Moorveer stole every scene. I was so disappointed about his demise, but loved that he essentially got what he always wanted in death. I’d like there to be references to his fame in future books .
Also, when it comes to shivers... I feel in a way we see him become what Logen already was in the beginning of the trilogy. He tried to become a better man but life wants to keep him a killer lol even the losing of an eye I saw as a parallel to Logen's missing finger.
100% agree about the fight with General Ganmark. Such phenomenal and powerful writing. The dialogue between him and Monza through out the fight is so good, and when Cosca joins in and redeems himself, ugh! so gooood! lol I like how you called it sort of a "mid-season finale". :)
Just finished the book and went looking for a review. Wild to find a reference to Mike’s book reviews having less than 500 subscribers. UA-cam says you have 100K now. Congrats on the success! I always enjoy your videos and reviews. I listened to every one for Dresden files as I made my way through the series and just finished last week.
For me, the book peaked at the fight with Ganmark, the way he described that duel, the banter, the tension, Cosca's sacrifice and then a shocking reverse at the end with him being killed by the statue! “You keep your guard too low, I am afraid. You are full of passion, but passion without discipline is no more than a child’s tantrum.” Mwah! the lines were so fun.
I am so happy to see you reviewed the stand alones as well. The next hour and a half of my evening will be watching all your reviews for 1st law as i realized just how much i had forgotten upon watching your last argument review. Hopefully you also did the stormlight archive books as i also need to read oathbringer eventually. These reviews are a huge help and i am going to enjoy a little hatred so much more because of these reviews to refresh my memory. Awesome work sir
spine knife I am happy to help! That’s the whole reason I re-read them before the sequel trilogy started. I knew I had forgotten more than I remembered. But getting to the standalone books finally was a pleasant surprise, especially with Best Served Cold. So good! Thank for watching and commenting.
If you haven't read The Heroes and Red Country yet (the two books after BSC) buckle up. You're in for an AMAZING ride. The 3 standalone novels are sort of a second trilogy, although only very loosely connected via a couple of characters that appear in them, and gradual changes to the world that occur due to the events of each book. But they are each simply fantastic. Each one serves as a sort of genre blend, with Best Served Cold being a revenge story/heist in The First Law world. The Heroes - many people say this is Abercrombie's best book to date. Red Country - my personal favorite of his, although it's hard to compare the stand alone books to each other because their themes are so different. I would categorize them as a band of brothers/war novel for The Heroes (taking place over a 3 day battle, and a western with swords for Red Country. They're by far two of the best books I ever red, with Red Country being my ultimate no.1 due to the story and characters (it's a matter of taste, and it varies, because The Heroes has so many great characters too, but it's more location focused). Anyway, I envy you if you've yet to read them, because they're absolutely great, and unlike other fantasy books I've ever read. P.S. I can't recommend the Stephen Pacy narrated audiobooks highly enough. It's like watching a movie.
These audiobooks are truly some of the best ive every heard. I find myself hesring his unique voice everywhere.. Such as in a replay I did on Drago age orgins.. Smh
I just finished best served cold! Wow the cast in this 'rag tag' group of killers monza assembles was fantastic. Abercrombie continues to fully engage my interests with characters otherwise you shouldn't back utter madness. Great thoughts as always.
Shenkt being King Casimir is a pretty popular theory. Also, i read somewhere that Shenkt has been confirmed to be making an appearance of some kind in A Little Hatred. Hopefully will get to explore his relationship with Bayaz. Hope you can get that 500 sub goal soon. Always enjoy these reviews.
@@coleton7048 Thankfully I haven't started the series - so while there are spoilers, these names yet have no meaning to me. I'm def going to get into Ambercrombie next though. The time has come!
@@adammalone2909 Actually, I don't think that's a spoiler at all as he already knows Shivers survives Best Served Cold and in The Heroes you meet Shivers in the very first chapter (after the prologue). I didn't say what he does or what happens to him. But good for looking out, though. And don't worry, I would never ruin this journey to anyone.
wow, what a difference a year makes. Love Joe (thanks a lot to you) and had fun with this book. Different than First Law, less epic, a smaller story, more focused. Again the character work stands out, though in that regard I didn't think it quite lived up to FL. Shivers definitely felt like a poor man's Logen at the start, but he's enough of his own creature by the end. Morveer was a character alright, and i liked his skillset. Monza was so conflicted i feel like i never got to know her, does she know herself? Felt more sympathy than anything for Friendly, maybe working in mental health. Cosca was the standout. I liked him fine in FL but wasn't excited or anything to see him in this, but it was a great choice, worked all the way through. The sobriety "revelation" was way too obvious, and there was some stuff in the FL that was a little heavy handed too, i bet Joe gets better and better at that as we go along. I ultimately would have liked a little more explanation, especially about Shenkt, but i guess there's a lot more material out there. Love this author, will keep reading. Love the videos, will keep watching. I don't normally listen to audiobooks, especially books i haven't read, but the first two books of First Law are on youtube and if I'm doing dishes or something... anyways people are right, the narration is excellent. It's more like a one man radio play than an audio book cheers Mike
I'm a third of the way through the book. Didn't watch your spoiler-laden review yet obviously and not reading any of these comments. Just wanted to say that the first third is damn good. As dark as this world is, I am glad to be back!
Shivers is very similar to Logen in a sense that he claims to be trying to be a "better man" yet continues to make bad decisions that completely go against that goal, choosing instead to go where the current pushes him. I feel like his arc sees him turn more into a Black Dow type who knows what he is and doesn't try to hide or justify it, unlike Logen, who does which makes him arguebly worse. Who's worse? A bad man who knows he's bad or a bad man who thinks themselves to be a hero?
