Reviews

Red Country by Joe Abercrombie

starbuck1344's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny reflective slow-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

neilthaniel's review against another edition

5.0

This is the best book of this series so far, and that is saying a lot. It’s probably the post-book glow, but I think I might say that this is one of my favorite books that I have ever read. I can’t wait to see what’s in store in the rest of this series, but it’s going to be hard to top this book for me.

hanwithabook's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

keran_mitra's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

purely by virtue of being the third interlude novel, and the sixth novel overall in the series, this is the one that just feels...unpleasant. the characters are all shitty people who do shitty things, just like last time, the northmen are human beyblades people throw at each other to resolve whatever issue they're having, just like last time, and everyone gets the opportunity to be a hero but it's subverted by them actually being incredibly cowardly, just like last time. but unlike the main series, you don't have any characters to watch develop and grow over the course of multiple books,

Spoiler

except Shivers, who's barely in this one except for a tiny bit at the start and an actually quite nice moment at the very end

so it's just a new host of bastards each time that you've learned not to get emotionally invested in. it's a good book by any measure, if you've not read any of the first law it might actually be the best entry point, it's just a bad sixth book in the series. 

aroda's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense medium-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

4.0

jeremy_reads's review against another edition

5.0

I think this is the weakest first law book for me but it's still a fantastic book. I would have liked to see a bit more character development from Lamb too. Overall still a great series with more great books to follow I'm sure.

kcoyne73's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

amir_hamza's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

antonism's review against another edition

5.0

4.5 / 5

Red Country is a stand-alone fantasy novel by Joe Abercrombie with a heavy western vibe. It takes place in the same world as his First Law trilogy but can be read independently of it. While the story starts with the premise of a father and daughter looking to get back their stolen family, this is actually a story of people searching or finding what they were always looking for, even if they didn’t know it. There are several main characters, whose plot-threads start unrelated to each other, but eventually they start to interweave and those interactions, according to my perception, are the real driving force of this novel.
As expected from Abercrombie, Red Country is brutal, violent and unforgiving. This is a very grim depiction of a fantasy “western-type” of world. But the violence and brutality is not there just to notch up the shock factor; rather, it’s there because that’s the true world the characters live in, a hellish place where death is cheap and easy to come by.
Abercrombie writes amazingly. His descriptions are beautiful and manage to give off a lot of atmosphere while expertly avoiding to become tiring or overly long. His dialogues are snappy, short and appear rough, reflecting that way the surrounding environment perfectly. There’s still a lot of humor to be found both in the descriptive passages and in the dialogues among characters, a humor that probably stems from the characters’ acceptance of their futility and own mortality.
In summary, Red Country is a gripping tale of troubled characters in a rough and harsh environment and their fight both against it and themselves. I enjoyed every page of it and ended up devouring it in a much shorter time than I expected to finish it. Even in retrospect, try as I might, I can’t really find any negatives to mention about it. It may not be the best fantasy novel I’ve read, but it surely is one of Abercrombie’s best and that says a lot! I loved reading it and I can highly recommend it to any fan of modern or grim fantasy.

4.5 / 5

jpsmom923's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

3.5