Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - A Little Hatred

NYPL #37

What do I even say about the peerless character and narrative symmetry, the sheer variety of shitbirds to love (and hate), and the abject dread at turning the next page?

It’s my understanding that Abercrombie hasn’t written too many female POV characters but I couldn’t tell in the slightest. In fact, they’re some of the strongest writing here. This filled the ASOIAF shaped hole in my heart but by no means is it a 1:1 comparison. I might just order the second installment instead of waiting on the hold list at the library, because I’ll clearly own this whole series by the time I’m done.

Long live the King.

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adventurous dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I’d recommend this to anyone who wants to read a well-developed, complex story without having to sacrifice the women characters in order to do so. The majority of the main characters it follows are women and never once did I feel that a woman was being used as an object or prop for a male character. Arguably, the women in this book are the strongest of all the characters, both in development as well as physical and emotional. We even get to see some older, experienced, wise women who are still strong despite the usually expected restrictions of age.

The women are complex without the requirement of femininity to define their womanhood and have motives beyond what you normally see written by or women in fantasy. Yes, love is nice, but they all have ambitions far beyond finding husbands that drive their characters and shape their arcs.
And the men are allowed to be “prissy” or foolish or cowardice while maintaining a character beyond “the fool,” while also treading the line between cowardice of privilege and the bravery asked of them in fantasy

That being said, I would not recommend this to an inexperienced reader; or, more than likely, as someone’s first Joe Abercrombie book (like myself). Initially, the changing point of view creates almost too much confusion. Characters are introduced with lout introductions, so for the first two or three groups of chapters you kind of play catch up with who each of the protagonists is.

There was a subtle hint that Abercrombie’s previous books were being referenced throughout various dialogue scenes, but that doesn’t mean you have to have read his other work to understand what’s happening here. This story stands alone and does not require you to be knowledgeable about the world Abercrombie has previous created.

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