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I am a writer, editor and reviewer based in Perth, Western Australia. I specialise in historical and high or epic fantasy. If you have a manuscript in preparation, don't waste money on editing too early. Instead, let me help with a mini-assessment of your work, based on careful reading of your synopsis and first 20 pages. Then, when you've worked on the manuscript in line with our discussions, I will be happy to do a full edit before you send it off into the big wide world. My fees are very reasonable - for more about my editing work, CLICK HERE

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Places I've lived: Manchester, UK

Places I've lived: Manchester, UK

Places I've lived: Gippsland, Australia

Places I've lived: Gippsland, Australia

Places I've lived: Geelong, Australia

Places I've lived: Geelong,  Australia

Places I've lived: Tamworth, NSW

Places I've lived: Tamworth, NSW

Places I've Lived - Sydney

Places I've Lived - Sydney
Sydney Conservatorium - my old school

Places I've lived: Auckland, NZ

Places I've lived: Auckland, NZ

Places I've Lived: Mount Gambier

Places I've Lived: Mount Gambier
Blue Lake

Places I've lived: Adelaide, SA

Places I've lived: Adelaide, SA

Places I've Lived: Perth by Day

Places I've Lived: Perth by Day
From Kings Park

Places I've lived: High View, WV

Places I've lived: High View, WV

Places I've lived: Lynton, Devon, UK

Places I've lived: Lynton, Devon, UK

Places I've lived: Braemar, Scotland

Places I've lived: Braemar, Scotland

Places I've lived: Barre, MA, USA

Places I've lived: Barre, MA, USA

Places I've Lived: Perth by Night

Places I've Lived: Perth by Night
From Kings Park

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Sunday, 9 June 2013

Out of the madhouse



A friend recently posted on Facebook –‘Been looking for freelance writing/proof-reading work in
London. Amazed at how many jobs are advertised as “unpaid but providing a wealth of experience and a well-known name for your CV”.  Next time I need the plumber, I'll tell him I won't pay for him to fix my tap but he can certainly list my name on his website. Actually, I might just try that at the supermarket.’

I know how my friend feels. I get the odd query from a first-time author with inflated expectations, asking if they can pay me a percentage of the book’s take instead of paying up front. No way José – I know how much most self-published authors make, and that’s 'very little'. If you self-publish, you must be prepared to do it for love. Even authors published by the big houses might not make a living wage – it’s said that the average author in Australia earns less from writing than they would on the dole. And given the tough economic times and the state of flux of the publishing industry, it's going to get worse.

It’s not just writers and editors who suffer, either. In all the arts, there have always been more good people than available jobs. It's more apparent than ever today, and part of the problem, I think, is that the tertiary institutions are turning out too many graduates. These graduates have to create their own employment, and usually their projects can’t be realised without some kind of subsidy. Or they work in community theatre for nothing. Or they self-publish books. As one of my writerly friends puts it ‘Centrelink’ (Australia’s social security department) ‘is the biggest patron of the arts since the de Medicis’.

As long as there is cheap or free labour around the arts will remain a buyers' market, and inevitably, this 'amateurisation' of the arts will continue. Yet if you are an artist of any ilk, you are probably also a rugged individualist. An office job would drive you insane. Routine bores you, and lack of a creative outlet can make you severely depressed. Furthermore, trying to be creative while selling your soul to the system is a sorry task.

It’s a conundrum, and I don’t think it’s a new one. As Friedrich Nietzsche once wrote: ‘The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the collective. If you choose to fight, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened ... but no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.’

Nietzche is also reported as saying And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music. May there always be those few of us who do hear the music, either as creators or consumers of the arts. We might be thought insane – but I do believe we keep the rest of society out of the madhouse.
Tuesday, 4 June 2013

Dance like nobody's looking



I recently attended my very first Middle Eastern Dance Festival. Middle Eastern dance, especially belly dancing, is very popular in Australia, and several states hold annual festivals. The Western Australian one, founded by Keti Sharif  enjoys national renoun. Several hundred participants turned up at the Juan Rando Dance Academy in Subiaco  to attend workshops for four full days, with four different classes running simultaneously. There were two evening performances and a one-day market as well.

Barbara Wolfencamp (Zahraa)
Guests-of-honour were Ozgen from Turkey and Tamalyn Dallal from the USA. I was fortunate enough to get places in workshops with both these fine artists, as well as those with Australian doyennes Belyssa   and Zahraa (Barbara Wolfcamp). It was a fitness trial for me as it’s been many years since I’ve danced for four hours a day, but although I was tired and sore I managed all the classes and did not notice my concentration slipping until the last couple, when I felt I was struggling a bit to stay focused and pick up unfamiliar material.