I thought I'd be OK with spoilers, because I'm only midway though the book, but with the elevation about Day, I think maybe I'll come back after I finish. Really enjoying this book!
Nicomo Cosca I thought you were dead? A story made up by one of my many enemies... wishful thinking on their part! Thanks for recommending this series. I love it, opened up a whole new world to me.
Late comment, and new sub by the way! About halfway through Best Served Cold right now, and I’ve noticed in each book at least one chapter has it where the final word of a scene serves as the first word of the next scene. I love when Joe puts this in his books, it’s hilarious. Just wondering if anyone else has noticed that as well. It’s kind of like what the show “Archer” does.
This one is divisive, but it's my personal favorite of the First Law standalone books. They're all fantastic, though. I just found this one the most unique.
I love this book, but man Shivers story went depressing. SPOILERS he goes from balling tears at accidentally murdering a woman, to sadistically beating Foscar to death. He even betrays Monza who was his one 'friend' left in the world like jeez and he fails at it too lol. I can't deny it was well written, I just feel bad about it. It's fascinating to me how both Cosca and he tried to become better men but Cosca is the one to succeed. It's curious how Monza let him go free after it all, I think she decided enough blood had been spilt at that point.
Great review. I've read the book twice and I watched this review just to reaffirm my love for it and remind myself of everything that happened. There are so many great characters, both "heroes" and villains. Friendly, Morvir and Shivers were better than you would think they would be. And yes, there was a Bremer Dan Gorst cameo, this sets up The Heroes as well.
I really enjoyed this book it's on my list of best books of this year and it's also my favorite joe Abercrombie book so far I will be reading heroes in June totally can't wait and I really love the character monza 💝💖💞☺️😊👓
Old style video and review format compared to your current model. Fun however to see an early review by Mike. I just finished this one after about a 2 year break from the first trilogy. I liked it a lot and realized how much I've missed this world
@@mikesbookreviews yeah, that's what you begun to do with The Blade Itself now right? These old ones are however really nice to watch still. Keep up the good work
I was really scared at the start that Id be stuck with Diet 9-fingers northman, Diet Glockta torturer cripple character, and Diet Practical Frost with Friendly. It wasn't that though, and the book really picked up for me with the hilariously bumbling and morbid comical poisoner Morvir and Dey. Would reccomend. Great trip.
Mike I am reading Stephen King's Langoliers and Best Served Cold concurrently. It is so hard to put down Best Served Cold and pick up the Langoliers (which is a fine book). Best Served Cold is so much better. That book is the whip just as good in my opinion as the trilogy. Darn it is so good. BTW Langoliers is a good book but BSC is the best it is the whip
If she was an Eater then the poison wouldn't have killed her? So far it seems only decapitation or incineration will do the trick. Also, glad she's dead the most annoying character Crombie's written. But maybe that was due to the way Pacey read it, cause man oh man there's is something enraging about someone talking with their mouthful, acting all smug, repeating phrases.
You mentioning the “episodic” format really nailed my only complaint with this book. I really loved this format up through Ario (the scene at Cardotti’s was absolutely amazing) but grew tired of it once it got to Ganmark and Faithful. However, the rest of the book felt different enough after those two.
I love it how meaningless in Joe made the vengeance - the main plot - taste. Out of the seven targets, pretty much just Ario's death gave me any satisfaction. Weirdly even Morveer's death had more feeling. How many tropes can this author blow up before he's finished? I bet there's more to come as I started The Heroes now.
Monza lived in the end of Best Served Cold because her son (and who's the real father again...?) is a POV character in the upcoming new trilogy (first book drops this year). I literally can't wait for it.
@@mikesbookreviews watching it now. I highly recommend you read Red Country, which takes place in the Far Country, which is a part of the world we haven't seen yet, although some familiar characters do show up... It also happens to be my favorite book of Abercrombie. It's like a western with swords, like, basically take the Cohen brothers' True Grit, Eastwood's Unforgiven, Shane, and The Searches (with John Wayne) and replace the guns with swords, axes, etc. It's simply AMAZING in my opinion, and is basically one big journey.
I'm just getting into the series...I have read the First Law trilogy (the first 3 books) and just finished Best Ssrved Cold. Totally hooked on Joe's First Law universe. I'm going to start Heroes now then Red Country, followed by the Age of Madness trilogy. I might skip the short stories just because I'm so far behind...if someone can let me know if thats ok to do? That I won't miss any major events happening in the first law world that will affect the Age of Madness trilogy?
At first I was so pissed with shivers near the end but then after thinking about it it’s such a perfect ending for him. And monza. The last scene is great. Monza was a rageful bitch who’d had no remorse for anyone just so she could get her way, and shivers a broken man trying to be better. By the end Monza is trying to do better and shivers is probably about double as bad as he was prior to meeting her. And he doesn’t care. He knows. He just gave up. I love shivers so much in best served cold.
They say that General Ganmark was one of the best swordsman in the world. How'd you think he'd do against someone like Bremer De Gorst? I personally don't see him beating Bremer myself.
gotta think Gorst just because of the physical advantages, but i think Ganmark in his prime, as long as he wasn't clubbed down right off the bat would find his opening, maybe cuts on arms hands legs, use his movement to keep away and let Gorst tire, then either disarm or cripple a limb and then go for the kill, a methodical and defensive strategy. If it's in melee i go with Gorst no matter what though
@@Merrick I think your spot on. It'll be a bit like Gorst vs Jezal pre Magi enhancement! I'd probably have Gorts beating Whirrun as well. i personaly think he's the best non supernatural fighter in the first law universe. I've not read A little Hatred yet btw.
