A Book Review: Half a War by Joe Abercrombie (Shattered Sea #3)

Most novelists take years to finish a fantasy trilogy. For Joe Abercrombie, the prince of grimdark fantasy, writing a trilogy is a matter of 12 months. In July 2014, Joe Abercrombie brought more gritty goodness to the table of the ever-flourishing fantasy genre when he published Half a King, the first installment in a new trilogy called Shattered Sea. One year later, Abercrombie finished his trilogy on high ground with Half a War, the third and the final installment in Shattered Sea. But before I continue and review Half a War let me ask you two questions:

1. Do you like Jack Vance's Dying Earth?
2. Do you like Frans G. Bengtsson's The Long Ships?

If your answer “yes” to both questions, then Joe Abercrombie's literacy creation, Shattered Sea trilogy, might be right up your alley.

Upon the first glance, the story in Shattered Sea appeared to being set in an epic fantasy world. However, as the story in Half a King led into its sequel, Half a World, Abercrombie gradually unveiled his was in fact, spinning a tale of blood and thunder in post-apocalyptic Scandinavia. A world where thousands of years after a great cataclysm, its civilization has regressed to an equivalent of medieval level. In other word's, reading Abercrombie's new grimdark trilogy is like reading post-apocalyptic novels packed with Viking actions!

I love both Half a King and Half a World. Recently I received a copy for Half a War, and ever since I finished reading it I have been bursting with an eagerness to review this book.

Synopsis:

“Only half a war is fought with swords”

So what do you fight the other half of the war with?

Princesses Skara is seeking, desperately, for the answer to this question. Why? The High King, guided by Mother Wexen, breached a peace agreement with her grandfather, King Fynn. The High King and Mother Wexen sent a colossal army, led by the infamous warleader Bright Yilling, to invade Skara's beloved country.

Skara fled as she watched Bright Yilling slaughtering her grandfather in the throne room. Meanwhile, the invading army butchered her people and torched the land that nourished her since birth. She swore vengeance against Bright Yilling and she made a promise to reclaim her birthright. But Skara is just a girl of 17, she hardly has the strength to draw a sword from its scabbard, and now she is a princess without a land and subjects. What can she do?

In her exile, Skara met a cast of extra-ordinary individuals; from the deeply cunning Father Yarvi, and fierce fighters such as Thorn and Raith, to legendary kings like Uthil and Gorm-gil-Grom. How will their lives tie in with Skara's plan for vengeance?

My thoughts on this book:

Half a War provides a deeply-satisfying conclusion to Shattered Sea trilogy. With fast-paced, energetic, and character-driven narratives Half a War send veteran readers of this trilogy back to the violent and bleak world of Shattered Sea. Joe Abercrombie's masterful prose and storytelling, famously debuted in his ground-breaking work, The First Law trilogy, returns to make readers fall in love with this book as its narratives spill seamlessly onto its white pages.

Every book in Shattered Sea trilogy features different POV(s). In Half a War, Abercrombie casts three new POVs to take the centre stage of the story; Skara, Raith and Koll.

Out of all characters in this book, I am most fond of Princess Skara. In this book, Skara is a 17 year old princess who was forced into an exile after her grandfather, King Fynn, was murdered in the hands of an invading army. The invading forces captured Skara's land and her subjects, so her shoulder is suddenly yoked with the responsibility of restoring her country. Yet, Skara possesses no martial ability of any sort. In the face of her insurmountable task, Skara had to conquer her fear and sharpen her wits to craft a plan and reclaim her birthright. Her story of survival and revenge is as a lone boat sailing in the raging sea. Skara's character and quality really grabbed me in this book. As the story progressed, her character transformed and grew visibly. Her character development is both steep as well as interesting. Skara reminds me a little of Daenerys Targaryen from A Song of Ice and Fire.

I also like Raith. Initially, he appeared in the story as a bloody-thirsty raider/warrior, a character who gave little thoughts about life and focusing his entire being on blood-letting and raiding works. As the story progressed, Raith witnessed the dark political games played by the rulers in Shattered Sea, and his perspective began to change. Like Skara, Raith's character underwent significant transformation too. His journey of transformation was fascinating, and he certainly left a deep impression on my mind long after I closed the last page in Half a War.

The third protagonist appearing in this book is Koll. He is apprenticed to Father Yarvi, who was the protagonist in Half a King. In Half a War, Koll is training under Father Yarvi to be ordained as a minister. He was constantly torn between whether to take the high path and changing the world as a minister, or taking the path leading to a carpenter's life and marry his love interest. Without spoiling the story, let me just say like Raith, Koll also witnessed the dark political games played by the kings and ministers, leading to his personal transformation and fascinating character development.

Aside the three newly introduced POVs. All of our favorite characters from previous books, such as Thorn, Father Yarvi, Brand, Uthil, and Gorm-gil-Grom, returned in Half a War and playing vital roles as support characters. Readers will find as the stories for these characters unfold, many twists and turns await for them in this atmospheric tale. I believe most readers will not be disappointed with the way Abercrombie wrapped up these characters' stories.

Half a War is an excellent novel. It tells a compelling story, and Abercrombie crafted characters both likable and fascinating. However, I do have a small criticism about this book. In my opinion, the story ended anti-climatically. How? This book is standing at 400 pages, and about 75% into the book, its story reached its climax. This happened at the 300 page mark. Despite having had reached its climax, the story continued for another 100 pages and it was dragging a little. Sure, these 100 pages narrated the aftermath for the main story, and it tied up several loose ends in the story. But I believe the concluding section in this book would have been benefited by a small reduction in page numbers.

Other than some (very) minor flaws, Half a War remains a powerful and fitting conclusion to Shattered Sea trilogy. Joe Abercrombie is at his best here. He weaves a gritty and dark tale of blood and revenge. I highly recommend this trilogy to my fellow lovers of the fantasy genre, and I believe you will find plenty of things to love about this trilogy. Especially if you like grimdark fantasy and enjoy Abercrombie's previous works.

P.S. I strongly recommend reading this trilogy in the order of its publications. That is, starting from Half a War, followed by Half a World, and finally leading to Half a War. This is because the characters, events and stories in this trilogy are narrated in the chronological order.