Joe Abercrombie

[txpitdog]

Y'all gotta read his books if you haven't. Best Served Cold is a great one to get started with, and The Heroes is another good one before you dive into either of the trilogies.

Just started reading Red Country, and my favorite character, "Shivers", just made an appearance. Gonna be an awesome tale once again.

[Chew]

Genre?

[chadt1234]

The First Law Trilogy is really good as well.

[Jäger]

Genre?

appears to be fantasy

http://www.joeabercrombie.com/

[Chew]

Ok. I'm out. =)

[txpitdog]

Not fantasy at all. That may be the category, but no elves, no unicorns or hobbits or any of that crap.

Here's the jacket notes from The Heroes:


"They say Black Dow's killed more men than winter, and clawed his way to the throne of the North up a hill of skulls. The King of the Union, ever a jealous neighbor, is not about to stand smiling by while he claws his way any higher. The orders have been given and the armies are toiling through the northern mud. Thousands of men are converging on a forgotten ring of stones, on a worthless hill, in an unimportant valley, and they've brought a lot of sharpened metal with them."

No magic, no stupid names that are impossible to pronounce. Just raw battle, betrayal, and revenge. Set in the 1500s as best I can tell.

[txpitdog]

Best Served Cold:

Springtime in Styria. And that means war.

There have been nineteen years of blood. The ruthless Grand Duke Orso is locked in a vicious struggle with the squabbling League of Eight, and between them they have bled the land white. While armies march, heads roll and cities burn, behind the scenes bankers, priests and older, darker powers play a deadly game to choose who will be king.

War may be hell but for Monza Murcatto, the Snake of Talins, the most feared and famous mercenary in Duke Orso's employ, it's a **** good way of making money too. Her victories have made her popular - a shade too popular for her employer's taste. Betrayed, thrown down a mountain and left for dead, Murcatto's reward is a broken body and a burning hunger for vengeance. Whatever the cost, seven men must die.

Her allies include Styria's least reliable drunkard, Styria's most treacherous poisoner, a mass-murderer obsessed with numbers and a Northman who just wants to do the right thing. Her enemies number the better half of the nation. And that's all before the most dangerous man in the world is dispatched to hunt her down and finish the job Duke Orso started...

Springtime in Styria. And that means revenge.