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Good news, good news. Those lucky, lucky people at Fantasy Faction (who organised a fantastic event up in London last Friday with me, Peter Brett and Myke Cole, incidentally) have had the opportunity to read a proof of Red Country, and have posted the first review of the book. If you’re really sensitive to spoilers you might want to avoid it since there’s a bit of laying out of the plot, but nothing too serious. Their bottom line?
“This is Abercrombie’s best book to date. His writing is sharper than the swords his characters wield and the new setting allows Gritty Fantasy’s father to ramp up the pace!”
I wonder if GRRM, not to mention Michael Moorcock or Fritz Leiber or maybe even Robert E. Howard might raise a brow at the notion of me being the father of Gritty Fantasy. The second cousin of Gritty Fantasy, maybe? But, hey, I’ll accept the compliment. I’m big that way. They’ve also got their sticky paws on the only-just-now-released book trailer for Red Country too. You can see that on YouTube over here, should you so desire…
Thanks Joe! Will bug my local fantasy bookshop for a copy
The reviewer elaborated on his opinion of why he believes Joe if the Father of Gritty Fantasy, and I have to say he made some very strong points.
His main point was the realism of the characters and the scenarios they are thrust in/participate. That’s incredibly uncommon in Epic fantasy, even the grittier veins. There’s usually some force of evil that even the worst bastards can get behind, or conversely join.
I don’t think there’s a single POV characters he’s written thus far that has a clean split from reality — the exceptions being of course the certified lunatics (Ferro, Friendly) and even then, what they do makes sense, given the context.
Take his modern counterpart that he’s most compared to — GRRM. Even though GRRM’s series is full of cynical, selfish, murderous characters, it also has its fair share of unlikely do-gooders to balance them out.
Joe’s books don’t have that counter balance. He writes his characters with no flaw left behind, and that’s part of why we love them.
Ugh, Joe, seriously. You could teach Glokta a thing or 2. I nearly fried my brain trying to decide whether or not I should read it.
I’ll say this for the reviewer, he really did hit the nail on the head with regard to Joe’s strengths. For me it’s all about the honesty, the multi faceted characterisation and the bucketfuls of near the knuckle humour.
Thorne, y’all forgot the Tumbleweed.