novel, but I would highly recommend reading The First Law trilogy first because I get the feeling of an overall “Big Picture” taking place in this world. Read Best Served Cold if you are ready to challenge your thoughts about fantasy literature. Do not read Best Served Cold if you like your fantasy to be a pleasant escape from the harsh realities of life. —Justin Blazier

Best Served Cold

A few years ago, I discovered a completely new — to me — subgenre of fantasy. It is bloody, full of battles with swords and maces, always placed in a medieval setting, and very nearly devoid of magic. Its practitioners are the likes of Richard Morgan and Matthew Stover — and Joe Abercrombie, in the dark, brutal and compelling Best Served Cold. I’m still not quite sure that I like this type of book; though it is certainly exciting, it is also troubling. Perhaps that is precisely the intent of the authors’ writing about a very visceral and immediate type of battle, one far removed from the surgical precision of computer-guided missiles floating through the door of a house to pinpoint the death of a terrorist.

Abercrombie names his book for the ancient saying by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos: “Revenge is a dish best served cold.” To me, though, two other sayings came more vividly to mind while reading this book: the Chinese proverb, “He who seeks vengeance must dig two graves: one for his enemy and one for himself” and the saying attributed to Gandhi: “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” These latter two sayings are played out in full in the course of Best Served Cold.

The book begins when General Monzcarro Murcatto and her beloved brother Benna are riding in to report to the politician they serve, Grand Duke Orso, who is well on his way to becoming the King of Styria. Orso’s ambitions have advanced as far as they have because of the military genius of Monza, as she is known to those who love her — and such people do exist, despite her reputation as the Butcher of Caprile and the Serpent of Talins. But Orso proves to be less than grateful for her efforts, causing the swift dispatch of her brother with a knife to the neck and attempting to kill her by strangling her and throwing her down a mountain. Monza proves hard to kill, though, and despite having her right hand shattered by a man’s boot, a sword to the gut, and a bevy of broken bones from her fall down a mountain, she lives.

And what she lives for is revenge. She vows to kill each of the seven men who were in the room and participated in her attempted assassination. She gathers about her a powerful group of misfits, including a fighter from the North, Caul Shivers, who is in Styria trying to become a better man; a mass murderer freed from prison, known as Friendly and obsessed with counting things; a master poisoner, Morveer, and his assistant, Day. Others become attached to their company, willingly or not, as plans — and killings — proceed.

But this quest for vengeance is not such a quiet and personal thing as it seems. Slowly but surely, Monza’s task comes to involve ever wider circles, and ultimately armies. Soon revenge is a matter of statecraft. Allies become realigned, both in her immediate circle and in the larger world; armies of mercenaries change allegiances. Soon enough, the whole world has become blind, as Gandhi would have it.

Abercrombie has a tremendous ability to draw a character swiftly. In the first five pages, Monza and Benna are presented in such a way that they seem fully familiar, mostly through masterful use of dialogue. Abercrombie also knows how to plot a complex tale. On rereading the prologue after finishing the novel, I can see that the seeds of everything that is to come were planted there. And descriptions! Abercrombie can describe a whorehouse so that you can visualize it perfectly, and he can describe the most vicious torture so that you can imagine it much better than you would prefer.

Indeed, the battles and fights and double-dealings of the characters are described so well, with such attention to detail and plotting, that they become wearisome after a time. One more double-cross, ho hum. Yet one cannot help but feel that that is precisely the point Abercrombie is trying to make: that war, in all its horror, can become too commonplace to those fighting it, that one murder comes to seem much like another, and that ugliness can come to seem beauty when one is exposed to too much ugliness. I do not think I am going too far in saying that this is a surprisingly strong antiwar novel, if one chooses to look beyond the story itself and into the philosophy behind it. Abercrombie doesn’t want only to entertain you; he wants you to think. Most of all, he wants you to see revenge for the folly it is. —Terry Weyna

Best Served Cold

Mercenaries are people, too.

