I just finished reading Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie.
I was attracted by the blurb on the cover that mentioned a female mercenary who is left for dead and vows revenge on those who tried to kill her, and that the best killer in the world is sent to finish the job. Mercenaries out for revenge and assassins sounded right up my alley, so I checked the book out.
I have to say up front that I haven’t read any other books by Mr. Abercrombie and this was my first experience with his writing. I adored the level of detail and the characterisations in the book. Almost everyone could be classified as a rogue and I had no problem with that.
The pacing of the story was a little odd for me. It read more as episodic than as one continuous narrative. So there were a lot of ups and downs in the tension through the story. This made for natural places to put the book down for the night. I could get use to that type of pacing but it felt uncomfortable in places.
The ending was a little weird for me and I don’t want to give anything away so I won’t give details. I expected certain things of the story and was surprised often that events didn’t unfold in the way I anticipated or wanted. As I mentioned before I am a sucker for a happy ending and this ending was neither good nor bad. It just was.
I came away feeling like the author set out to make a statement about revenge. I definitely felt “cold” by the process in which revenge was sought and achieved.
The story made me think. I picked up the book for a fun, roguely read. I didn’t get that. I am still thinking about the book and probably will continue to for several more days.
