YA Weekend: Half the World by Joe Abercrombie
Half the World by Joe Abercrombie
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Series: Book 2 of The Shattered Sea
Publisher: Del Rey (February 17, 2015)
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Mogsy’s Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
You gotta hand it to Joe Abercrombie. Knocking it out of the park on his first venture into Young Adult territory could be seen as a fluke, but when he nails it again for a second time, it’s clearly a testament to his writing skills and versatility. This author is a master when it comes to storytelling, whether he’s writing for teens or adults.
Half the World is the follow-up-but-not-really-a-direct-sequel to Half a King, which introduced readers to the land of Gettland and a young prince with a crippled hand named Yarvi. A man grown now, Prince Yarvi has become Father Yarvi, a trusted minister to Gettland’s king, and is no longer the main focus; instead, that torch and its responsibilities have been passed on to sixteen-year-old Thorn Bathu, a girl with a fierce heart and a fighter’s spirit.
Determined to one day avenge her father, Thorn has been training for years to become a warrior of Gettland, only to fail on the day of her testing and be condemned to death for the accidental killing of a fellow student. When a young warrior named Brand speaks up on her behalf, Thorn is spared from execution only to be swept up along with Brand into an ambitious political plot devised by the cunning Father Yarvi, which sees the three of them and a ragtag crew embarking on an exciting but dangerous diplomatic mission across half the world.
For a society that worships a goddess referred to as Mother War, you would think they’d be more open and accepting of female warriors, but apparently not. It’s an uphill battle all the way for Thorn Bathu to prove herself to her teacher, her peers and even to her own mother, whom Thorn suspects had always wished for a daughter more into sewing and pretty dresses. But Thorn is who she is, and I can’t say I would have preferred it any other way. Not that kickass heroines are in short supply when it comes to the YA genre, but take any of the female protagonists in any of the more popular books in the genre these days, and I guarantee you Thorn will make every single one of them look like fluffy kittens. When I say Thorn is a tough girl, you definitely get a tough girl. That’s mainly because Abercrombie simply does not hold back when it comes to his characters; if he feels that a fight scene calls for his protagonist getting a knife through the cheek…well, she’s getting a knife through the cheek (“Ouch, sorry about that, Thorn, but it builds character!)
Not that Abercrombie is infallible. One thing to note is that there was not a full-blown romantic subplot in Half a King like there is in Half the World, and when it comes to writing a YA romance and a teenage girl’s perspective, he manages admirably though not without unintentional awkwardness. Scenes where Thorn is kicking ass and taking names seem to come naturally, but where her softer feelings for Brand are concerned (playing mental games of he-loves-me-he-loves-me-not, feeling jealous of other girls, appreciating the virtues of his well-toned backside, etc.) that’s when you sense that Abercrombie may be feeling a bit out of his comfort zone. It’s not too distracting; the moments where Thorn almost acts like a completely different person are more amusing than they are truly problematic. However, this does make Brand the more consistent character, and I sometimes found myself enjoying and looking forward to his chapters more than Thorn’s.
Story-wise, I also found the twists and turns in Half the World to be somewhat tamer and more predictable than in Half a King, though this might have something to do with the fact that we now know the character of Father Yarvi well enough to “expect the unexpected”. Nevertheless, I sailed through this novel loving every page of it, but the highlight was without a doubt the last few chapters that led up to and culminated in the stunning climax. For you see, fight scenes are a bit of a Joe Abercrombie specialty. Once the action starts, it’s impossible to tear your eyes away. The final showdown was one such sequence, with the suspense keeping you on the edge of seat until the moment of reckoning. As climaxes go, that was close to perfection. Before the ending, I was already pretty set on rating Half the World a solid 4 stars, but that one amazing scene alone made me bump it up to 4.5.
One thing is clear, though – the scene is now set for the next and final book of the trilogy. Seeing as how things have progressed so far, Half a War promises to be even more intense and exciting. I can’t wait.
A review copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Del Rey Books!
The BiblioSanctum 
Yeah, definitely not a fluke. Although . . . I have to admit (to my own detriment) that I didn’t have the issues with the awkwardness in the romance department that you did. I think we may have been very different teenagers, LOL. Fortunately (for EVERYONE), we grow up and stop being so completely ridiculous, but yeah, the jealousy, the fear of putting herself out there that resulted in probing questions (or mental games, whatever *snickers*), all of those things felt UNfortunately familiar. The only thing I’m not sure I bought was how long it took for the situation to resolve itself. HOORAY for not being able to relate to that level of stubborn 😉
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The jealousy and the ridiculous awkwardness of young love was probably to be expected, though my issue with it is…hmm. Hard to explain. It was almost like Abercrombie didn’t know how to make Thorn act through those situations, and she ended up feeling like a completely different person. It seemed like he had an easier time writing “rough and tough” Thorn, but not so much the “sensitive side” of Thorn! XD
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I really should get started on this series. Oh series, I curse you! I think I even have a copy of Half a King:-)
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Definitely start with Half a King! You could probably get away with just jumping right in with this book, but oh the first book is excellent and worth it 🙂
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Oh I like it when main characters from previous books stick around in a supporting role! Really looking forward to this one.
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Yes, I was glad to see Yarvi still had a big part to play, despite the switch in main characters.
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A friend just told me how Abercrombie is insesitive with characters. Uhm… I suppose I just hate to read him and make up my own mind 😉
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Oh, he definitely likes to put his characters through the wringer. If you don’t like to see main protagonists get grievously hurt, then his books would be quite difficult to read, lol. No mercy from Abercrombie 🙂
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Awww, Abercrombie writing teenage romance? 😀 I can’t wait to see that. I’ve already ordered the book and I can’t wait for it to be published – Half a King easily made my top 10 of 2014, though I wasn’t too fond of his books for adults (I barely got through The First Law trilogy, but my husband’s a huge fan, so I persevered).
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Haha, Joe A writing teen romance, yeah that’s definitely something else 🙂
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Oh yes I remember book 1! I haven’t read it in fact but I remember the reviews. I’m glad it was that good again. I didn’t know that the sequel was out but it’s nice it’s a good one! Thanks for the nice review!
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Yeah, the books are coming out very close together, and the third book is coming out later this year as well, so it’s time to catch up 🙂
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I think I must change my opinion. I agree his interpretation of Brand was more holistic. I agree that his take of Thorn’s feelings and reactions while very awkward were not intentionally done.
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Yeah, Brand felt much more “natural” to me whereas Thorn felt a tad forced.
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You know what I get tired of in adult fantasy? The way women are fitted into stereotypes. The prostitute. The slut. The whore. The mother. The terrible thing is that usually they are 2 dimensional. But, once in a while you find an author that doesn’t do that.
I feel like Abercrombie is probably one of those greats. Why am I such an idiot for not reading the first. I SHOULD BE READING IT. And yet there it sits (for a year it has been). Someone slap me.
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Joe Abercrombie definitely breaks the mold when it comes to writing women. You don’t often see women as the main protagonists in grimdark either, but he’s already written two great ones – Best Served Cold and Red Country.
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Stop adding books to my TBR list!!! *lol*
On a serious note, I haven’t heard of Abercrombie until recently. I feel like I’m missing out on something good here. Would you recommend Half A King as well? (Based on your first paragraph alone, I’m guessing that would be a “yes”…?)
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I would definitely recommend Half a King and if you can, read that one before this one. You’ll get a better idea of the setting and world building, and Half the World will be that much more enjoyable 🙂
His adult books are great too, if you enjoy grimdark!
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Loved it. But am completely in the bag for the author. So there is that.
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Well, it’s understandable 🙂
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I was looking forward to this, after enjoying “Half a King” quite a bit (and I’m not all that much into YA, which says a LOT…), but I was afraid it might prove a disappointment as some second books are: well, after your review I’m not only comforted, but even more eager to get my hands on this volume! Thanks for sharing.
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I’m very picky about my YA as well, which is probably why I enjoyed these books. Joe Abercrombie doesn’t really follow the “usual” YA conventions. These days the YA I really like seem to be the ones written by traditionally adult fantasy authors 😛
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Great review! Agree it was a wonderful book, and while not a negative, there was something about Thorn’s emotions that didn’t read quite as naturally as everything else. Still a great book! 🙂
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Whew, I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. She felt like a whole different person to me, especially during that scene where the two of them finally resolve their feelings together!
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Hopefully the library will get this one too
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I hope so!
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I can’t believe this is out so soon. I haven’t read the first one yet. Gah!
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The third book is quick arriving on the horizon too! Best catch up soon, heh heh! 😀
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I only read the first paragraph of your review because I haven’t read Half a King yet, but now I’m even more stoked to start this series next month! There’s too much on my plate to dive in right now but I have a feeling I’m gonna get MAJORLY sucked in…especially since I’ll be able to buy a copy of Half the World and gobble that up right after. 🙂
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LOL I know how that feels. I did gobble this one up though, it was such a fast read and very addictive!
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I didn’t realize this was YA. I always like it when the sequel gets a new main character. It’s so cool that he’s still in the plot though! I always enjoy the whole political plot thing! It’s too bad that the romantic scenes felt awkward, but at least they amused you. I love the sounds of those battle scenes!
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No romance huh, that could be a good thing, as for writing females I am not surprised sometimes I notice female characters come off a bit awkward with male SFF authors. It’s cool to know this isn’t a direct sequel it makes me more inclined to read it.
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