I won’t tell you about the plot of Best Served Cold since that’s been well done by Greg and Justin (above). Instead, I’ll tell you about the audiobook and how I liked the story.

I listened to Tantor Media’s audio version which was read by the excellent Michael Page. This was a great format except for one chapter (“To the Victors…”) in which Mr. Abercrombie meant for us to be surprised by who the principal actors were. In the text, section breaks indicate scene (and therefore character) changes. The audiobook reader, however, used the voices for the characters that Mr. Abercrombie meant for us to think were involved. When the trick was revealed, Mr. Page switched voices. This was confusing, especially since a listener can’t see the section breaks and realize that the scene kept changing. I had to go back and listen to it again. This wasn’t Mr. Page’s fault, though — just a limitation of the audio format. Other than this scene, the reading was terrific. I was impressed with the way that Mr. Page portrayed Shivers’ character development by subtly altering his voice as the story went on.

Speaking of characters, Shivers and Monza, the main characters (I don’t think we can call them “heroes”), evolve so gradually and realistically throughout the story that they are both quite changed at the end, but in a completely believable way. Looking back at their journeys is an interesting (and somewhat disturbing) thought exercise. It was fun to meet several familiar faces from The First Law trilogy. Greg was right — I just loved Nicomo Cosca. He’s complex, witty, and unpredictable. Nice piece of work, Mr. Abercrombie! Several of the characters are so keenly characterized that they become over-the-top (e.g., Morveer the poisoner keeps asking the same annoying questions of his assistant who is constantly eating) but at least they’re vivid. Friendly, the sociopathic savant, is so creepy that I actually got nervous every time he appeared.

Best Served Cold has an exciting plot and it’s clever and funny — mostly in the droll, ironic, black humor sort of way. For example, Monza pulls Cosca out of alcoholism… so he can murder people. Some of the scenes in which Morveer was trying to poison somebody bordered on slapstick and provided some hilarity to balance the story’s grimness.

I enjoyed the plot, characters, and humor in Best Served Cold, and I recognize and admire Joe Abercrombie’s talent, creativity, and passion. But the truth is that his stories stress me out. It’s sort of like watching Schindler’s List. Brilliant movie, important message (and there is a message in Best Served Cold), but not something I want to watch before bedtime. There’s a lot of ugliness and vulgarity — much of which seems to be done for shock value (e.g., cannibalism and incest) — and there are more characters who are sociopaths than who are normal. If there’s a crude word for something, Abercrombie uses it. Characters are constantly pissing, spitting, growling, bleeding, feeling sticky, and sucking on their sour teeth. They don’t make love, they fuck (with grunts and squelchy noises). They have tits, asses, cocks, and pricks (as far as I can tell, Mr. Abercrombie doesn’t know the polite terms). Battle and torture scenes are the worst — they literally give me headaches.

All of this makes for interesting, original, dramatic fantasy, and I completely understand why it’s so appealing. After all, Joe Abercrombie at least makes me FEEL something. But what he makes me feel is rather depressed, hopeless, and just plain icky, and I can’t say that I really LIKE feeling that way. —Kat Hooper

The Heroes — (2011) From Joe Abercrombie: Both because the action centres around a ring of standing stones called the Heroes, and because it’s about heroism and that (meant semi-ironically, of course). It mostly takes place over the course of three days, and is the story of a single battle for control of the North. Think Lord of the Rings meets A Bridge Too Far, with a sprinkling of Band of Brothers and Generation Kill. It’s about war, you get me? Principally it follows the (mis)adventures of six assorted persons on both sides and different levels of command, whose paths intersect during the course of the battle in various fateful, horrible, wonderful, surprisingly violent, surprisingly unviolent, and hilarious ways. With the Northmen: a veteran losing his nerve who just wants to keep his crew alive, an ex-Prince determined to claw his way back to power by any means necessary, a young lad determined to win a place in the songs for himself. With the Union: A depressive swordsman who used to be the king’s bodyguard, a profiteering standard-bearer, and the venomously ambitious daughter of the Marshal in command. But of course a fair few familiar faces show up on both sides…

The Heroes

All I can say is “Wow!” The Heroes is another story set in the same world as Abercrombie’s First Law trilogy. Veteran readers will be happy to be reacquainted with several characters from earlier books: the wizard Bayaz; the dishonored warrior Bremer dan Gorst; Finree dan Brock, Union Commander Marshal Kroy’s ambitious daughter; Black Dow, the ruthless leader of the Northmen. But if you haven’t read any of Abercrombie’s books yet, don’t worry — you don’t need to have read them in order to fully enjoy The Heroes.

