Grimdark series with betrayal, hatred, black humor, and a ton of flawed characters. The black humor is the draw for me. ( )

Bought this book during a B&N sale along with the remaining two in the trilogy. Took some time getting into the flow but it was nice to have a book where chapters were actual breaks or flips to new characters and not just a continuation of previous sentence!

The others story was grand and descriptive. ( )

A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie is the first book in his Age of Madness trilogy and it was an excellent read. I am a huge fan of this fantasy author and have read all his previous books. I was happy to find many of his characters are in this book, all a lot older, some wiser, some not.

This book deals with how the Age of Machines has overtaken the age of magic, industry and manufacturing are what makes the Union run smoothly but there are problems as the workers want better conditions, better wages and better opportunities. As one city experiences a worker revolution, there is also trouble brewing on the north borders as the familiar Black Caulder and his brother, Scale Ironhand, invade the Union protectorate under the control of Dogman. The children of past heroes play an important part in this series from Glokta's and Dogman’s daughters, Savine and Rikke, to Leo dan Brock, the Crown Prince Orso, and Stour Nighfall, son of Black Caulder. Some secrets are exposed, important battles are fought, characters introduced and borders established, paving the way for the next book.

This story is as grim, dark, violent and fun as his previous ones and I am excited to continue on with this series. ( )

I don't think there is anyone that I enjoy reading more than Joe Abercrombie. I think this may mean I am broken inside because his books are a dark and twisted journey. The worse thing I can say about this book is now I have to wait for the next one. It has all the grime and grit and madness that you expect out of an Abercrombie novel. I love the description of the TV show Deadwood as Shakespeare in the mud. I think that description is just as fitting for all Abercrombie novels and this one is certainly no exception. ( )

You can read my review here.
https://geeklyinc.com/review-a-little-hatred-by-joe-abercrombie/

"Abercrombie’s first book in his new trilogy, The Age of Madness, had to play this balancing act between new readers and familiar ones. He could not rely too much on what has come before or else he would leave those picking up this book for the first time completely lost in the shuffle of the world’s history. On the other hand, the ones returning from either the end of The Last Argument of Kings, the three World of First Law novels, or the short story collection Sharp Ends might not be satisfied with only returning for Abercrombie’s grim and witty writing style. A Little Hatred has more than enough new and familiar to satisfy both."

Advanced Reading Copy provided by the publisher, Orbit Books, in exchange for a fair and honest review. ( )