15:45 - 'I need to thank you. You see, Morveer, a man can change, given the proper encouragement, and your scorn was the very spur I needed.(...) Do you know the best thing about this?(...) Now, I can start drinking again!' He took a swig and burped, blasting Friendly with an overpowering reek of strong spirits. (...) 'Are you drunk?` `Ludicrously, my friend, quite ludicrously so. This is a good stuff, the old grape spirit.' Cosca took another swig and smacked his lips. 'Change, Friendly, change is a funny thing. Sometimes men change for the better, sometimes men change for the worse. And often, very often, given time and opportunity...' - he waved his flask around for a moment, then shrugged - 'they change BACK!' I think there could be a quite thick book only with Glokta and Cosca's quotes. :D
I still prefer the original trilogy but this was still a good book. I really liked the introduction to morveer scene and the paralysis 😂 also pretty much anything with Cosca was good. I think the reason I didn't enjoy this one as much is b/c I actually dislike Monza. I don't really empathize with her, I empathized with Shiver's the whole time and ended up hating Monza by the end and hoping she would die 😅
I should have kknown better than to pick up another Joe Abercrombie book. It is so sickening to watch the same stupid ideas tromped out again and again, the same characters over an over with no good reason, mingled with torture porn and without even the best of his characters to do it. Joe is a talented 'Writer' but a shit author. The dialogue, the character interactions are very well written, the composition is easy to follow and his descriptions are excellent; both sufficient and colorful. That said, his ability to craft a good story is lax and full of tongue in cheek lunacy one might mistake this for a comedy except it then turns into torture porn or predictable mayhem and have to stop and ask myself why I bothered. In all of the First Law trilogy, there was exactly one character I liked and everyone else was crap. They had some good moments but if there is crap in the cake, it is a crappy cake. The worst part was that the world building creates some major problems and when trying to frame it into a logical setup, even from the perspective of the knowledge we have at the end of the trilogy, it makes the entire trilogy a total waste of time but for the one story worth reading. One example from this book, major sporler here if you are squeamish about them. .. They are int a city that is about to be seiged and they arrive at the home of one of the main characters. Their purpose is to wait in the city until the opportunity to kill the general of the attacking army arises. When they get to the home, there are 11 locals squatting in the house, farmers hiding behind city walls to save their lives. She lets them stay, rather than killing them. They plan to sneak into the dukes palace as the city falls, under the guise of soldiers of the attacking force in order to kill the general. So, they are capturing the uniforms of the attacking army soldiers as they can, saving them up for the end. The farmer sells them out as spies for five silvers and the guards who come to collect them just buy it all as offered. They take the word of 'loyal citizens' who broke into a fine home to squat in it as gospel but they don't actually look at anything else in the house with any real care. They find the uniforms they were collecting but fail to notice that they all have the makrs of deadly wounds or such. The main character actually owned this home but they don't know that. She is wearing a ring with a ruby on it the side of an olive pit but other than taking it for themselves, they don't actually listen to anything they say... they only take the word of the huddled, penniless, peasants over the clearly wealthy person in the house. Why? because Joe Abercrombie wanted to toss in some torture porn and all guards are flat one dimensional idiots if they stand between the author and some grim scenery. At the dungeon they ask questions, get the truth right away, ignore it and start torturing. Why because (See above) They ignore that the woman is covered with strange scars that make no sense for a normal person, becasue she sruvived the ridiculous fall off a mountain top castle in the beginning of the story and fortunately fell right into the hands of a masterful physician with a love for bones... Theymade it this far in the story by running into several other characters from books 1-3 because the author is too lazy to write new ones. If you are reading this AND you are still reading 'Best Served Cold' then I guess you deserve it.
@@madisongoodyear5040 Have you ever heard of the cooking show CHOPPED? It is my opinion, when I watch it, that they are not selecting the Best Chef at the end, but only the one that makes the fewest mistakes, the one that is the Least Bad. Joe Abercrombie is my Chopped winning author. The least bad of the ones I have been exposed to in the last few years. I continued to read this book, if for nothing else than to finish it to know just how bad it gets by the end and I have to admit that it does improve a little as the story progresses. That is not to say that all the bad parts are forgotten, they aren't, and they aren't totally overshadowed by the successes that follow ... but there are some moments of merit in the story that make it worthwhile to have read it. He does seem to be improving in that way. I don't care for his constant use of super powered cannibals but at least it is consistent with his other trilogy...
I actually finished this book and my opinion of it and the author is increased somewhat. I do not withdraw any of my previous complaints, they are all still valid except that there is a much better plot in this story than any of the trilogy and some well placed surprises that I found very cleverly done. As a result, I would upgrade my rating on this book to say that it is worth reading but it still suffers from the problems I mentioned before I can only hope he (Joe A.) continues to improve his writing... I'm starting the Heroes today.
@@madisongoodyear5040 Actually I did post some of those I'm sure... I am finished with all 3 stand-alone books and the short stories from Sharp Ends. I am now reading A little Hatred. I still have a mound of issues with the series in total, the world, and many of the plots... but the number of things I like versus dislike in the books as heen growing. I have a high tolerance for bad plots and anachronistic failures when the Role Playing is good. That is the best think about these books, the Role Playing ergo the Character work. The personalities and the personality conflicts. The stores are getting slightly better but there is still a lot of chaff to slog through for the good parts. The good parts are, Good Enough for me to keep on going. I also hit a point whee Joe Abercrombie is the best option of a lot of bad ones for what I have to read. I have started and dropped a large number of books lately because they just don't cut it for me. Even with the flaws, there is enough in the First Law series that I Want To Know More.
