Post by Marv on Feb 28, 2021 15:32:50 GMT
This is the 4th Abercrombie novel I've read (actually listened to) in the past few months, all set in the same universe. The previous three were part of a trilogy but this one is a standalone revenge tale. Plot wise it's pretty direct...a mercenary gets betrayed by employer, survives, sets down the path of revenge against everyone who had a hand in it. Its a tale told a thousand times already...but Abercrombie writes such well thought out characters with such natural interactions, disputes, ticks, desires, personalities...that it paints what might be a normal revenge tale with so much color and charm that I didn't want to put it down. The rag tag band of oddities that the main character brings to the table include a barbarian who's trying to be a better person, a murderer who has an obsession with numbers and order, a master poisoner and his apprentice, a charming scoundrel and drunkard and a former torturer. Some of these faces we've met already in First Law, but none of them were the primary characters of that story...so they feel so much more fleshed out here. It was a fantastic read with a ridiculous amount of quotable content and some characters ill probably never forget.
“When men say things used to be better, they invariably mean they were better for them, because they were young, and had all their hopes intact. The world is bound to look a darker place as you slide into the grave.”
“A man can forgive all manner of faults in beautiful women that in ugly men he find entirely beyond sufferance.”
“That’s optimists. You bastards never learn.”
“Sometimes men change for the better. Sometimes men change for the worse. And often, very often, given time and opportunity . . . they change back.”
“I'm no drunk. I simply like the taste of wine.”
“One cannot grow without pain. One cannot improve without it. Suffering drives us to achieve great things.”
“Strong leaders might like it when someone brings 'em a better idea. But weak ones never do.”
“I don’t trust a man who drinks,’ he growled, not bothered about dressing it up. ‘A man takes to drinking, then he gets weak, then his mind goes.’ Cosca sadly shook his head. ‘You have it back to front. A man’s mind goes, then he gets weak, then he takes to drink. The bottle is the symptom, not the cause.”
“Honest men are so very rare, they are often mistaken for criminals, for rebels, for madmen. What were your crimes, anyway, but to be different?'
'Robbery the first time, and I served seven years. When they caught me again there were eighty-four counts, with fourteen murders.'
Cosca cocked an eyebrow. 'But we're you truly guilty?'
'Yes'
He frowned for a moment then waved it away. 'Nobody's perfect. Lets leave the past behind us.”
“When men say things used to be better, they invariably mean they were better for them, because they were young, and had all their hopes intact. The world is bound to look a darker place as you slide into the grave.”
“A man can forgive all manner of faults in beautiful women that in ugly men he find entirely beyond sufferance.”
“That’s optimists. You bastards never learn.”
“Sometimes men change for the better. Sometimes men change for the worse. And often, very often, given time and opportunity . . . they change back.”
“I'm no drunk. I simply like the taste of wine.”
“One cannot grow without pain. One cannot improve without it. Suffering drives us to achieve great things.”
“Strong leaders might like it when someone brings 'em a better idea. But weak ones never do.”
“I don’t trust a man who drinks,’ he growled, not bothered about dressing it up. ‘A man takes to drinking, then he gets weak, then his mind goes.’ Cosca sadly shook his head. ‘You have it back to front. A man’s mind goes, then he gets weak, then he takes to drink. The bottle is the symptom, not the cause.”
“Honest men are so very rare, they are often mistaken for criminals, for rebels, for madmen. What were your crimes, anyway, but to be different?'
'Robbery the first time, and I served seven years. When they caught me again there were eighty-four counts, with fourteen murders.'
Cosca cocked an eyebrow. 'But we're you truly guilty?'
'Yes'
He frowned for a moment then waved it away. 'Nobody's perfect. Lets leave the past behind us.”
