About the book:Springtime in Styria. And that means war.
There have been nineteen years of blood. The ruthless Grand Duke Orso is locked in a vicious struggle with the squabbling League of Eight, and between them they have bled the land white. Armies march, heads roll, and cities burn, while behind the scenes bankers, priests, and older, darker powers play a deadly game to choose who will be king.
War may be hell, but for Monza Murcatto, the Snake of Talins, the most feared and famous mercenary in Duke Orso's employ, it's a damn good way of making money too. Her victories have made her popular--a shade too popular for her employer's taste. Murcatto is betrayed and left for dead, her reward a broken body and a burning hunger for vengeance. Whatever the cost, seven men must die.
Her allies include Styria's least reliable drunkard, Styria's most treacherous poisoner, a mass murderer obsessed with numbers, and a Northman who just wants to do the right thing. Her enemies number the better half of the nation. And that's all before the mot dangerous man in the world is dispatched to hunt her down and finish the job Duke Orso started...
Springtime in Styria. And that means revenge.
drey's thoughts:
Best Served Cold is my first Joe Abercrombie. I saw "him" on another blog earlier this year, then I found his blog, and thought to myself, "this guy has a wicked cool sense of humor"... So I picked this up when I saw it at the library. I must say, this book reminds me of my husband's favorite Shakespeare tragedies. Lots of death, with a dash of tongue-in-cheek humor for flavor.
It's a pretty big tome, not that I'm complaining. Monza is literally a shell of her former self, and I'm amazed at the nerve she has in planning for revenge, when she can't barely walk without her hip aching. But, plan she does. And recruits, too. And so this band of misfits stumble and fumble their way down Monza's list. Seven men must die, after all.
Joe's characters are entertaining, if a bit irredeemable. But some of them land on both feet, some don't land at all, and you won't want to put the book down as you march surely (if a bit slowly) towards page 632.
Title: Best Served Cold
Author: Joe Abercrombie
ISBN-10: 0316044962
ISBN-13: 9780316044967
Hardcover: 632 pages
Publisher: Orbit, 2009
Challenges: 100+, Pub, Support Your Local Library
Disclosure: My copy of Best Served Cold made a brief visit from the local library and is probably gracing somebody else's home right now...
2 comments:
The cover grabbed me right away for this one, and now I'm pining for all of the author's works XD;
I'd really like to see such a cold and intense female character as Monza since there aren't many like her elsewhere.
I like the cover!
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