"this book is just as good as any of the ones in the trilogy " NO ITS NOT!!! HOW???? THIS BOOK IS SO DAMN BORING AND PREDICTABLE. HOW IS THIS BOOK AS GOOD AS THOSE??? I DONT UNDERSTAND. You have the brutal prologue after which literally everything magically aligns so that she gets to have her cake and eat it too. She gets to have her revenge exactly like she planned and wanted to AND she ends up the ruler of Styria as well! What even is this book??? Literally everything magically aligns so that she somehow beats all the odds and kill everyone she wanted. Every single character , ally, enemy, plot point are forcefully pushed so that the events align into her getting everything she wanted and she does exactly what she said she will do in the very beginning of the book. The whole book happens exactly as expected at the very beginning. She kills the first guy, then the second, then the third, then the fourth, then the fifth, then the sixth( which shivers conveniently does it for her so that she doesn't need to deal with additional struggle which was SO BAD WRITING IMO. ) then the 7th one with yet again convenient ass pull help from everyone. And on top of that the characters except Morveer are so bad as well! Not necessarily bad, more like boring and uninteresting! Nothing like the first 3 books.
I've just finished it few hours ago. I think it's pretty bad book actually. I didn't like a single character, the plot twists seemed so forced and predictable and cartoonish (like oh you just poisoned me, haha no you didn't i just poisoned you but wait a minute I'll give you the cure but sike the cure was the actual poison....). The back to back deus ex machina near the end was awful. Shivers was basically the bloody nine which makes sense from character development point but he just stays like that which i guess is setup for next book but also this one was pretty massive and could've had more development. Monza was a horrible main character, I'm close to saying that she was one dimensional femme fatale but she did have an arc so can't go that far but by no means did i ever care about her. Everything seemed so drawn out and Overpowered characters just seem to stroll around and just kill when plot needs to be moved. Also Nicomo was too much in this book, he is fine as a secondary character but this Jack Sparrow-ish type is brings much of a tonal shift too often. Also talk about how heavy handed the themes were and how they all just stop somewhere close to the middle of the book but are also contradictory especially with "things never change" and "things always change". Compared to the first trilogy stylistically he improved a lot but in every other aspect this was a massive disappointment.
"You mistrust me?!?! over a little paralysis?!?!" Morveer man, so unintentionally hilarious the whole book
He’s a hoot
Literally the highlight for me of the book was Morveer
Moorveer stole every scene. I was so disappointed about his demise, but loved that he essentially got what he always wanted in death. I’d like there to be references to his fame in future books .
“Why not stay in the North, swaddled in the magic mists?” lol
@@RPGcozMyLifeSucks yes because everything else was boring/sucked
Also, when it comes to shivers... I feel in a way we see him become what Logen already was in the beginning of the trilogy. He tried to become a better man but life wants to keep him a killer lol even the losing of an eye I saw as a parallel to Logen's missing finger.
The Logen parallels were quite obvious, even if done in a different order.
100% agree about the fight with General Ganmark. Such phenomenal and powerful writing. The dialogue between him and Monza through out the fight is so good, and when Cosca joins in and redeems himself, ugh! so gooood! lol I like how you called it sort of a "mid-season finale". :)
Coleton Donaldson yes! The dialogue was so good.
Just finished the book and went looking for a review. Wild to find a reference to Mike’s book reviews having less than 500 subscribers. UA-cam says you have 100K now. Congrats on the success! I always enjoy your videos and reviews. I listened to every one for Dresden files as I made my way through the series and just finished last week.
Just finished the book. Cosca has become one of my favorite characters in this world.
Cosca was the best character in this story and my new favorite 1st law character
Abercrombie‘s best work.
The consequences of revenge, more than revenge itself.
I loved it so much. Completely blew away my expectations. Cosca is the best.
It's a masterpiece...read it four times now.I wish it was made a movie.
@@panuraty6283i have great news for u
no its not its so bad, boring and predictable
"the consequences of revenge" you mean how she magically ends up the freaking ruler of Styria for some reason? What exactly are these consequences???
Just finished the audio book on this one, it was superb 🤘🏼
For me, the book peaked at the fight with Ganmark, the way he described that duel, the banter, the tension, Cosca's sacrifice and then a shocking reverse at the end with him being killed by the statue!
“You keep your guard too low, I am afraid. You are full of passion, but passion without discipline is no more than a child’s tantrum.”
Mwah! the lines were so fun.
that behaviour is always found in musical geniuses like mozard, van halen, etas tone....
There was a scene in the shattered sea series where the hero faced I think six assassins and she only had a fruit knife.That was also super epic 😅
A great book the ending was brilliant. Loved the bit where Monza gives shivers 5 boxes was very funny.
I am so happy to see you reviewed the stand alones as well. The next hour and a half of my evening will be watching all your reviews for 1st law as i realized just how much i had forgotten upon watching your last argument review. Hopefully you also did the stormlight archive books as i also need to read oathbringer eventually. These reviews are a huge help and i am going to enjoy a little hatred so much more because of these reviews to refresh my memory. Awesome work sir
spine knife I am happy to help! That’s the whole reason I re-read them before the sequel trilogy started. I knew I had forgotten more than I remembered. But getting to the standalone books finally was a pleasant surprise, especially with Best Served Cold. So good! Thank for watching and commenting.
