Half a King by Joe Abercrombie<\/p>\n
Despite all the praise \u201cHalf a King\u201d has been receiving, I found it to be sorely wanting.<\/p>\n
My tendency is to blame it on being a young adult novel, something I only realized after I finished the book. That\u2019s not fair to the genre.<\/p>\n
\u201cHalf a King\u201d is really half a novel.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a mediocre start to what promises to be a series of some king, although what that will entail is unknown.<\/p>\n
When it comes to the fantasy part of \u201cHalf a King\u201d, there\u2019s almost nothing at all. There\u2019s writing of Elfen structures and some religious talk of the time between now and then, when the gods were shattered. There\u2019re also some plotlines of the coming of a monotheistic movement.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The book is labeled as \u201cfantasy\u201d but there are no fantasy elements that could not merely be attributed to a novel set in a post-apocalyptic landscape.<\/p>\n
The book comes in 266 pages and it feels, sadly, overly long. It feels so overly long because there is very little meat on its bones. Far too much time is spent on a boat, then fleeing the people from the boat. Then, there\u2019s a fight scene and bam! the stories done.<\/p>\n
\u201cHalf a King\u201d is a really boring novel start to a new series, one that could have even been done in novella form, considering how little actual content there is.<\/p>\n
Not particularly worth reading until more books in the series come out and even then, it\u2019s probably just worth a summary read.<\/p>\n