Review: A Little Hatred

A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a solid 5-star review.

Joe Abercrombie returns to his First Law world with the next generation of characters. As usual, this is a tour de force of fantasy that manages to present several POV characters in various situations; ranging from political intrigue to the hack-and-slash of combat.

Added into the plot this time are class elements unfolding within the context of a developing technologically driving industrial movement. Lives are inexorably altered as changing technology alters the basis of power; lifting some while others find their traditional existence to no longer be viable.

All of the subplots are told through the actions of a broad range of multi-motivated characters. Joe is a master of the grimdark subgenre requirement of creating characters that are neither purely good nor purely evil. They simply have motivations that are, at times, at cross purposes. When you are enthusiastically cheering for a character on one page and lustily cursing them a few pages later, then you know that you are in the grip of a masterful author.

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