You're a gift to the community, Mike. Keep kicking ass. Can't wait for the interview with George RR Martin!
This is my favorite book in the series. The names Monte Cristo and Monza Murcatto sounds eerily similar, I believe it's on purpose by Joe
I think you would actually enjoy Friendly more in the audiobook. Steven Pacey does that character amazing.
So everyone tells me.
They are dice, what else would I do with them?
Steven Pacey made the series for me...got through the original trilogy and standalones in one month...he was a huge factor
Friendly is my favorite character in this one.
One of my favorite books. Highest rating from me.
If you haven't read The Heroes and Red Country yet (the two books after BSC) buckle up. You're in for an AMAZING ride. The 3 standalone novels are sort of a second trilogy, although only very loosely connected via a couple of characters that appear in them, and gradual changes to the world that occur due to the events of each book. But they are each simply fantastic. Each one serves as a sort of genre blend, with Best Served Cold being a revenge story/heist in The First Law world. The Heroes - many people say this is Abercrombie's best book to date. Red Country - my personal favorite of his, although it's hard to compare the stand alone books to each other because their themes are so different.
I would categorize them as a band of brothers/war novel for The Heroes (taking place over a 3 day battle, and a western with swords for Red Country. They're by far two of the best books I ever red, with Red Country being my ultimate no.1 due to the story and characters (it's a matter of taste, and it varies, because The Heroes has so many great characters too, but it's more location focused). Anyway, I envy you if you've yet to read them, because they're absolutely great, and unlike other fantasy books I've ever read.
P.S. I can't recommend the Stephen Pacy narrated audiobooks highly enough. It's like watching a movie.
Ha! I'm actually uploading my review of The Heroes as we speak. Look for it in about a half hour, if you'd like.
These audiobooks are truly some of the best ive every heard. I find myself hesring his unique voice everywhere.. Such as in a replay I did on Drago age orgins.. Smh
Abercrombrie's take on Kill Bill.
I just finished best served cold! Wow the cast in this 'rag tag' group of killers monza assembles was fantastic.
Abercrombie continues to fully engage my interests with characters otherwise you shouldn't back utter madness.
Great thoughts as always.
I truly feel BSC stands up to the original trilogy well. My favorite of the stand alone books by a longshot.
@@mikesbookreviews I'm excited to start the Hero's soon, playing catch up in this world compared to so many other 😂
Shenkt being King Casimir is a pretty popular theory. Also, i read somewhere that Shenkt has been confirmed to be making an appearance of some kind in A Little Hatred. Hopefully will get to explore his relationship with Bayaz.
Hope you can get that 500 sub goal soon. Always enjoy these reviews.
Just finished this book. Read the original trilogy a few months ago, loved it. I think this is Abrocrombie's best writing yet.
I'll def have to give this one a go! Great review.
You watched this whole video when you haven't read the book???? The fuck????
@@coleton7048 Thankfully I haven't started the series - so while there are spoilers, these names yet have no meaning to me. I'm def going to get into Ambercrombie next though. The time has come!
Just finished it on my new kindle paperwhite. Ttying to find spoiler discussions, thanks for this haha.
Haven’t read these yet but can’t wait to start
Regarding Shivers: if you think he's gone bad at the end of this book, just wait till you read The Heroes...
Oof, spoilers. Yikes lol. He wouldn't even know Shivers was in that book without this comment. You should try to avoid them in the future! Cheers!
@@adammalone2909 Actually, I don't think that's a spoiler at all as he already knows Shivers survives Best Served Cold and in The Heroes you meet Shivers in the very first chapter (after the prologue). I didn't say what he does or what happens to him. But good for looking out, though. And don't worry, I would never ruin this journey to anyone.
wow, what a difference a year makes.
Love Joe (thanks a lot to you) and had fun with this book. Different than First Law, less epic, a smaller story, more focused.
Again the character work stands out, though in that regard I didn't think it quite lived up to FL. Shivers definitely felt like a poor man's Logen at the start, but he's enough of his own creature by the end. Morveer was a character alright, and i liked his skillset. Monza was so conflicted i feel like i never got to know her, does she know herself? Felt more sympathy than anything for Friendly, maybe working in mental health. Cosca was the standout. I liked him fine in FL but wasn't excited or anything to see him in this, but it was a great choice, worked all the way through. The sobriety "revelation" was way too obvious, and there was some stuff in the FL that was a little heavy handed too, i bet Joe gets better and better at that as we go along. I ultimately would have liked a little more explanation, especially about Shenkt, but i guess there's a lot more material out there.
Love this author, will keep reading.
Love the videos, will keep watching.
I don't normally listen to audiobooks, especially books i haven't read, but the first two books of First Law are on youtube and if I'm doing dishes or something... anyways people are right, the narration is excellent. It's more like a one man radio play than an audio book
cheers Mike
Glad you’re still enjoying the series.
I'm a third of the way through the book. Didn't watch your spoiler-laden review yet obviously and not reading any of these comments. Just wanted to say that the first third is damn good. As dark as this world is, I am glad to be back!
BSC was a straight adrenaline rush. A page turner in every sense of the phrase.
Shivers is very similar to Logen in a sense that he claims to be trying to be a "better man" yet continues to make bad decisions that completely go against that goal, choosing instead to go where the current pushes him. I feel like his arc sees him turn more into a Black Dow type who knows what he is and doesn't try to hide or justify it, unlike Logen, who does which makes him arguebly worse. Who's worse? A bad man who knows he's bad or a bad man who thinks themselves to be a hero?
