Lowly’s Book Blog

And now for book 2 of Joe Abercrombie’s wonderful First Law Trilogy. As with any book 2 of three, this is going to contain a fair bit of action and adventure as the characters grow and change testing themselves against all kinds of challenges.

Logan Ninefingers has set off on a quest led by Bayaz to seek The Seed at the edge of the world. Also on the quest is the selfish boy Luther winner of a fencing tournament, a woman sworn to vengeance, an apprentice magus, and the navigator. Together they struggle through empty wastelands, fighting monsters and magic all the way.

A relatively minor character from the first book, Collem West suddenly finds himself guardian to the Heir Apparent as his poorly trained and undisciplined army are attacked by the King of the Northmen. The army is annihilated but the Crown Prince survives in the company of a small band of Northmen allies and West. This small band must travel across enemy territory to find the rest of the Union army.

And then Glokta. He gets the best duty. He is assigned to command the defense of a city under Gurkish attack. By reputation this city is invincible, but that simply means that no money has been spent on maintenance of the defenses in a century. And Glokta gets no funding or military assistance to assist with his task, just instructions to hold the city to the last man. Some promotions are simply not worth the title.

This book went far more quickly than the first one, based as it was on the war fought on two fronts and the quest into unknown lands. The cast of important characters expanded but Abercrombie skillfully made them real and still avoided confusion and long passages of background information. And there were just enough hints about what is to come to make me very happy that book 3 was sitting on the shelf waiting.

There is no need to introduce this author to anybody. If you have seen the remake of 3.10 to Yuma, or 2 Fast 2 Furious, or even the recently released Wanted, then you have already encountered Derek Haas writing. But the Silver Bear is his first novel, and as you might expect it is a good thriller that won’t make you think too hard.

Columbus is a hitman, very experienced and very creative. He has killed many times using many weapons, including his bare hands. He is at the top of his chosen profession, immune to pressure and untouched by law enforcement. He is what the Russians call a Silver Bear. 

His next hit might just be a little difficult. He has been hired to kill a Presidential candidate while on the campaign trail. But there’s an added incentive, this man happens to be the man who dropped his pregnant girlfriend just before her son was born. This son grew up and now calls himself Columbus.

This book is set in the eight weeks between the acceptance of the job and it’s execution. Most of that time is spent shadowing the target, getting inside his head. If that was all the story contained, it would be a really slow 250 pages. But Haas keeps the story interesting by filling in Columbus’ backstory; his recruitment, first love, mistakes and successes. And the climax has a great twist.

If you are looking for a lightweight, page turner that can be read quickly, this is a good choice.