Half a King

Great stuff

This is supposed to be Abercrombie for the young adult market. Well this "older adult" is quite happy with it too!

Not quite as gritty as the First Law Trilogy, but equally engaging and raw, and still enough blood and guts to satisfy an Abercrombie fan.

Roll on book 2......

13 of 13 people found this review helpful

Sadly repetitive

As an enthusiastic listener to Joe Abercrombie's stories I was sadly disappointed by this one. The story is quite 'thin' and the characters largely a rehash of the ones you find in his other books. Despite that I am hopeful that it is an opening for a much better story line as the series proceeds. The narration, whilst good, is not as captivating as the narration in his other audio works by (I think) Stephen Pacey.

9 of 9 people found this review helpful

Least good of Abercrombie's books

when I finished a long non fantasy talking book I was pleased to see that Abercrombie had a new book out on audible and just downloaded it. Should have checked more carefully. This is clearly for Young Adults / teens as opposed to his normal output. That's not to say it's bad, it's just that compared to his usual excellent novels this one is obvious where it's going, no great depth or complexity to the characters. If you don't know Joe Abercrombie's work then it's fine and I listened to it to the end but if you have listened to the heroes, before they are hanged etc you will be disappointed.

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

An Enjoyable Story... shame about the performance

Any additional comments?

I liked the story, though I much prefer Abercrombie's First Law World. Unfortunately the performance really lets the side down. Bring back Steven Pacey. Where Elliot burbles his narration in a monotone drone, Pacey has the emotional range to bring the words to life. Where Elliot's character voices all sound the same, Pacey imbues each character with a unique identity capable of expressing complex emotions. I will buy Half a Land when it is released, but I don't think I'll buy the audio companion, not if it's narrated by Ben Elliot at any rate.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Not just for YA or (Joe you had me worried)

Any additional comments?

I love Abercrombies books, so had to listen/read this one when it came out, despite it being tagged a young adult story. I figured it would lose so much without his usual dark and gritty story telling.
But happy to be proved wrong, although I didn't enjoy it as much as his adult books I still enjoyed the story, it has his wonderfully deep and complex characters and as ever strong and capable female characters (thanks Joe) loads of plot twists and turns, humour and adventure.
Although a lot subtler and more condensed then in his adult books, the violence is still there just a lot less graphic, so if you like your fantasy gore free this is a safe bet.
Overall an enjoyable viking-esque fantasy story that sucked me in enough that I had to listen to it in one sitting.
Sum it up as a timeless adventure suitable for young adult and old fogeys alike.
And I can't wait for book two.

8 of 9 people found this review helpful

A decent enough story, a passable performance

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Worth a listen if you are a Joe Abercrombie fan, interesting sory with the rich background that we expect from Joe

Who was your favorite character and why?

The characters didn't quite reach the exceptionally high standards of the First Law Trilogy but were interesting enough

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Audible askes the rather loaded and unhelpful question "how did the narrator detract from the book" especially unfair for some of the great narrators I've heard. Ben Elliot makes a passable effort of this book, not as good as the excellent Stephen Pacey who did The Frsot Law but reasonable enough. Maybe Ben is more of a "YA" narrator, maybe he's new to Audible. It wasn't bad certainly, but theres room for improvement

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Well Preformed

What did you like best about Half a King? What did you like least?

I thought the book was short however well structured. The story itself was disappointing and basically followed the story of the Lion King!

What will your next listen be?

Currently listening to Blood Song by Anthony Ryan

What about Ben Elliot’s performance did you like?

Well voiced and good distinction between characters

Could you see Half a King being made into a movie or a TV series? Who would the stars be?

nope

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Gripping from the first page

I just finished this today and I'm sitting here slightly stunned. It's been a long, long time since I read something so packed with betrayal, violence, and dramatic plot twists which is also written by someone who draws vivid characters, creates a whole new mythology and has an ear for language and rhythm that lifts his prose almost into a song at times.

