Book Review: A Little Hatred
- Series: The Age of Madness, Book 1 (World of The First Law)
- Author: Joe Abercrombie
- Publisher: Orbit
- First published: September 17, 2019
- Edition: Hardcover
- Pages: 480
- ISBN 9780316187169 (ISBN10: 031618716X)
- Available in digital format (ePub, PDF, etc.)
- ASIN 031618716X
- Language English
Review
After finishing the original First Law trilogy, along with the three standalone novels and their accompanying short stories, I was left with a void and a craving for grimdark. Fortunately, that craving was more than satisfied by Joe Abercrombie’s new trilogy, set in the same world—but some 30 years after the events of the previous books.
Plot
The world has changed: an industrial revolution is underway, with factories and manufacturing plants on the rise. But some things remain the same—greed for power, glory, and wealth. We meet a host of compelling characters: Savine dan Glokta, daughter of my all-time favorite Sand dan Glokta (now Arch Lector), who shines as a cunning entrepreneur and investor; Prince Orso of the Union, struggling to keep his realm intact; and in the North, Stour Nightfall—Calder’s son—locked in a brutal fight for glory against the new Governor of Angland, Leo dan Brock, a lion-hearted young man eager to prove himself. And then there’s Rikke, daughter of the Dogman and ruler of an autonomous territory, who possesses a strange ability to glimpse the future.
My Thoughts on A Little Hatred
To be honest—no one writes characters like Joe Abercrombie. No one is purely good or evil; everyone operates within that morally grey zone, driven by their own ambitions. Even the side characters are exceptionally well-written and earn every sentence they’re in. Familiar faces also make a return—Bayaz, Shivers, and others fans will instantly recognize.
A savage war rages in the North. In the Union, rebellion is brewing and the fight for dominance never ends. As expected from Abercrombie, the characters’ fates twist, untwist, and intertwine in unpredictable ways—that very unpredictability being one of the many reasons he’s so beloved.
Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5)
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers’ Favorite Fantasy (2019)
The chimneys of industry rise over Adua and the world seethes with new opportunities. But old scores run deep as ever.
On the blood-soaked borders of Angland, Leo dan Brock struggles to win fame on the battlefield, and defeat the marauding armies of Stour Nightfall. He hopes for help from the crown. But King Jezal’s son, the feckless Prince Orso, is a man who specializes in disappointments.
Savine dan Glokta – socialite, investor, and daughter of the most feared man in the Union – plans to claw her way to the top of the slag-heap of society by any means necessary. But the slums boil over with a rage that all the money in the world cannot control.
The age of the machine dawns, but the age of magic refuses to die. With the help of the mad hillwoman Isern-i-Phail, Rikke struggles to control the blessing, or the curse, of the Long Eye. Glimpsing the future is one thing, but with the guiding hand of the First of the Magi still pulling the strings, changing it will be quite another…
