Review of Joe Abercrombie’s Best Served Cold

Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie

Best Served Cold is a standalone novel set in the same fantasy universe Abercrombie created in the much applauded‘The Blade Itself’ trilogy, and although the world events mean there are interactions between the series of books, in terms of characters who make cameo appearances, large and small, Best Served Cold is very much a different type of story.

The gritty and Tarantino-esque plot of revenge, murder and violence will appeal to fans of Richard Morgan (who is name checked at the end of the novel) while I quickly tired of the repetition and sheer bludgeonous nature of one savagely described death after another, descending into fare at some points. In one scene a character beheads another by throwing a knife at him. I’m not kidding. Mix this in with characters who are fundamentally unlikeable, bereft of any charm and who all appear to talk like they are auditioning for a Guy Ritchie movie, and I found myself losing interest half-way through the book, and completely indifferent for the last third.

Most frustrating is the lack of humour and playfulness I enjoyed so much in The Blade Itself. Abercrombie has elected to play this particular story straight – too straight, relentless as it is in the pornography of its violence without a counterbalance, leaving us with a one-note novel that runs out of steam half-way through and can only attempt to up the ante by multiplying what has previous gone on before by a factor of n.

It is a shame, because for the first third the book had me in the palm of its hand, but as a novel the idea outlives itself. This would be a more satisfying read as a shortened, tightened novella, a segue into the world he has created. Instead we are left with an overlong, disappointing, arduous and grim effort that makes me sincerely hope his next novel avoids the pitfalls of this one.