A quick rundown of the workshops' content – on Thursday I did Barbara's class on various Persian styles of dance. I especially loved the classical section as the movements are smooth and graceful and the music has varying time signatures. (Here in Perth the Egyptian style predominates and most of the music is in 4/4 time.) After lunch I took Ethnic Potpourri with Tamalyn, who taught us moves from Ethiopia and Zanzibar, among other places. Tamalyn has a wide knowledge of various folkloric styles, as has Belyssa, whose class I attended on Friday morning. She taught us moves from Morocco, Nubia, and the desert Bedouin tribes, some of which are very earthy. Very earthy indeed, in fact.

Then it was back to Tamalyn for an improvisation class using tools such as 'writing' our names with various body parts and drawing on the four elements together with the idea of 'consistency', thinking of substances such as honey and dark chocolate! It took me right back to my days at WAAPA,  back in the eighties, when I did a class of that kind several times a week.

Ozgen
I had a day off on Saturday, having realised before I registered that at my age I was probably not going to be able to sustain four days of classes, and I returned on Sunday with energy renewed, which was just as well because that was when I had my only workshop with the indefatigable Ozgen! Once again I was reminded of my days at WAAPA, but this time it was character classes that were recapped. Ozgen concentrated on Turkish Romany dances, and some of the steps are very tricky. The steps themselves would not be too hard, studied one at a time – most of them can be a seen as variants of what in ballet is called a pas de bourrée - three steps that travel in any direction. However, the time signatures of 9/8 and 5/4 were very challenging, and there was a lot of material to cover. 

Tamalyn Dallal
My mind had become a tad fuzzy by the time the last class rolled around, this one on Orchestral Taqsim with Tamalyn. She is very knowledgeable about Middle Eastern music and instruments, so this class was a fast study in music as well as dance.

Overall, the WAMED festival broadened my knowledge and understanding of Middle-Eastern and North African ethnic dance, as opposed to the more commercial ‘belly dance’ which owes as much to Hollywood as to the Middle East. I hope I will still be fit enough to do it again next year. I was very pleased to see that there were at least a dozen women of about my own age, proving that dance is not just for the young and beautiful!
Monday, 20 May 2013

Book Review: The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie



The First Law TrilogyThe First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie



My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The Blade Itself 2006 IBSN 9780575079793
Before They Are Hanged 2007 ISBN 9780575082014
The Last Argument of Kings 2008 ISBN 9780575077898
All published by Gollancz

This review originally appeared on The Specusphere, a now-defunct webzine, in 2008

In The First Law, UK fantasy writer Joe Abercrombie has produced one of the most impressive first trilogies ever to hit the market. It is remarkable not only because of its brilliantly complex plot and characters, but also because of its fearless investigation of the dark labyrinths of the human condition. Here be no dragons, and hardly a mage or a McGuffin is in sight, either. Instead, we have a blood, sweat and tears tale of the first water, incorporating, as the author puts in on his web site 'all the grit, and cruelty, and humour of real life'. Good and evil depend on who’s talking. Good actions are not necessarily rewarded and neither do the bad guys always get their comeuppance. In fact, there are no real 'bad guys': rather, we see the skilful and unskilful behaviours of which we’re all capable held up to us as in a dark mirror of gut-wrenching veracity.

Abercrombie doesn’t write dialogue: he writes characters, and they speak to us. They speak of our own foibles and failures, sins and successes. What’s more, he writes fight scenes where valour and chivalry are in very short supply and love scenes that are heart-aching because we see all too clearly that nothing, not even the flawed emotion we call love, can save us from our own blindness. Technically, Abercrombie achieves this through his deep understanding of the close third point-of-view. Immersion in Abercrombie’s invented world is not optional.

The trilogy is centred on a man the author calls the 'thinking man's barbarian', one Logen Ninefingers. For the most part, Logen does what he has to do and does it well, with as much—and as little—exertion as is needed. Yet in battle he can be a berserker, when his alter ego, The Bloody Nine, takes over and he is as likely to slaughter friend as foe. The story is not only Logen’s: other point-of-view characters include Collum West, a career soldier; his friend, the spoilt aristocrat Jezal Luthar; Glokta, a war hero turned Inquisitor – and Ferro, a runaway slave whose only interest in life is vengeance. Each one has friends and foes and as they interact with each other’s milieus we begin to understand the politics of their world as well as their interpersonal relationships. We meet Bayaz, First of the Magi, and his hapless assistant Quai; Ardee West, Collum’s wayward sister; Brother Longfoot, who will steer a team led by Bayaz on a quest to find the magic stone that will destroy all the enemies of Bayaz, and an assortment of self-seeking politicians and military personnel. But be warned: none of these apparently stock characters turns out to be what they appear.

