Half a King

Shattered Sea, Book 1

By: Joe Abercrombie

Narrated by: John Keating

Yarvi, second son of the feared King Uthrik and the ruthless Queen Laithlin of Gettland, was born with a useless hand, and cannot hold a shield, or make fast a knot, or pull an oar, or do any of the things expected from a man. Left an outcast, he's surrendered his birthright and been given a woman's place as apprentice to Mother Gundring, Gettland's Minister, training to be an adviser, diplomat, healer and translator.

But when his father and brother are murdered by Grom-gil-Gorm, King of neighboring Vansterland, Yarvi is forced to take the Black Chair and become king himself - or half a king, at least - swear an oath of vengeance against the killers of his father, and lead a raid against the Vanstermen. Betrayed, left for dead, and enslaved on a rotting trading galley, Yarvi will need all his Minister's wit and cunning to escape, and all his diplomacy and knowledge to keep a rag-tag band of other slaves together on a month long trek across the frozen wastes of the utmost north. Among them are Sumael, the ship's single-minded navigator, Rulf, an ex-raide, Jaud, an ex-baker, and Nothing, a mad old man with a mysterious past and an almost magical skill with a sword. And their owner, the brutal Captain Shadikshirram, will be dogging their heels at every step. Father Peace may be the patron god of Ministers, but to reclaim the Black Chair, Yarvi will have to strike a deal with Mother War, and once you've invited the mother of crows to be your guest, there can be no telling whose blood will be spilled.

©2014 Joe Abercrombie (P)2014 Recorded Books

Narrator ruined audiobook

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I would not change anything about the writing. I would change the narrator.
I made it to chapter 7 and just couldn't take the narrator anymore.
My irritation went beyond my limits of endurance for several reasons: 1) narrator used the same voice for the main character and the non-character narration; 2) he also had a habit of reading some statements as if they were questions (he did this most often with the female voices); 3) and most irritating of all he gave one of the elder female characters a sing-song lilting voice that after a while became very distracting as the way her words were read did not match how I think the author intended her to be saying them. It was evident from the writing that she is a wise character yet the voice given by the narrator made her sound flighty.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of John Keating?

Pretty much anyone else. I can tell John Keating has talent with voices. However, I have never listened to anything he has read other than this book. Therefore I do not know if this is just a matter of his (or the producers) not choosing the correct candence.

Any additional comments?

I enjoyed the story enough that I am willing to purchase the kindle edition and read it. That is saying a lot since I prefer listening to audiobooks now that I have some issues with my eyes.
I have read from others that this is young adult and I am not a fan of young adult fantasy, but I am looking forward to see how Joe Abercrombie presents a less gritty tale. My question.... Is it really young adult or is it just very light in the grit. Already I could see depth to the characters and the story that I do not usually find in the young adult fantasy that I purchas by mistake (because they are not labeled as young adult by Audible)
If readers are making that determination based on the audiobook I could definitely see how the narrator, with his over the top fairytale voices, could lend to a young adult feel.

Half an Abercrombie

Joe Abercrombie is known for his dark, gritty fantasy writing and since I am a big fan of his First Law series I decided to give this YA series a try. Yarvi was born the son of a king, but unfortunately for him, the gods also saw fit to give him a crippled hand. In his father's eyes this means that he will never be more than half a son with a future no better than half a man, so Yarvi finds himself destined for women's work as a minister. This is actually a good fit for Yarvi because he has a sharp mind and he finds that his apprenticeship to Mother Gundring, the Minister of Gettland, goes quite well. Yarvi is eagerly awaiting the upcoming test that will promote him out of apprenticeship when both his father and his brother are unexpectedly killed on a diplomatic mission. Now Yarvi's life course is forever altered and he finds that he must take the throne instead. Upon doing so he is counseled to swear a blood oath to avenge his father and brother and kill the person responsible for their deaths. Now Gettland has half a king and Yarvi must figure out how a cripple who can't even hold a shield is supposed to carry out an oath of vengeance...

This story is written in a much simpler way than the First Law series as it is told entirely from Yarvi's point of view and doesn't jump around between many characters, but it is still Joe Abercrombie so many bad things happen to Yarvi as circumstances go from bad to worse along the way. The world is richly crafted and feels well thought out for such a short book. Yarvi's experiences are also varied and interesting but when it was all said and done it felt like it was written by half an Abercrombie. The humorous moments amid the dark occurrences were much fewer than his other work and the story itself just didn't have the bite it needed to really grip me; however, the ending is really well done and the story came together nicely and ended on a high note.

John Keating is the narrator and although he is a talented narrator I am not certain that he was the best choice for this material. His voices and accents just took away some of the edge from the story so I think ultimately I would recommend reading this one over listening to it.

Give the narrator time

First of all I loved this story. As a person who has been reading/listening to YA for years I find this book a refreshing change. It is very dark and graphic at times so I would say it's on the latter end of YA (probably round 16 and up) but it is a wonderful blend of abject hopelessness and yet still the glimmer of a coming good.

The narrator is kind of hard to stomach at first (a weird cadence and tone at first) but I found myself swept up in the story about 30-45 minutes in. He grows on you and you eventually find that he does a great job with the book.

In all I found it to be a wonderful story and the only thing that kept me from five stars was the jarring I got in the first few minutes.

fantastic

been on the back burner for a while. once I got past 8 min this was all I could listen to the last couple days. good intro to what I hope is a good series

Abercrombie delivers, the narrator does not.

I enjoyed this book like many of Abercrombie'm but the narrator is not good and many of the voices are so similar it can get confusing.

saved by one lone character

"Nothing" saved this for me I mean maybe I am just spoiled from Joe's first law series

Another great story from Joe Abercrombie.

Another great story. Looking forward to getting into the next book in the series. Enjoyed the twists and thought the narrator killed it.

Another fantastic work from Abercrombie

Don’t listen to the reviews that label this series as young adult. This is an absolutely amazing revenge story and on par with the rest of Joe’s works, minus some of the gore and grossness. Don’t get me wrong. There is still some pretty gnarly stuff if that’s what you’re into haha. Super excited to start half the world aka book 2 next. 

Amazing!!

Joe is by far my favorite author!!! Another amazing story, so well written, amazing, deep chapters and a great narrator. Highly recommend!!!

Solid Story, Poor Narration

Perhaps we were spoiled with Steven Pacey but Keating simply does not measure up. it's hard to differentiate the characters and he doesn't ACT the emotion of the dialogue like Pacey does. The story is solid but listening is a bit of a chore.