Best Served Cold

Revenge tale in The First Law world? Say no more

The intro is just great, it’s really fascinating how Abercrombie can create a setup for a story in just 20 pages—I mean the whole setup for the 660 pages book is done in just 20 pages—and provide so many details about characters and places. And between main book parts we learn a bit about Monza's past and why she's so determined to reach the end of her revenge quest. South cities and culture feel new and fresh as a change from Union and the North after the first trilogy (and a part of the second). And the author once again creates a city under siege but in a bit different circumstances and for a shorter episode.

Nice band of characters with distinct points of view, high and low moments, laughs and quarrels. I really like Friendly with his OCD for whatever reason, maybe because he feels like a unique character. Also it’s interesting to see some side characters from the first trilogy and even more interesting to see some characters from the second trilogy here and how they become who they are after meeting them there. But sometimes characters recite events from the first trilogy where they participated and it feels a bit redundant cause a reader has probably already read about those events.

The action is very visceral—especially from a villain’s point of view—and realistic, a lot of really violent scenes like suffering from poisoning—which is a kinda new concept for The First Law—and torture. There’s even a very detailed description of someone falling through trees. A lot of stealth episodes here which also feels like a unique feature for the series.

Plot thickens with each chapter and each revenge kill is very different in everything. A few unexpected scenes and twists. A lot of betrayals, obviously. Some characters can't be trusted, undoubtedly. Innocent people die along the way, unfortunately. Many interesting thoughts and conversations about revenge. But overall it's just a bit too long.

Looking forward to reading all the spin-offs now, especially Sharp Ends.

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

I listened to Tantor Media???s audio version which was read by the excellent Michael Page. This was a great format except for one chapter (???To the Victors??????) in which Mr. Abercrombie meant for us to be surprised by who the principal actors were. In the text, section breaks indicate scene (and therefore character) changes. The audiobook reader, however, used the voices for the characters that Mr. Abercrombie meant for us to think were involved. When the trick was revealed, Mr. Page switched voices. This was confusing, especially since a listener can???t see the section breaks and realize that the scene kept changing. I had to go back and listen to it again. This wasn???t Mr. Page???s fault, though ??? just a limitation of the audio format. Other than this scene, the reading was terrific. I was impressed with the way that Mr. Page portrayed Shivers??? character development by subtly altering his voice as the story went on.

Speaking of characters, Shivers and Monza, the main characters (I don???t think we can call them ???heroes???), evolve so gradually and realistically throughout the story that they are both quite changed at the end, but in a completely believable way. Looking back at their journeys is an interesting (and somewhat disturbing) thought exercise. It was fun to meet several familiar faces from The First Law trilogy. Greg was right ??? I just loved Nicomo Cosca. He???s complex, witty, and unpredictable. Nice piece of work, Mr. Abercrombie! Several of the characters are so keenly characterized that they become over-the-top (e.g., Morveer the poisoner keeps asking the same annoying questions of his assistant who is constantly eating) but at least they???re vivid. Friendly, the sociopathic savant, is so creepy that I actually got nervous every time he appeared.

Best Served Cold has an exciting plot and it???s clever and funny ??? mostly in the droll, ironic, black humor sort of way. For example, Monza pulls Cosca out of alcoholism??? so he can murder people. Some of the scenes in which Morveer was trying to poison somebody bordered on slapstick and provided some hilarity to balance the story???s grimness.

I enjoyed the plot, characters, and humor in Best Served Cold, and I recognize and admire Joe Abercrombie???s talent, creativity, and passion. But the truth is that his stories stress me out. It???s sort of like watching Schindler???s List. Brilliant movie, important message, but not something I want to watch before bedtime. There???s a lot of ugliness and vulgarity ??? much of which seems to be done for shock value (e.g., cannibalism and incest) ??? and there are more characters who are sociopaths than who are normal. If there???s a crude word for something, Abercrombie uses it. Characters are constantly pissing, spitting, growling, bleeding, feeling sticky, and sucking on their sour teeth. They — (due to some bad language, I edited this out. Please see my review at FanLit if you want to read this part)— (as far as I can tell, Mr. Abercrombie doesn???t know the polite terms). Battle and torture scenes are the worst ??? they literally give me headaches.

All of this makes for interesting, original, dramatic fantasy, and I completely understand why it???s so appealing. After all, Joe Abercrombie at least makes me FEEL something. But what he makes me feel is rather depressed, hopeless, and just plain icky, and I can???t say that I really LIKE feeling that way.

http://fantasycafe.blogspot.com/2009/08/review-of-best-served-cold.html