Cosca in the mine getting ready to light the dynamite. Epic
I thought I'd be OK with spoilers, because I'm only midway though the book, but with the elevation about Day, I think maybe I'll come back after I finish. Really enjoying this book!
Yeah, I only did spoiler reviews back then. Definitely wait until you finish. Hope you enjoy!
Nicomo Cosca I thought you were dead?
A story made up by one of my many enemies... wishful thinking on their part!
Thanks for recommending this series. I love it, opened up a whole new world to me.
My pleasure!
Late comment, and new sub by the way! About halfway through Best Served Cold right now, and I’ve noticed in each book at least one chapter has it where the final word of a scene serves as the first word of the next scene. I love when Joe puts this in his books, it’s hilarious. Just wondering if anyone else has noticed that as well. It’s kind of like what the show “Archer” does.
Yes, Joe is a wordsmith like that. Thanks for hopping on board!
This one is divisive, but it's my personal favorite of the First Law standalone books. They're all fantastic, though. I just found this one the most unique.
ConspiracyTheatre really? I can’t see how this isn’t universally loved. I literally could not put it down.
It's my least favorite, didn't connect with the characters at all. It's the only one I read only once, maybe I should give it another try.
SonOfSeth I get it. There are books everyone swears by and I just don’t understand how they became so popular (Name of the Wind, for example).
Geek Media Corps Malazan for me, can’t finish the first book in the series. My eyes just glaze over at the torrent of words.
SonOfSeth ha ha I agree. Couldn’t get through book 1.
I love this book, but man Shivers story went depressing. SPOILERS he goes from balling tears at accidentally murdering a woman, to sadistically beating Foscar to death. He even betrays Monza who was his one 'friend' left in the world like jeez and he fails at it too lol. I can't deny it was well written, I just feel bad about it. It's fascinating to me how both Cosca and he tried to become better men but Cosca is the one to succeed.
It's curious how Monza let him go free after it all, I think she decided enough blood had been spilt at that point.
Great review. I've read the book twice and I watched this review just to reaffirm my love for it and remind myself of everything that happened. There are so many great characters, both "heroes" and villains. Friendly, Morvir and Shivers were better than you would think they would be.
And yes, there was a Bremer Dan Gorst cameo, this sets up The Heroes as well.
Oh, awesome! I thought Gorst might be the one Shivers knocked down the stairs since it was one of the Kingsguard. Very cool.
@@mikesbookreviews He is a POV character in The Heroes and he really comes into his own!
I really enjoyed this book it's on my list of best books of this year and it's also my favorite joe Abercrombie book so far I will be reading heroes in June totally can't wait and I really love the character monza 💝💖💞☺️😊👓
Old style video and review format compared to your current model. Fun however to see an early review by Mike. I just finished this one after about a 2 year break from the first trilogy. I liked it a lot and realized how much I've missed this world
Yes, these could all use an update ha ha
@@mikesbookreviews yeah, that's what you begun to do with The Blade Itself now right? These old ones are however really nice to watch still. Keep up the good work
Cardotti’s is my favourite scene in any media.
I was really scared at the start that Id be stuck with Diet 9-fingers northman, Diet Glockta torturer cripple character, and Diet Practical Frost with Friendly. It wasn't that though, and the book really picked up for me with the hilariously bumbling and morbid comical poisoner Morvir and Dey. Would reccomend. Great trip.
Same here. Was so relieved at just how different of a party it was.
yep, exactly
Mike I am reading Stephen King's Langoliers and Best Served Cold concurrently. It is so hard to put down Best Served Cold and pick up the Langoliers (which is a fine book). Best Served Cold is so much better. That book is the whip just as good in my opinion as the trilogy. Darn it is so good. BTW Langoliers is a good book but BSC is the best it is the whip
Am I the only one who thought Day was secretly an eater? Thought he made it obvious on purpose with her always eating
That's a damn good point. I can't believe I didn't even think of that.
If she was an Eater then the poison wouldn't have killed her? So far it seems only decapitation or incineration will do the trick.
Also, glad she's dead the most annoying character Crombie's written. But maybe that was due to the way Pacey read it, cause man oh man there's is something enraging about someone talking with their mouthful, acting all smug, repeating phrases.
@@meris8486 well yah, I figured she wasn't an eater when she died lol
You mentioning the “episodic” format really nailed my only complaint with this book. I really loved this format up through Ario (the scene at Cardotti’s was absolutely amazing) but grew tired of it once it got to Ganmark and Faithful. However, the rest of the book felt different enough after those two.
"I gave my life for you"
"YOU DIDN'T F*CKING DIE"
😆
I love it how meaningless in Joe made the vengeance - the main plot - taste. Out of the seven targets, pretty much just Ario's death gave me any satisfaction. Weirdly even Morveer's death had more feeling.
How many tropes can this author blow up before he's finished? I bet there's more to come as I started The Heroes now.
imagine. Caul Shivers taking Monz`S eye and they rule Talins together at the end
Monza lived in the end of Best Served Cold because her son (and who's the real father again...?) is a POV character in the upcoming new trilogy (first book drops this year). I literally can't wait for it.
Whole reason I'm reading the stand alones for the first time is in anticipation of A Little Hatred. I'm excited beyond belief.
