Mixed reviews on Abercrombies 3rd book?

[viking longship]

Thanks for the responce!

I'd have thought we're talking about the reviews on Amazon.com. Couple of unhappy campers there, who must've imported the books and very much didn't get what they expected, one way or another. They have a perfect right to their opinion, of course. It's just that in this case they're utterly and completely objectively wrong, like those folks who were of the opinion that the earth is flat.

Larry, I thought you were bang on with some of your positive comments on Strange Horizons, but missed the mark utterly with your criticisms. Still, there was enough promise there to give me hope that you will one day become a fine reviewer.

Anyway, if it's the amazon ones you're talking about, and it's the vox populae you're after, maybe give the ones on amazon.co.uk a look. Most of them saw things differently to the folks across the pond...

It was amazon indeed where i got the mixed reviews, but upon further review i,v found there are indeed many good reviews elsewhere. I am excited to start reading these books.

 

[Justin2209]

It was amazon indeed where i got the mixed reviews, but upon further review i,v found there are indeed many good reviews elsewhere. I am excited to start reading these books.

Based on our previous conversations, I'm pretty sure our reading styles are similar and I really enjoyed Joe's work. It's gritty, original, and just plan interesting. In most of the books I have been reading you get character development or story. In his books, I feel I get both.

Also, I never trust Amazon reviews of books. Reviews of books are so difficult to begin with (and I hate the star system as it varies from user to user). I started searching here because I had a field of reviews to choose from. One reviewers preference in reading may not match mine but here I can look at previous reviews of books I have enjoyed, find someone that also enjoyed it for the same reasons, and then find more of what they like.

Sidenote: I find the site reviewers here at SFFWorld do a great job at "neutral" reviews. They are quick to point out what they didn't like but at the same time say that just because it wasn't their style doesn't mean it wasn't written well.

 

[Hobbit]

I find the site reviewers here at SFFWorld do a great job at "neutral" reviews. They are quick to point out what they didn't like but at the same time say that just because it wasn't their style doesn't mean it wasn't written well.

Thanks Justin: we do try. And I think you've got how we try to review. For my part, I've been told I can understate with that British reserve: 'pretty good' from me can sometimes be equated with rave comments elsewhere.

Back to topic though. From my review:

Joe’s determination through this series to do something new has been commented on in earlier reviews. Therefore it may not therefore be much of a surprise to find that, like the books before this, just when you think that things are resolved, the tale is not. Many of the key events being built up in the earlier books are resolved in the first half of the book. Despite this, the tale that unfolds in the rest of the book keeps the reader engaged wanting to know what happens next.

As Joe has done in the past, just when you get to the ending and you think you’ve worked it out, you haven’t. Though most of the main plot-lines are resolved in the end, there are elements that could be written of in later books, should Joe wish to do so. Not everyone survives; not everyone lives happily ever after, though some receive relief from unexpected quarters.

For those jaded by the genre’s predictability, yet hopeful about revisiting the elements that encouraged them to read Fantasy in the first place, this might be the series. A trilogy that justifies being a trilogy, produced in three years. (Note that: a book a year.)

Lou Anders of PYR Books once claimed that Joe could be mentioned (albeit quietly) alongside George RR Martin. After this, I can only agree. For those who have stuck the course, this trilogy shows an amazing development and progression, not only in scope but also in writing style. And the man’s only three books into what, I hope, will be a lengthy publishing career. How do you top this?

Recommended very highly.

Mark / Hobbit

 

[Mithfânion]

Viking Longship

I think you're looking at the wrong Amazon. Amazon UK has 23 review and a 4.5 star average. On amazon.com I tried to place a review for LAOK but was denied, since the book doesn't come out from PYR until September.

 

[SteveF]

Heck, even Aldarion, going by his Strange Horizons review, didn't hate it exactly. Incidentally, I found the review very interesting and nicely judicious, but actually thought it may have missed possible alternate interpretations in a couple places,

Yeah, I enjoyed this review, but some of the criticisms seemed a bit off. I didn't particularly recognise this, for example:

Elsewhere, instead of developing a coherent internal conflict that would justify the actions of his characters late in the novel, Abercrombie has them largely revert to their types as established at the beginning of the series. Logen's plight at the end of the book is the best demonstration of such jerkiness. After almost three whole books emphasizing his tender, humane side, it is only in the last few chapters that his other, more brutal side appears. He appears to snap with minimal provocation and to act in a fashion wholly opposite to what he had shown up to that point. The point may have been to reveal Logen's self-delusion, but the execution is rather abrupt and confusing.

Personally I really enjoyed the book, as I have the others in the series. I thought Blade Itself was a nigh on perfect set up. Hanged was throughly enjoyable, but I thought it wandered a bit aimlessly in places and the ending was irritating. Kings was an excellent conclusion.

 

[Larry]

Just my take on it. Very little to no foreshadowing done, in my opinion. Others I guess saw it differently *shrug*

 

[Smurf]

Don't believe the haters, great book.

I especially love how it ends, even if thats where a majority of the criticism is diverted