In book one, The Blade Itself, war is in the air and many look to the return of Bayaz to save them. We see Bayaz gathering his team together and realise the conflicting interests his presence arouses. Book two, Before They Are Hanged, shows the struggle of the poorly-trained and equipped Midderlands army against the Northmen who have invaded their province of Angland. It also deals with the quest of Bayaz, and has the most surprising ending that any quest story could possibly have. Book three, The Last Argument of Kings, deals with the war’s climax: an army of religious fanatics led by flesh-eating priests is attacking Midderlands, but their army is still in Angland and the king, newly elected and disastrously married, must hold out until the fighting force returns.

And 'The First Law'? The expression refers to the injunction against using magic from the Other Side. What are the consequences when that law is broken?

Abercrombie can only be compared to George R.R. Martin, but he is, thankfully, rather more succinct, having managed to squash his story into the customary three volumes. And you must read all three books, in order, as close together as possible, if you are to get the most out of this epic. Although each book is well-rounded and skilfully crafted, none truly stands alone. It matters not: once you embark on this tale you will not want it to end.

If you like your fantasy harsh and gritty, can stand a great deal of death and destruction, and if you don’t want everything tied up in neat packages with 'happy ever after' stamped on them, you must read this trilogy.

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Tuesday, 14 May 2013

Book review: Scary Kisses by Liz Grzyb (ed.)

More Scary KissesMore Scary Kisses by Liz Grzyb

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I love this anthology. It is, I think, the best antho so far from Liz Grzyb and Ticonderoga. The stories are varied, so there will be some to suit any taste, and they are all well-written and well-edited. Despite the title and the cover, the stories are not all romantic and in several, the romance is implied rather than explicit.

The story I loved best was The Last Gig of Jimmy Rucker, by Martin Livings and Talie Helene: in fact, I would go so far as to say this is one of the best short stories I've ever read, and I have it filed away in my memory alongside The Monkey's Paw and The Nine Billion Names of God.

Felicity Dowker's Berries and Incense is another worthy of note, along with Jason Nahrung's Resurrection in Red and Nicole R. Murphy's The Protector's Last Mission. But your mileage may vary - as I've already said, there is something here to suit any taste.

Thoroughly recommended!

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Saturday, 4 May 2013

Conflux 9 - Natcon 52



I don’t often get to interstate conventions because of the high cost of flying across this huge country of ours. We have two or three enjoyable conventions here in Perth most years, and they provide a lot of fun for locals and even a few interstate adventurers. But there’s something about a national convention that makes the interstate trip well worthwhile if cash can be found for plane fares and accommodation. The convention itself is not expensive. All the work is done by volunteers, so the subscriptions of attendees can go toward expenses, including paying the airfares of the international and interstate guests-of-honour.

Nalo Hopkinson
This year, those guests-of-honour were great fun to have around. Jamaican-born Nalo Hopkinson,  author of The New Moon’s Arms, gave us a taste of a different culture as she sat on panels, knitting when she wasn’t talking and dropping in salient comments on topics as wide reaching as cultural appropriation in speculative fiction and ‘the secret lives of authors’ – i.e. what authors do in their spare time. The other overseas guest, Marc Gascoigne of Angry Robot Press, was a mine of information for would-be authors, as were local guests-of-honour KarenMiller and Kaaron Warren. Fan guest-of-honour was Rose Mitchell, who has held a range of senior positions in various clubs or on convention committees. She was Co-chair of Aussiecon 4, the world science fiction convention held in Melbourne in 2010, which was my first – and probably only! – Worldcon. It was a wonderful experience.

Other local guests included some of my favourite wordsmiths. Glenda Larke, recently returned to live in Perth after many years of domicile in Malaysia, not only spoke knowledgeably on a variety of panel topics, but gave us a lovely kaffeeklatch, generously sharing her writing expertise, as did Karen Miller, Trudi Canavan, Kate Forsyth, Keri Archer and many other local authors. Glenda announced news of her latest sale - I can’t wait to read book one of this exciting new trilogy!