@@mikesbookreviews watching it now. I highly recommend you read Red Country, which takes place in the Far Country, which is a part of the world we haven't seen yet, although some familiar characters do show up... It also happens to be my favorite book of Abercrombie. It's like a western with swords, like, basically take the Cohen brothers' True Grit, Eastwood's Unforgiven, Shane, and The Searches (with John Wayne) and replace the guns with swords, axes, etc. It's simply AMAZING in my opinion, and is basically one big journey.
Jappo mon Rogont Murcatto *isn't* a POV in the new trilogy, friend.
@@orcanimal Should hit Red Country early next month. Looking forward to it!
@@JoviLevi you're right, my mistake. But he does appear in it if I remember correctly
I'm just getting into the series...I have read the First Law trilogy (the first 3 books) and just finished Best Ssrved Cold. Totally hooked on Joe's First Law universe. I'm going to start Heroes now then Red Country, followed by the Age of Madness trilogy. I might skip the short stories just because I'm so far behind...if someone can let me know if thats ok to do? That I won't miss any major events happening in the first law world that will affect the Age of Madness trilogy?
At first I was so pissed with shivers near the end but then after thinking about it it’s such a perfect ending for him. And monza. The last scene is great. Monza was a rageful bitch who’d had no remorse for anyone just so she could get her way, and shivers a broken man trying to be better. By the end Monza is trying to do better and shivers is probably about double as bad as he was prior to meeting her. And he doesn’t care. He knows. He just gave up. I love shivers so much in best served cold.
They say that General Ganmark was one of the best swordsman in the world.
How'd you think he'd do against someone like Bremer De Gorst?
I personally don't see him beating Bremer myself.
Depends if a certain bald-headed Magi is around.
@@mikesbookreviews hahaa! Nice one! 😉👍
gotta think Gorst just because of the physical advantages, but i think Ganmark in his prime, as long as he wasn't clubbed down right off the bat would find his opening, maybe cuts on arms hands legs, use his movement to keep away and let Gorst tire, then either disarm or cripple a limb and then go for the kill, a methodical and defensive strategy.
If it's in melee i go with Gorst no matter what though
@@Merrick I think your spot on. It'll be a bit like Gorst vs Jezal pre Magi enhancement! I'd probably have Gorts beating Whirrun as well.
i personaly think he's the best non supernatural fighter in the first law universe. I've not read A little Hatred yet btw.
15:45 - 'I need to thank you. You see, Morveer, a man can change, given the proper encouragement, and your scorn was the very spur I needed.(...) Do you know the best thing about this?(...) Now, I can start drinking again!'
He took a swig and burped, blasting Friendly with an overpowering reek of strong spirits. (...) 'Are you drunk?` `Ludicrously, my friend, quite ludicrously so. This is a good stuff, the old grape spirit.' Cosca took another swig and smacked his lips. 'Change, Friendly, change is a funny thing. Sometimes men change for the better, sometimes men change for the worse. And often, very often, given time and opportunity...' - he waved his flask around for a moment, then shrugged - 'they change BACK!'
I think there could be a quite thick book only with Glokta and Cosca's quotes. :D
I felt sorry for Day. :(
Might have solved the algorithm issue lol
I still prefer the original trilogy but this was still a good book. I really liked the introduction to morveer scene and the paralysis 😂 also pretty much anything with Cosca was good. I think the reason I didn't enjoy this one as much is b/c I actually dislike Monza. I don't really empathize with her, I empathized with Shiver's the whole time and ended up hating Monza by the end and hoping she would die 😅
Never tried a first Law Book
Obviously, I highly recommend them.
Morveer 😭
I should have kknown better than to pick up another Joe Abercrombie book. It is so sickening to watch the same stupid ideas tromped out again and again, the same characters over an over with no good reason, mingled with torture porn and without even the best of his characters to do it. Joe is a talented 'Writer' but a shit author. The dialogue, the character interactions are very well written, the composition is easy to follow and his descriptions are excellent; both sufficient and colorful. That said, his ability to craft a good story is lax and full of tongue in cheek lunacy one might mistake this for a comedy except it then turns into torture porn or predictable mayhem and have to stop and ask myself why I bothered.
In all of the First Law trilogy, there was exactly one character I liked and everyone else was crap. They had some good moments but if there is crap in the cake, it is a crappy cake. The worst part was that the world building creates some major problems and when trying to frame it into a logical setup, even from the perspective of the knowledge we have at the end of the trilogy, it makes the entire trilogy a total waste of time but for the one story worth reading.
One example from this book, major sporler here if you are squeamish about them. ..
They are int a city that is about to be seiged and they arrive at the home of one of the main characters. Their purpose is to wait in the city until the opportunity to kill the general of the attacking army arises. When they get to the home, there are 11 locals squatting in the house, farmers hiding behind city walls to save their lives. She lets them stay, rather than killing them. They plan to sneak into the dukes palace as the city falls, under the guise of soldiers of the attacking force in order to kill the general. So, they are capturing the uniforms of the attacking army soldiers as they can, saving them up for the end. The farmer sells them out as spies for five silvers and the guards who come to collect them just buy it all as offered. They take the word of 'loyal citizens' who broke into a fine home to squat in it as gospel but they don't actually look at anything else in the house with any real care. They find the uniforms they were collecting but fail to notice that they all have the makrs of deadly wounds or such. The main character actually owned this home but they don't know that. She is wearing a ring with a ruby on it the side of an olive pit but other than taking it for themselves, they don't actually listen to anything they say... they only take the word of the huddled, penniless, peasants over the clearly wealthy person in the house. Why? because Joe Abercrombie wanted to toss in some torture porn and all guards are flat one dimensional idiots if they stand between the author and some grim scenery.
