Lowly’s Book Blog

Finally, the end of the series! It has been so long since I took the time to read a fantasy trilogy, and managed to read one book after the other. And the series was worth every minute spent.

If you haven’t read my other reviews of the books in this series, stop now and Google for a summary of books one and 2. For those who have seen my reviews, here goes the summary of part 3.

The quest is over and everybody has returned to the Union capitol. The Bloody Nine cannot cope with life without war so he heads north to where the war against Bethod and the Northmen is continuing. Jazeal returns to his true love and for a few weeks finds happiness. But then the reason Bayaz was educating the young aristocrat becomes blatantly clear and Jazeal’s carefree existence is over. Glokta is summoned home to report on the progress of the battle against the Gurkish just before the city he was defending falls. His next assignment is to investigate the new king and his circle of friends. With the death of the Lord Marshall, the generals fighting in Angland refuse to proceed without new orders from a new Lord Marshall. West’s frustration grows.

And so opens part 3. To say much more could easily ruin your enjoyment of this wonderful adventure fantasy, so I will stop there. 

Abercrombie has constructed some truly three dimensional characters for this fantasy trilogy. Most everyone would interpret the First of the Magi as a variation of Gandalf or Dumbledore. But is Bayaz really as good as he seems? And the great warrior, in this case Logan Ninefingers; once his blood lust is up he becomes the Bloody Nine, and as like to kill friend as foe. The most honest character in the whole book to my mind is Glokta, but the inquisitor/torturer is always evil isn’t he?

Terry Pratchett has revolutionised fantasy writing by adding humour. Joe Abercrombie is about to start another revolution with his deliciously complex characters.

Hmmm. A first time novelist. Book set in Bosnia with most of the action taking place in the early 1990s. It should be a serious memoir of one boy’s survival of genocide. Have the publishers got the cover wrong, again? No.

The story begins in 1991 with the death of Aleksander’s beloved grandfather. This grandfather taught the boy that the world could always be better if you used ‘magic’ or your imagination to finish stories. A great deal of this book takes place in the year following this opening and the arrival of the soldiers in 1992. During the time the reader gains a gentle, even whimsical look at the town of Visegard and the people that make the town special. Enter the soldiers. Soon Aleksander and his family escape to Germany, but not before the boy manages to rescue a Muslim girl from certain death.

Jump 10 years. Now a young man, Aleksander wants to return to Visegard to look up some old friends before deciding where he will live and what he will finally do with his life. But Visegard is not the place his imagination ‘finished’ or even the gentle friendly village he remembered. 

I am not really sure how I felt about this book. The tone was very gentle, even naive, totally appropriate for the young boy. And it may well be the only way a child could understand the tragedy invading his life. But there always seemed to be an underlying message that was never revealed. I kept waiting for something more. Even the young man was simply too naive to comprehend what his home town had become.

Sorry, but the events that took place in Serbia and Bosnia in the 90s are too tragic for this trivial treatment. It is a lovely book about childhood, but the setting is wrong.