If you have read the earlier books, you’ll recall that a conflict, provoked by the manipulations of two rival magical forces, has been brewing between the Union and the barbaric Northmen who are probably best compared to the historical Vikings. When The Heroes opens, the Union is staging forces to fight. At this point, after much provocation by both sides, the Union is marching as the aggressors and the Northmen are on the defense.

The conditions that the combatants live in vary greatly depending on which side they are on and their station in life. Abercrombie paints a realistically harsh picture of both sides of the battlefield. It’s gritty, dark and, as a soldier, I can say that it’s an excellent depiction of what combat and the movement and life of a soldier would be like in these conditions. For the Northmen it’s rough living, carrying things on their back and living off what they can hunt up or scavenge. The Union is better provisioned, but the Nobility and Officers live in much superior conditions than their conscripted troops.

On both sides of the battle we follow a number of different characters who, in their own way, make mistakes and act honorably or dishonorably. But even when we see heroic or altruistic acts performed, Abercrombie shows us the counterpoint to those actions, the second and sometimes third order motivations that prompt them. So, the awe-inspiring swordsman, the all-powerful wizard, the conniving military wife, the slacker, the grumpy old soldier, the vicious Leader, the devious young man, and the untried new warrior all teach us about honor and courage…. or the lack thereof. Their stories don’t follow the straightforward and expected course; instead, these characters are led through trials and tests that they handle in very different ways and the resulting twisted paths are captivating to follow.

The other thing that is really amazing about Abercrombie’s storytelling is how realistic the combat can be. Things like the strategy of staying on a line with your fellow soldiers makes so much sense when you see how an uneven line can be exploited. His depiction of the rigorous training that the Champion of the Union forces puts himself through translates brilliantly into actual combat prowess. These are the sort of logical underpinnings that take a good story and make it into something truly profound. The why that explains a hero’s greatness is so often overlooked.

The Heroes is brilliant storytelling. The cover reads, “Three men, One Battle, No Heroes” and that is a perfect description. Joe Abercrombie’s latest book should be at the top of your list and even if you have not yet read the previous novels that are set in this world, you should still read The Heroes. Gritty, harsh, powerful storytelling that takes you into the crucible of combat and lets you see how the perception of the hero is not always the reality of the hero. —John Hulet

The Heroes

The war between the Union and the North culminates in a three-day battle among two small villages, bogs, and barley fields. The high ground is a saddled hilltop ringed by ancient standing stones called the Heroes. The ruthless fighting prowess of Black Dow, the new king of the North, is pitted against Lord Marshal Kroy, the commander of the southern King’s army. The Heroes reads more like historical fiction than fantasy. In true Joe Abercrombie fashion, it’s a grim tale told by an array of intensely colorful and intriguing characters.

Joe Abercrombie is to fantasy books what Clint Eastwood was to Western movies; he’s taken the genre to a whole new level of badass.

From beginning to end, reading about medieval warfare cannot get any more real than it is in The Heroes. This book is sure to give readers the instinctive urge to duck a swinging battle-axe or dodge a spear thrust. As always, Abercrombie is a master of dialogue that ranges from hysterical to profound. While reading The Heroes, the pages (the e-pages, in my case) disappeared and I achieved the Holy Grail of bookworms: the complete mental transportation from reality into the imaginary world. If action is not your thing, worry not.

This is a war story that takes place in the same world as Joe Abercrombie’s other books: The First Law Trilogy and Best Served Cold. Take a gander at the “Order of Battle” — the character list, which is cleverly placed at the beginning of the book instead of the end. Bayaz, Bremer dan Gorst, Black Dow, and The Dogman return from The First Law Trilogy. We also see some of Curnden Craw’s “dozen.” Named Men like the woman warrior called Wonderful and Whirrun of Bligh introduced in “The Fool Job,” Abercrombie’s short in Swords and Dark Magic, are more than enough for established Abercrombie fans. For newcomers, how could you not be enticed by names like Rurgen and Younger (who are described as “faithful servants, one old ... one younger”), Corporal Tunny, Caul Shivers, Pale-as-Snow, and Stranger-Come-Knocking? (Notice anything, veteran fantasy readers? Those names are all easily pronounced, making the story flow much better than many other fantasy stories where the author insists on bogging the reader down with words almost humanly impossible to utter.)

As in Abercrombie’s other books, the reader is often drawn to the most despicable of scoundrels like “Prince” Calder, whose clever wit gets him both into and out of trouble, or the standard-bearer Corporal Tunny, a con-artist who is proud that, despite his long-service, he’s managed to rise no further in rank. There is also the politically ambitious Finree dan Brock. In a male dominated society, she strategically designs her husband’s rise to power despite his own lack of ambition. My favorites are always Abercrombie’s warrior-heroes, like Whirrun of Bligh, a.k.a. Cracknut. Each time Whirrun carries the Father of Swords into battle he wears fewer clothes. Col. Gorst is a master swordsman plagued with a high feminine voice. Gorst is angry at everyone, including himself most of all, and can only find joy in mortal combat. Those are only a handful of sensational but believable characters that bring this gritty story to life.

Joe Abercrombie’s writing is both fresh and edgy. He has that deep understanding of the human psyche and society that only the very best writers possess. The only other fantasy author that so grandly wrote such gray tales was the late master, David Gemmell.

I had such a good time reading Abercrombie’s latest story that I didn’t want it to end. If I read just one more new fantasy book in 2011 that’s two-thirds as good as The Heroes, I will consider it an outstanding year for the genre. —Greg Hersom

The Heroes

I often struggle when someone asks me what my favorite fantasy book is. I’ve read so many great books that it’s very difficult to pick one above all the others. I don’t have that problem anymore. My answer now is easily Joe Abercrombie’s The Heroes. I cannot think of a book I have enjoyed so much on so many levels than The Heroes. That’s a bold statement, you say? Yes it is. This book deserves it, and I will do my best to try and explain why.

The overall plot of The Heroes is relatively simple. It follows a battle over the course of three days. The battle is being fought between “The Union” and “The North.” The Union is an entity that has much in common with medieval England. The North has much in common with Vikings or some other barbarian state. They’ve been brought together in war through a series of convoluted events that happened in previous novels. The reasons they are fighting are completely unimportant. The focus of this story is the individuals doing the fighting, not the fight itself. They all have their own reasons for being there.

If you are familiar with Abercrombie’s work then it will come as no surprise to you that there are no “Heroes” in this story. These are flawed human beings, and over the course of three days you follow several of them through their various trials and tribulations. Abercrombie paints the most realistic characters you can imagine. He’s so good at writing these colorful and disturbed individuals. Abercrombie will have you siding with mass murderers and feeling sorry for psychopathic killers, and you won’t even notice.

As with Abercrombie’s other works, this book is violent, vulgar, and often absolutely hilarious. Abercrombie is a master of dark humor and uses profanity with an artist’s touch. The profane inner monologue of Col. Bremmer Dan Gorst nearly had me weaving into oncoming traffic with laughter while listening on audio. Entire complex and awful situations are often summarized by characters in a single expletive. I absolutely loved it.

The writing is superb. Abercrombie has honed his style to a razor’s edge. He continues to improve upon excellence. I thought Best Served Cold was nearly flawless, but I would have to say The Heroes is one step closer to perfection in my opinion. If he continues this trend I will have no choice but to sell my worldly possessions and start a cult in his name.

I listened to The Heroes on MP3 by Tantor Audio, narrated by Michael Page. Mr. Page does an excellent job with the voice characterizations. The North men tend to sound similar, but there are only so many “gravel rough” voices a guy can do. The voice acting was just enough to draw you into the story without being overdramatic. I was very pleased with the overall production and would not hesitate to listen to more from Tantor or Michael Page. —Justin Blazier

The Heroes

Joe Abercrombie’s The Heroes is not named for its characters. Instead, “The Heroes” are a circle of stones at the top of a hill. Warriors were presumably buried beneath these stones long ago, and there will certainly be a high number of bodies to bury by the novel’s conclusion.

Yes, The Heroes is a fantasy novel about the soldiers caught in the middle of a war between the armies of the North and the armies of the Union. Readers are treated to scheming politics, petulant and pompous generals, and hard-working soldiers struggling to survive the next battle. There is no overarching purpose or justification to the war or to either side beyond power, so don’t look for good or evil. Look for gore.

The Heroes is a hard-boiled fantasy that fans of Glen Cook’s THE BLACK COMPANY or Steven Erikson’s MALAZAN books will enjoy. In other words, this is definitely not a traditionally romantic fantasy. Instead, The Heroes is a song to accompany drinking and marching rather than swooning and daydreaming. There are no spiritual martial artists who gracefully cut through violent hordes of opposition; there are just hordes of violent opposition.

There is also a strong awareness of fantasy’s conventions. Abercrombie clearly wants to create memorable soldiers — traditional fantasy’s “badasses,” if you will — but he is reluctant to characterize them in conventional ways. For example, Robert Jordan’s Rand al’Thor is capable of silencing a room full of generals with a glance. Pretty impressive, but a little cliché for today’s reader of swords and sorcery. Joe Abercrombie’s Lord Bayaz, we are assured, gives “no immediate impression of supreme power.” However, within a few paragraphs readers realize he is a “badass” because he has silenced a room full of generals.

At times, this self-awareness is refreshing, and it usually leads to a bit of fun at the expense of Abercrombie’s characters. When Stranger Comes Knocking, a giant warrior fighting with the North, at one point reveals his frame, it is described as a “great expanse of body, sinew-knotted like an ancient tree … almost more scar than skin. He was ripped, pocked, gouged with wounds, enough to make a score of champions proud.” It’s hard to imagine Abercrombie describing any of his characters without grinning. And in this way the novel occasionally takes on the gallows humor that one might expect from a group of soldiers. When a group of young recruits join the Union cavalry, one trooper asks why there are no horses, to which the corporal responds:

That’s an excellent question and a keen grasp of tactics. Due to an administrative error, our horses are currently with the Fifth, attached to Mitterick’s division, which, as a regiment of infantry, is not in a position to make best use of them. I’m told they’ll be catching up with us any day, though they’ve been telling me that a while. For the time being we are a regiment of… horseless horse.

I can’t help wondering if this isn’t the reality of army life.

There is little room in Abercrombie’s world for fantasy’s traditional hero: naturally talented, humbly courageous, with a somber sense of responsibility. Surprisingly, this world does not glorify its sadistic warriors. It celebrates grit, particularly the grit of men and women that make the best of bad situations.

Much of The Heroes is self-aware of fantasy’s conventions and can be enjoyed as a pastiche. However, it is first and foremost a novel about (mostly) men fighting with swords in the rain and mud. The majority of the novel’s structure is present to introduce readers to the soldiers and armies of the Union and the North before maneuvering everyone into position around a single hill — the Heroes. A bell doesn’t ring, but eventually the battle starts and fans are treated to an MMORPG raid of epic proportions.

Others wondering whether or not The Heroes is for them would do well to ask themselves whether they are like Calder, one of Abercrombie’s northern generals. At one point, Calder reflects that he feels “a little fear and a lot of contempt at the level of manliness on display.” Readers that expect more than a stiff-upper lip from their heroes should probably read something else. For readers that revel in gritty swordplay, The Heroes is a must read. —Ryan Skardal