Best Served Cold

As the title indicates, this is a story about revenge. A mercenary leader serving an ambitious warlord is shockingly betrayed and her brother murdered. She sets out to kill the seven people who were complicit in this act of brutal betrayal. The planning and execution of each kill gives the book a nice rhythm... although "nice" is probably not a word to use when talking about Abercrombie's creations, where the darker side of humanity tends to dominate. Who is a good person, how do you become one, what makes a good person turn bad? These are the questions posed by the characters in this book. The answers aren't simple, and Abercrombie's world is, as ever, bleaker than the one I WANT to believe in. But he invites you to take a walk in the dark side, and his shadowy paths are lavishly constructed.

This stand-alone novel set after the First Law trilogy was probably even darker than the series, and definitely filled with a lot more gore. As the title suggests it's all about vengeance. Monza Murcatto is the female captain general of the Thousand Swords, a mercenary army formerly led by Cosca, the drunken mercenary we met in the trilogy. Monza's boss, Duke Orso of Styria betrays her, kills her brother and throws her off a cliff. But she survives, and vows revenge against the 7 men involved in this betrayal.

It starts off like a bloody heist movie, as Monza and her crew of misfits plot to kill one target after the other. But the vengeance project changes all people involved, there's more people involved and it's all out war in the end.

The most likeable character is probably Cosca and he is just as murderous and selfish as everyone else is in this book.

I don't think I ever want to return to Monza as a character, but damn, Abercrombie writes such compelling terrible characters.

I can't wait to read on in this world.