Red Country

Old friends and enemies

I am a huge fan of Joe Abercrombie. Critics will tend to ignore him because he works within the fantasy genre but there is real genius here. The depth, breadth and sophistication of his characters are startling.

Red Country is perhaps Abercrombie's weakest work but still manages to be one of the best books I've ever read. He is that good.



Steven Pacey's narration, once again, takes the excellent source material to a higher level. He is the best narrator around. Each of the characters is distinctive; the pace is perfect and the timing superb. This is not a reading, more a one man radio play.



That the Abercrombie - Pacey combination haven't won an audiobook award is a total traversty.

17 of 17 people found this review helpful

Gritty, Graphic and Darkly Funny

Red Country was one of my most eagerly awaited books for a while and it does not dissapoint. Set some time after The Heroes it is a brilliant mix of old and new characters venturing into a new land of opportunity. However, remembering what great pleasure Mr Abercrombie takes in giving his characters a rough time you can take it as red (sorry!) that things do not run smoothly. The plot is gripping and the beautifully described environment will have you wiping dust out of your eyes.



As ever Steven Paceys narration is glorious, bringing already solid characters to life.



The only thing I would say is if you are new to Joe Abercrombies work I would advise you go back to the beginning and start with the First Law Trilogy - you will be glad you did!!



More please!!!!

13 of 13 people found this review helpful

Another Abercrombie Masterpiece

Okay... there is a lot of violence. But there's also a lot of story, humour, great characters and a fantastic world. This book is part of the same universe made up of the First Law trilogy, Best Served Cold and The Heroes (with many of the same characters). I confess I've avoided The Heroes as the write ups all seem to focus on endless battle. I should probably read it however - as all of the others are absolutely fantastic. If you want to spend some time in a convincing and fantastical other world - these are the stories for you.

Amplifying their effect is Steven Pacey. The best performer for these books (and available across all of them) - he reads effortlessly and (to my mind) perfectly. Accents, timing, consistency - all done brilliantly.

If you've not listened to the First Law Trilogy - I strongly recommend you do - and first. You will not regret it (and I am extremely jealous if you've not listened to them...)

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Excellent..

After not liking "The Heroes" I am very glad to be to loving this book :) Lots of new characters and the odd one or two we may have met before. If you have not listened to the the first law trilogy, this book is very good and stands fine alone without knowing the past history, it would even be a good starting point and treating the trilogy as a prequel would be very entertaining. If you have listened to the others you will be very happy with this book and I recommend you download it.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Bloody funny

I am in awe of Joe Abercrombie, he writes stories that are visceral, filthy, grim, philosophical and funny, balancing high and low fantasy (mostly low in this case) on the fulcrum of a gripping narrative. And the bodycount is astounding.



You might be better off starting with the First Law Trilogy (as the resonances here will make you smile) but Red Country is a fine stand alone tale. It channels the spirit of the Wild West, but never feels like a clash of genre's, more as if you have wandered off the edge of the map of his previous fantasy world and are blundering around in the Far Country. For that skilful mix alone this is worth a read, I've never seen anyone do it better.



Narration by Steven Pacey is excellent again, capturing just the right levels of weight and levity.



The new characters are interesting, well-rounded and sometimes even survive. Abercrombie is building up quite the cast list. But the old characters are always welcome, and two in particular will have you laughing and grimacing in turn.



So a welcome addition to the canon and well worth a five-star rating. Recommended!

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Brilliant novel brought to life by great narration

Joe Abercrombie creates another fantastic set of engaging characters that are taken to the limit physically and (more interestingly) morally. Abercrombie's characters have never been black and white but in this novel the line is blurrier than ever.



The narration by Pacey gives further life to the already colourful characters (a new contender for all time favourite fictional character is a certain mercenary captain who makes an excellent re-appearance in this book).



I finished this absurdly quickly in a couple of staggeringly unproductive days.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

The Genius of Abercrombie continues

Once again Joe Abercrombie entertains with a cavalcade of brilliant characters. While these stories are categorised as Fantasy, they could sit within the realms of any great fiction genre.

