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Amy Christmas (171 KP) rated Half a King (Shattered Sea #1) in Books

Nov 27, 2017  
Half a King (Shattered Sea #1)
Half a King (Shattered Sea #1)
Joe Abercrombie | 2015 | Fiction & Poetry
10
9.0 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
The writing style is fluent and easy to follow (2 more)
Introduction to the world is smooth and not overwhelming
Never slow
Blew me away
Contains spoilers, click to show
I picked this book as well as the two sequels up from a charity shop for £2 on a bit of a whim, despite knowing I'd be lucky to get around to reading them in the next 3 years. A year on and boy am I glad I got to reading the first one sooner than anticipated.


Yarvi is our protagonist, a cripple that his father cast aside in favour of his 10 fingered brother, although Yarvi hated that he was ignored it allowed him to follow his own path and train to become a minister, an advisor to powerful people though he never gets a chance to pass the test. His plans dashed by his father and brothers deaths as he's forced to take the throne his father ruled from. During their funeral Yarvi swears to avenge them.
And he tries, even with his crippled hand but in such kingdoms we soon learn that betrayal is rife along with greed. Betrayed by one close to him Yarvi's reign ends abruptly on the battlefield.
After being made a slave he embarks on a journey that finds him rowing around the shattered sea and marching through snow. He manipulates small scale politics and finds himself on the sharp end of a few too many swords but with friends who seem fickle at first there to help him. However it seems that one of the group like Yarvi kept his true identity a secret and their is more to his uncles betrayal than meets the eye, because their are always more puppet masters.
And with a bittersweet ending the case is closed and the mystery solved, atleast one piece of it.

This book has a lot of death and makes you mourn those you thought you detested and hate those you thought you'd love. It's a fast paced action packed fantasy with a world of rich an wonderful colours and twists that are yelled at you from chapter one yet you still don't expect.


A very satisfying read because when you thought the betrayal was solved Abercrombie still held on to one final piece of the puzzle making for a bittersweet ending that really shows how far Yarvi has come, for better or for worse.
  
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Kristina (502 KP) rated The Pawn (Endgame, #1) in Books

Dec 7, 2020  
The Pawn (Endgame, #1)
The Pawn (Endgame, #1)
Skye Warren | 2016
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Pawn, a book that reminded me of several other books, but was uniquely its own in so many ways. Mythical tales, love, loyalty, and betrayal are just some of the elements Skye has included in this story. From the very beginning, it's impossible not to root for Avery as she does what's necessary to take care of her ailing father. With a strength that should be admirable by everyone, she chooses to sell herself in order to keep her dad alive and pay, not only for his care, but for bills. When she's bought at an auction by Gabriel, as a reader, I didn't know whether to be relieved - I mean, isn't it safer to stay with the devil you know than the devil you don't? - or worried. Not only because Gabriel is buying her body and buying her virginity, but because her father had betrayed him. Does Gabriel want more than just her body? Does he plan to use her as a way to extract even more revenge from her father? Or does he want to humiliate Avery even more to prove he is a man not to be messed with? These uncertainties haunt each moment the two of them spend together. With each turn of the page, I learned more secrets, which only lead to more questions. By the end, the unforgivable sting of betrayal and the promise of revenge are what makes me desperate to read the sequel. I loved every moment of this book - Skye, a job well done!