At the dungeon they ask questions, get the truth right away, ignore it and start torturing. Why because (See above) They ignore that the woman is covered with strange scars that make no sense for a normal person, becasue she sruvived the ridiculous fall off a mountain top castle in the beginning of the story and fortunately fell right into the hands of a masterful physician with a love for bones... Theymade it this far in the story by running into several other characters from books 1-3 because the author is too lazy to write new ones. If you are reading this AND you are still reading 'Best Served Cold' then I guess you deserve it.
Buddy, I don’t think you like Abercrombie. Maybe just don’t read anymore of them! Life is too short to read books you don’t like.
@@madisongoodyear5040 Have you ever heard of the cooking show CHOPPED? It is my opinion, when I watch it, that they are not selecting the Best Chef at the end, but only the one that makes the fewest mistakes, the one that is the Least Bad. Joe Abercrombie is my Chopped winning author. The least bad of the ones I have been exposed to in the last few years.
I continued to read this book, if for nothing else than to finish it to know just how bad it gets by the end and I have to admit that it does improve a little as the story progresses. That is not to say that all the bad parts are forgotten, they aren't, and they aren't totally overshadowed by the successes that follow ... but there are some moments of merit in the story that make it worthwhile to have read it. He does seem to be improving in that way. I don't care for his constant use of super powered cannibals but at least it is consistent with his other trilogy...
I actually finished this book and my opinion of it and the author is increased somewhat. I do not withdraw any of my previous complaints, they are all still valid except that there is a much better plot in this story than any of the trilogy and some well placed surprises that I found very cleverly done. As a result, I would upgrade my rating on this book to say that it is worth reading but it still suffers from the problems I mentioned before I can only hope he (Joe A.) continues to improve his writing... I'm starting the Heroes today.
Lol well.. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts of The Heroes. Waiting on pins and needles.
@@madisongoodyear5040 Actually I did post some of those I'm sure... I am finished with all 3 stand-alone books and the short stories from Sharp Ends. I am now reading A little Hatred. I still have a mound of issues with the series in total, the world, and many of the plots... but the number of things I like versus dislike in the books as heen growing.
I have a high tolerance for bad plots and anachronistic failures when the Role Playing is good. That is the best think about these books, the Role Playing ergo the Character work. The personalities and the personality conflicts. The stores are getting slightly better but there is still a lot of chaff to slog through for the good parts. The good parts are, Good Enough for me to keep on going. I also hit a point whee Joe Abercrombie is the best option of a lot of bad ones for what I have to read. I have started and dropped a large number of books lately because they just don't cut it for me. Even with the flaws, there is enough in the First Law series that I Want To Know More.
The most overrated book I've ever seen in my life. How is this the same author as the first law trilogy??
who else skips the annoying intro quotas from the book itself , me me meme !
"this book is just as good as any of the ones in the trilogy " NO ITS NOT!!! HOW???? THIS BOOK IS SO DAMN BORING AND PREDICTABLE. HOW IS THIS BOOK AS GOOD AS THOSE??? I DONT UNDERSTAND. You have the brutal prologue after which literally everything magically aligns so that she gets to have her cake and eat it too. She gets to have her revenge exactly like she planned and wanted to AND she ends up the ruler of Styria as well! What even is this book??? Literally everything magically aligns so that she somehow beats all the odds and kill everyone she wanted. Every single character , ally, enemy, plot point are forcefully pushed so that the events align into her getting everything she wanted and she does exactly what she said she will do in the very beginning of the book. The whole book happens exactly as expected at the very beginning. She kills the first guy, then the second, then the third, then the fourth, then the fifth, then the sixth( which shivers conveniently does it for her so that she doesn't need to deal with additional struggle which was SO BAD WRITING IMO. ) then the 7th one with yet again convenient ass pull help from everyone. And on top of that the characters except Morveer are so bad as well! Not necessarily bad, more like boring and uninteresting! Nothing like the first 3 books.
Good review however, if you really enjoyed the book, fine.
I've just finished it few hours ago. I think it's pretty bad book actually. I didn't like a single character, the plot twists seemed so forced and predictable and cartoonish (like oh you just poisoned me, haha no you didn't i just poisoned you but wait a minute I'll give you the cure but sike the cure was the actual poison....). The back to back deus ex machina near the end was awful. Shivers was basically the bloody nine which makes sense from character development point but he just stays like that which i guess is setup for next book but also this one was pretty massive and could've had more development. Monza was a horrible main character, I'm close to saying that she was one dimensional femme fatale but she did have an arc so can't go that far but by no means did i ever care about her. Everything seemed so drawn out and Overpowered characters just seem to stroll around and just kill when plot needs to be moved. Also Nicomo was too much in this book, he is fine as a secondary character but this Jack Sparrow-ish type is brings much of a tonal shift too often. Also talk about how heavy handed the themes were and how they all just stop somewhere close to the middle of the book but are also contradictory especially with "things never change" and "things always change". Compared to the first trilogy stylistically he improved a lot but in every other aspect this was a massive disappointment.
Vitari is married Schenkt. He may be King Casamir that would not allow Bayaz to dominate him. And too bad Nicomo dies in Red Country. 😢
😢 cmon... you could have just commented on the red country spoiler review comment section.
Why are you spoiling red country in a BSC discussion, you little prick? Delete the comment please, or edit.
@@ignorethis214 yeah this douche bag right here man SMH some ppl need so desperately to seem on top of things
dude why the fuck would u comment a red country spoiler in this video? you ruining it for everyone else
Thanks dickhead