Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie

19 reviews

sjuradoq's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

4.25

Si tengo que resumir este libro en una frase sería Avengers de secundarios. ¿Recomiendo el libro? Es sencillo, si te ha gustado la primera Ley, este libro te va a gustar porque mantiene el mismo estilo y, además, es continuista a la trilogía. El libro te presenta y te cuenta la historia de como Monzcarro Murcatto (Monza) es traicionada por el Duque Orso y como se venga tanto de él, como de todos los implicados en la traición. 

Aparecen algunos personajes de la primera trilogía, ascendidos de secundarios a principales y algunos nuevos, también con su POV. Amistoso me parece, sin duda, de los mejores personajes en lo que llevo leído de este hombre. En general la trama me parece muy buena y, obviamente, mucho más directa, al ser únicamente un libro, pero si que en ciertos momentos ha habido algún capítulo que se me hizo un pelín pesado. No mucho, por suerte. 

Creo que mis problemas con este libro se deben principalmente a la prota del mismo, ya que conforme avanza se me hace más y más pesada su turbo-mega obsesión con la venganza. Entiendo que va de eso y de hecho me gusta mucho el como coloca esa obsesión de Monza en contraposición con la perspectiva de los demás personajes y como esta obsesión acaba intoxicando a los demás, pero en el caso de Monza, a mi llegó un punto en el que simplemente quería ver si acaba muerta o matando a todos, poco más. Aún así, muy buen libro, y Abercrombie sigue siendo top 1-2 disputado con Fonda Lee de autores que más me gusta como escriben. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, and Murder

rachelhelmer's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Torture, Violence, Murder, and War

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Excrement, Cannibalism, and Alcohol

asriram's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Torture, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

jhjames21's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture

gus717's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Torture, Violence, Murder, and War

Moderate: Addiction and Alcohol

Minor: Incest, Rape, and Sexism

downtowndaly's review

adventurous dark funny 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Gore, Violence, Murder, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, and Cannibalism

chungledown_bim's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny inspiring fast-paced

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

5.0

Ugh, wonderful. Hilarious, bloody, inspiring... watching characters overcome crippling adversity to return as immediately as possible to the problematic behaviour that set their adversity in action to begin with? *chef kiss* Just about the perfect book for me, no notes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Physical abuse, and Torture

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation

Minor: Incest

da3m0nic's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Genocide, Torture, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Medical trauma

Minor: Confinement, Incest, and Misogyny

surdiablo's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

My feelings are a bit complicated when it comes to this one, but I believe it's safe to say I didn't love it like the original trilogy, although it's an excellent standalone novel. I will explain what I liked first. As usual, Abercrombie excels at writing characterizations with such distinct voices and having delightful, humorous banter between each other, which often were among the highlights of this book for me. Without getting into direct spoilers, there were indeed several references and appearances of certain characters, both major and minor, from previous trilogy. They all served their purpose very well and was integrated rather tastefully with proper reasons, than just for the sake of cameos. The book also retains a cinematic effect during action sequences and other important scenes, just like in the trilogy and was also reminiscent of 'Kill Bill' movies which I really liked. Some of the character growth might be different from what you may expect at first, but they left me with a lot to ponder about in a bittersweet way, which I actually appreciate. 

As for what I didn't like, I found the book to be dragging somewhat in certain sections which felt like a chore to read sometimes, but of course not in an extreme way, like with certain Wheel of time books. My major problem, which I'm sure your mileage will definitely vary, was that the main character wasn't much interesting to me. Now don't get me wrong, Monza is fine on her own and was definitely a strong badass who you can root for, it's just that I personally found her a bit too straightforward and bland with the goals she had in mind and her actions in general, while the side characters were simply more appealing as people to read about. I loved all of their arcs regardless either way, especially the irony surrounding some of them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Torture, Violence, and War

Minor: Child abuse

iono's review

adventurous dark medium-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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Torture, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Incest and Sexual content