Some great old characters and some enticing new ones invite you to follow them on a journey so exciting that it makes the reader hope it wont end. If you liked his previous books you will love this one. The best read of the year, bewitched from start to finish. The only downside is that I have to wait for the publication of his next one.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

The country will run red

The book:



Fans of Abercrombie's previous works will feel right at home with Red Country. This is the last of the stand alone books before another trilogy and is a good read. It's full of the violence, tension and dark humour you would expect from the author of The Heroes and Best Served Cold.



However to be honest, it's probably the weakest of the books. For me, the story line didn't flow as well as it could have and the pacing was a little off in place. It seemed that this book was setting up events that will happen further down the line. More of a prelude to the next trilogy rather than a story in its own right.



There also seemed to be an over use of previous characters from the other books and while it is a nice nod to fans of the series; it did seem forced.That said, there are some excellent new characters introduced (Temple being one of the best character I've seen in a long while). The new setting of the near and far country was also a joy to discover.



The Narration: Steven Pacey delivers another fantastic performance, he matches the tone of the book perfectly. I can't fault it at all.

6 of 7 people found this review helpful

My favourite character's back!

Yay! Logen's back!!!

I thoroughly enjoyed the First Law trilogy, and although Best Served Cold was equally good, I was a little disappointed by Heroes (just a personal taste thing, as I know other reviewers have raved about it) - but for me, Red Country was a return to the earlier style/ story, which I so enjoyed. Admittedly, I might be slightly biased because old Logen is back, and he's been my favourite character since the beginning, however there are some great new characters in this instalment too - most notably, Temple!

As always, Abercrombie's characters are well developed and all unique, and his story telling is gritty and engaging. A great bit of entertainment.
Steven Pacey's narration is, as usual, flawless.

If you're new to the series, treat yourself by starting at the beginning with the Blade (First Law Trilogy), and be entertained through all 6 books. It never gets "samey" - well worth each and every credit used on these books.

11 of 15 people found this review helpful

My favourite of Abercrombie's standalone books

What did you like most about Red Country?

From some of the other reviews of this book I was a bit hesitant about choosing it. I'd found The Heroes to be a rather turgid affair where it was hard to feel much connection to any of the characters, so for me Red Country is a fantastic return to form. Some others have felt the plot to be awkward and the re-use of characters from previous stories as contrived, but I really enjoyed the reappearance of two major characters from previous books. It offered satisfying closure where I never expected to find any. As usual all the characters are complex and flawed and grow through their experiences, and even the most minor characters are given interesting traits and backstory before they're (typically) brought to a sharp and pointy end. Generally I find that I much prefer Abercrombie's characters when they're trying to do the right thing, even when it turns out disastrous, rather than the revenge-saga of Best Served Cold, and there is plenty of warm-hearted tender moments in Red Country. My only complaint is that I wish we'd spent more time among the Dragon People, because their culture sounded really very interesting, and I felt it was a shame we didn't hear more from their fascinating leader. All in all, if you've enjoyed all the other books, you certainly won't be disappointed with this one. "Better to do a thing than live with the fear of it".

What was one of the most memorable moments of Red Country?

Steven Pacey's performance makes it easy to have a great number of memorable moments. I obviously rather liked the moment when I realised that my favourite character was going to make an appearance. I don't want to mention any specific moments so as not to give spoilers. Let's just say there were many.

What about Steven Pacey’s performance did you like?

Steven Pacey's narration continues to be irreplaceable. I've heard many good audiobook narrators but Pacey's many accents are just perfect for this genre and I don't think I could imagine anyone else doing Abercrombie's audiobooks.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I feel Abercrombie's books work most effectively when you know the protagonists are about to make terrible choices but you also know that you'd probably have done the same. And then Abercrombie has them reflect on what went wrong, so you get to agonise right along with them. I often find myself wishing there was just one truly good character to root for, but that's not how life is and you won't find any such souls in Abercrombie's world either. I did love the way the characters from previous books had not only aged in appearance but also in character. The older characters really feel older, and you feel their pain and regret right along with them. Not many laugh-out-loud moments in a book like this, but I got a good smile from a few extremely colourful streams of invective that Pacey seemed to really enjoy delivering!

Any additional comments?

I only wish someone would give Abercrombie's stories the Game of Thrones treatment.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful