Name: Half a King (Shattered Sea, Book 1)
ISBN: 9780007550210

Joe Abercrombie

A classic coming-of-age tale set in a vivid and richly-imagined world from Sunday Times bestselling author Joe Abercrombie. ‘A fast-paced tale of betrayal and revenge that grabbed me from page one and refused to let go’ GEORGE R.R. MARTIN

Half a King (Shattered Sea, Book 1)

Heir to the throne Yarvi, prompted by the murder of his father, embarks on a kingdom-transforming journey to regain the throne, even though having only one good hand means he cannot wield a weapon.

Half a King

Melissa J

"Escoge a tus enemigos con más cuidado que a tus amigos, porque a esos los tendrás más tiempo contigo."

Es un libro bien estructurado, que muestra una realidad cruda y no trata de tapar o de suavizar la pérdida de un ser querido, ni de la humillación o asesinato. Muestra que una persona puede tenerlo todo y perderlo de repente, y que esta persona a su vez puede aprender de sus errores e incluso aprende más de la vida cuando se encuentra solo en un vasto mundo, que cuando tiene todos los privilegios del mundo con tal solo un chasquear de dedos. 

Totalmente recomendado, en especial para las personas que amamos una buena historia de aventura y amistad. 

"El combustible del miedo es la ignorancia, la muerte del miedo es el conocimiento."

Sunny

Zahra

'Grabbed me and refused to let go' George R.R. Martin

Anyaconda

I was hesitant reading this series after all the other books, but I shouldn't have been. It's definitely a Joe Abercrombie story but softened and dialled down for a younger audience 🙂 very entertaining! Off to borrow book 2 from the library.

Elisa Bieg

What a FANTASTIC book.

Traditional epic fantasy is always a little challenging for me, because the world building seems to take forever, and the pacing seems to have two speeds: slooooowww descriptions of the world and characters and histories, or breakneck action scenes and fighting. I find fighting scenes boring for the most part, so this ends up being me trying to follow what is often a decent plot while fighting boredom. 

But I keep trying, because it’s fantasy, and I love the genre. And sometimes it’s worth the effort.

This book... this was possibly the smoothest adult fantasy I have ever read. It somehow captured me from the very beginning, and I wouldn’t even be able to pinpoint what it was that gripped me right away; was it the compelling characters? The great setup straight from the beginning, where the story gets going right away and the world building happens gradually, with no info-dumps and no fast-forwards? (Both pet peeves of mine.) I don’t know. But it just works.

The characters are distinct and memorable on their own, even the minor ones. The story follows a clear thread without being humdrum, trite, or banal in any way. There are surprises and reveals, but the author doesn’t count on shock value doing most of the storytelling (another pet peeve... I have a few 😬).


Such excellent storytelling, truly. I have already hunted down the sequel in a matching edition, and I can’t wait to see where the story goes!!

4 1/2 STARS ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Savannah Winchell

3.5 ⭐️
I quite liked this but I’m not sure it’s enough to continue the series

As grimdark as it can get. It's a fast read (less than 400 pages), adventurous, has the revenge trope, the found family trope (in a way), twists and turns and a viking vibe. Historical setting with interesting characters and character development, the protagonist's journey bringing him full circle by the end. 

Part of a trilogy but it's satisfying enough as a standalone too.

Georgi

As grimdark as it can get. It's a fast read (less than 400 pages), adventurous, has the revenge trope, the found family trope (in a way), twists and turns and a viking vibe. Historical setting with interesting characters and character development, the protagonist's journey bringing him full circle by the end. 

Part of a trilogy but it's satisfying enough as a standalone too.

Jenna T.

I read Abercrombie's First Law trilogy a while back... beginning of 2018 I think? Anyway the ending of that series left me broken and bleeding in a back alley, which was NOT something I'd been expecting at all and thus made it hurt that much worse. Ever since, I've been leery of anything else this guy has written, not wanting to get my heart ripped out again and not trusting him to do anything else. The damn world is enough of a hellhole already; I want my fiction to at least PRETEND that things could be different.
A friend put this series on my radar, and even though I wasn't ready to trust like that again, I was cautiously optimistic about some of the reviews, so I decided to give it a shot. And I'm glad I did! Half a King was a pleasant surprise—still full of the grit and grimdark Abercrombie has made himself famous for, but with some truly amazing worldbuilding and character work, moments of humor and tenderness, and enough plot twists to land me flat on my face multiple times. And the ending..... didn't leave me in a pit of despair for three weeks afterward! Imagine that!
I loved Yarvi, and I loved watching him evolve from this more-or-less innocent but still prickly, selfish, and untrusting boy to the king he is meant to be. (view spoiler)[Or so we think. (hide spoiler)] And the supporting cast was amazing too, from the surprise allies he finds in Rulf, Jaud, and Ankran to the surprise enemies he finds in (view spoiler)[Odem (not that much of a surprise tbh) and Gundring (KNOCKED ME OFF MY FEET!!) (hide spoiler)]. I think the art of Abercrombie's plot twists is that he sets up a few that are overly obvious to lull you into a false sense of security, then throws in some red herrings to distract you ((view spoiler)[for me, Queen Laithlin, who I was expecting to be secretly plotting with Odem all along (hide spoiler)]), and then hides the real villains in plain sight. Masterful work.
Anyway, regardless of how this one ended, I'm FULLY expecting Abercrombie to stab me in the back with the end of this trilogy, so I am proceeding with caution.

Paul Chapdelaine

Leni Bulat

Luke Kanies

Short, rich, fun

It falls well within its genre, but does so well indeed.

The characters are strong, but not safe to love. The stories fold deep, with history, and even hints of a past.

And best of all, it's brief in its completion.

Olivera Mitić

(I'm trying out a new way of reviewing things, so bear with me.)

Why did Half a King get 4 stars? 

1. The setting was refreshing and easy to imagine, the world felt unique and well developed enough for it to be believable.

2. I got Ben Hur, Vikings and Pirates of the Caribbean vibes from this and it was magnificent. 

3. Even though you could guess what might have inspired the author to write such a story, it managed to be original and to pull it's own thing till the end. 

4. Yarvi's character growth was amazing and I loved his snarky remarks and wit. 

Why didn't Half a King get 5 stars? 

The writing was lacking at times, the pacing wasn't the best in the middle part (with a huge chunk of the book dragging quite a bit), the interactions with female characters weren't natural enough and indications of some kind of romantic feelings were all in your face and then gone for a big part of the story and, and this might be just me, the phrase "half a king/man/person/etc" was overused and got on my nerves.

Elizabeth Raines

Don't Fear the Reaper should be the theme song for this book.
PROS
-The plot was interesting, I loved a traveling story but it is nothing new to the genre.
-I loved the world that this book was set in.
-I also enjoyed that our main character isn't your typical fantasy hero that is a warrior. 
-Didn't see plot twists coming.
CONS
-I often got the side characters, the companions, confused. I think there needed to be more to them.

Hope Brockway

Wiktoria Cembala

Carla Aquino

Ooooo what a plot twist...I never saw it coming. Damn, Yarvi might be too clever for his own good. If you like SOIAF series then you will like this first installment of this series. I'm giving it a 4 star just for the ending cause that was one hell of a way to go out! I will be finishing this series for certain.

Lauren James

I enjoyed this book but I didn't love it. I didn't connect well with any of the characters. I also am not sure how I felt about the ending. It was good in a sense and disappointing in another. Check it out if you love Viking-esque stories!