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A review by harlando
Half the World by Joe Abercrombie
3.0
3.5, but I'm rounding down.
I can't decide if the romance in this book is too awful to bear, or a good capture of the angsty-awfulness of teen love. I lean towards the former and think Abercrombie stretched the awkward phase of this relationship out way, way too long.
Swordswomen make good heroines. Red Sonja is a classic of the type. I found the development of Thorn, the heroine, from tough-girl brawler to badass Viking super-ninja a little off. She gets a crash course in killer swordswoman skills for a few hours per day while also rowing/dragging a longboat on a 6 month journey to the distant south. She mostly spars with the same guy she beat as a little girl, and somehow manages to far surpass him and nearly everyone else in speed and skill. It was a good enough story, just a little off. She has an incredible mysterious wise swordswoman mentor and does spar with some other experienced Viking type opponents. I don't find it hard to believe that intense practice would make her an amazing fighter, just that she could only learn so much by fighting the same very small pool of opponents. And, while her love-interest and main sparring partner gets a bit better, he does not seem all that much further along than where he started despite similar hardships.
What does it say about YA fantasy that his it characterized by an abundance of violence and a thin flowering of childishly stunted personal and romantic relationships?
I can't decide if the romance in this book is too awful to bear, or a good capture of the angsty-awfulness of teen love. I lean towards the former and think Abercrombie stretched the awkward phase of this relationship out way, way too long.
Swordswomen make good heroines. Red Sonja is a classic of the type. I found the development of Thorn, the heroine, from tough-girl brawler to badass Viking super-ninja a little off. She gets a crash course in killer swordswoman skills for a few hours per day while also rowing/dragging a longboat on a 6 month journey to the distant south. She mostly spars with the same guy she beat as a little girl, and somehow manages to far surpass him and nearly everyone else in speed and skill. It was a good enough story, just a little off. She has an incredible mysterious wise swordswoman mentor and does spar with some other experienced Viking type opponents. I don't find it hard to believe that intense practice would make her an amazing fighter, just that she could only learn so much by fighting the same very small pool of opponents. And, while her love-interest and main sparring partner gets a bit better, he does not seem all that much further along than where he started despite similar hardships.
What does it say about YA fantasy that his it characterized by an abundance of violence and a thin flowering of childishly stunted personal and romantic relationships?