This week I have read one long book rather than two or three because I have been distracted by my birthday. More about that on Friday. Anyway this is the book…

The book was another in Joe Abercrombie’s First Law World Series, Best Served Cold. I realised that I had first read this book eleven years ago, but could hardly remember any of the plot, apart from a few important incidents! This is the blurb…

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 damn 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.

Abercrombie’s work is very dark with a strong vein of black humour running through it. This book was no exception! His characters in this book are quite grim but leavened with amusing quirks and are well written. At times the plot became almost unbearably miserable even for me with unrelenting betrayals, battles and slaughter, but the ending tied up all of the threads in a satisfying way. I think I will take a break from this kind of book for a while!

Happy Reading, everyone!

Love and best wishes,

Anne

📚📕📚📕📚