Half a King is the first in the Shattered Seas Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. [Here are my reviews of the other Abercrombie books.]

Plot:
Prince Yarvi was never supposed to become a king. For one, he has an older brother intent on doing it. Two, he doesn’t want to do it. Three, he has a disfigured hand which means that he can’t show the fighting prowess the people expect a king to have. Four, he is about to become a religious brother and to foreswear all earthly ties. But then his father and brother are killed and Yarvi doesn’t have a choice anymore. As quickly as he rises to power, he finds himself dethroned again. But this time he is out to fight for his rightful place – and to get revenge on those who betrayed him.

Half a King is Abercrombie’s first venture into young adult territory and it feels very much like a First Law Trilogy book only for a younger audience, despite being set in another world. Since I love the First Law Trilogy, that is by no means a bad thing. But I do wish that Abercrombie would stretch a little further in his writing.

There are several elements in Half a King that I recognized from earlier Abercrombie books: Revenge is a recurring theme. A protagonist with a disability. Abrasive, fighting women. Allusions to nordic mythology. Etc. These are certainly not bad things per se. In fact, I quite enjoy them, they are some of the reasons I love Abercrombie. But It’s his 7th book now dealing with all those things and a bit more variation wouldn’t be bad at all.

A little more distinction between the Shattered Sea and the First Law worlds wouldn’t have been bad either. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if the characters started crossing over because Yarvi’s world is only a heretofore unmentioned corner of The First Law world.

But other than that, I have nothing to complain about. The plot is exciting, the writing well-paced. The characters are vivid and engaging. Yarvi’s character development was beautifully done. And while it was pretty obvious for me where things were headed in this book, there are still two books in the trilogy and I really don’t know where they are going to take things from there. I’ll gladly read on to find out when the next two books are released.

Summarizing: I might not love it as much as the earlier books but I did enjoy it.