The plot of "Half A King", at least as it was described by the publishers, sounded like "Game of Thrones" without the dragons and the nudity. I didn't find that encouraging. I never got past the third chapter of the first "Game of Thrones" book, I listened to a sample of "Half A King" found it well-written and narrated and decided to give it try.

I was gripped from the first page, not so much by the plot as by the tone and pace of the thing: unhurried but focused, like a performer at the beginning of a contemporary ballet, full of controlled energy and potential passion.

Fortunately for me, I had a long commute this week, a round trip drive of nearly 700 miles, during which I could listen to "Half A King". I drank it in: a strange future world, fallen back into feudalism, murder and intrigue at court, a crippled prince unexpectedly becoming a king.

I thought to myself, "Ah, I know where this goes but I'll listen because I'm enjoying the ride". I did enjoy the ride but it turned out that I had no idea where the book was going. After the first plot twist, the ground my complacency was standing on fell away and I tumbled into the unexpected. Then it happened again. And again. And each time without me feeling cheater or tricked. It was more like opening one of those Matryoshka dolls from Russia and finding another doll within and then another within that.

"Half A King" is filled with violence, cruelty, death, betrayal, slavery and, above all, revenge. Yet it does not glory in these things but rather wades through them with the grim determination of someone who's only safe path is through the midden. What it rejoices at is freedom and courage and loyalty, if only because they are so rare.

This was my first Joe Abercrombie book. It won't be my last. Read it, preferably when you can give yourself up to it and let real life fade.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

I was hooked from start to finish

Abercrombie tries his hand at young adult, and yet again delivers a stunner.

Story – 4.5/5

This is not YA as we know it: Abercrombie has put his own spin on it, providing a brutal, gritty revenge story, but making it accessible to a younger audience. He has done this by simplifying the plot and prose, but it still remains very clever. There are no whiney kids, and there is plenty of death, so certainly doesn’t follow the usual clichés.

As usual, Abercrombie’s characterisation is superb. In a very short space of time, we are able to get a very strong, believable impression on all characters. We watch Yarvi slowly develop into a very strong and likeable character, following him through sadness, fear and despair.

The story is quite fast paced, and gets even faster as the story progresses up until the end. There is plenty of gritty action, clever plans and surprise developments (mostly towards the end) to keep us on the edge of our seats. One of my favourite aspects of JA’s writing is his knack for writing an ending beyond the ending, extending the story past what you would expect and opening the world up for further intrigue and potential future stories. He didn’t disappoint with this either.

All in all, a highly recommended read for both YA and adult alike. The only thing stopping it getting a 5/5 is the reduction in sharp whit that I have grown so fond of from JA, and also the lack of originality in plot in places.

Performance – 4/5

Ben Elliot is a very good narrator. He was able to convey the mood of the story very well, and helped to enhance the excitement, fear and sadness very nicely throughout. The pacing of his reading was also spot on.

His voice acting was good. The distinctions in character voices were subtle, but sometimes a little too much. Just a couple of times, I found myself unsure who was talking, but luckily this didn’t happen often, and the simplicity in the prose allowed me to get back on track very quickly.

I very nearly gave Ben Elliot a 4.5/5, but when comparing to other 4.5 narrator reviews I have given, where there were no issues at all, it seemed a bit too high.

Overall 4.5/5

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

A great listen!

Would you listen to Half a King again? Why?

I would definitely listen to Half a King again, I really like characters also I wasn't sure about the narrator at first so may have not been listening as closely at the beggining, but I got used to him... he did great job.

What did you like best about this story?

I really like the development of the characters I really think Prince Yarvi is a great protagonist he grows so much as a character.

Have you listened to any of Ben Elliot’s other performances? How does this one compare?

I've never listened to Ben Elliot before, but I think he did a good job. Not sure if he was as good Steven Pacey in the previous Abercrombie books, by comparison his character voices sounded relatively similar to one another.

4 of 6 people found this review helpful