We had several book launches, too – Nicole Murphy launched her crowd-funded mentorship’s anthology In Fabula Divino (some great new talent there!) and Jason Fischer launched his latest, Quiver. We also got a peek at Rob Hood’s new opus, Fragments of a broken Land-Valarl Undead: the title alone sounds terrifying! The Canberra Science Fiction Group also launched its latest anthology, Next, and Tom Dullemond and Mike McRae introduced us to The Machine who was also a Boy.

In lieu of a Guest-of-Honour Speech, Karen Miller gave us a magnificent slideshow presentation on her
Karen Miller
recent research tour of Europe. Things that interest everyday tourists were not Karen’s quarry: rather, she was after shots of the quirky, the dangerous, the places that stimulate the imagination. She felt, after the tour, much more confident to begin her project because she had immersed herself in its settings.

Patty Jansen
I took part in three panels. The first was at 10.00 PM on Thursday night. I wasn’t going to participate because I fully expected to be brain dead after the flight over from Perth, but to my surprise I was wide awake and rearing to go. I’m glad I went on the panel because we had a most interesting discussion about the value of editing for self-published authors. Patty Jansen pointed out that editing is such a big expense that someone hoping to make a living from self-published works would find having every story professionally edited too much of a financial burden. She has overcome the problem by relying on a corps of knowledgeable beta readers who serve as an editing panel, and this works for her as a good compromise. The other panellists (Abigail Nathan, Ian Nichols and I) agreed, though, that many self-published authors do not have Patty’s experience and neither do they have a band of well-read, well-educated beta readers who have some knowledge of the editing process – hence the terribly low standard of some of the material that turns up on Amazon and other sales sites.

My second panel was less contentious, and it introduced me to some new colleagues. It was a big panel – Phill Berrie is a long-time crit buddy (and a brilliant continuity editor!), but Helen Stubbs, ZenaShapter LeifeShallcross, Tracey O’Hara and I did not know each other. That’s one of the great things about conventions – you get to meet lots of nice new friends! We had a productive discussion on the value of writing communities – I.E. critique groups both online and in person. There is little doubt that writers, especially when they first start out, derive enormous benefit from these. Even published authors usually have a group of trusted readers to show their MSS to. We swapped experiences and were able to make up a list of writers centres and online groups for new writers to check out.

My third panel was about the place of a mentor in one’s writing career. My fellow panellists were Valerie Parv, Joanne AndertonKaaron WarrenJodi Cleghorn, and Kimberley Gaal. We had all had experiences of mentoring or being mentored – some of us both – so the discussion centred on reminiscences and lessons learned from each side of the process!

There was much interest in self-publishing. I was on a panel on the topic (see above) and another one that impressed numbered Felicity Pulman among the panellists. She generously gave out some printed notes she’d put together to help intending self-publishers. As I am considering joining those ranks myself, I was deeply grateful to Felicity for sharing her experiences with us.

Perhaps the most fun I had at Conflux 9 was on the Saturday night, when the masquerade is traditionally held. This year’s theme was Steampunk, and there was indeed a surprising number of top-hatted gentlemen and bustled ladies around the Rydges Hotel in Canberra Avenue! However, I didn’t go to the masquerade. Instead, I opted for the other activity – the Romance Gauntlet

This is apparently an annual event, and what fun it was! It seems that Canberra is not only well-served for SF authors and fans, but for those of the Romance persuasion as well, and every year at Conflux they hold a duel of panels. Craig Cormick  skilfully wrangled the contestants in a blow-by-blow steaming reading romp. Panellists included Valerie ParvKateForsyth, Jane Virgo, Leife Shallcross,   Phill BerrieRoss Hamilton, Robert Porteous, Shauna O’Meara, Sam Phillips and Simon Petrie.  I’m not sure who won because everyone got a prize, including members of the audience – we had all contributed to a re-telling of the story of the Three Little Pigs and a list of delicate, sensitive ways (Ha!) to describe the sex act.

Other highlights included the various awards – the Ditmars (see list of winners here) the Norma K. Hemming Award (Margo Lanagan) and the A. Bertam Chandler Award (Russell B. Farr) I was delighted that my good friend Carol Ryles was placed in the Conflux Short Story Competition and had her piece, The Silence of Clockwork, featured in the printed program.

Of course, conventions and conferences are never long enough. I barely had chance to catch up with Tim Roberts, Gillian Polack and Deborah Green, among others.

Satima, Carol and Helen - this was taken at Swancon in 2010
The choice of venue can hardly be faulted. Rydges Capitol Hill has spacious public areas, a well-serviced and inexpensive restaurant, and free Wi-Fi for guests and pleasingly quiet rooms. My room-mates, Helen Venn and Carol Ryles, were a joy to share with. If I have a grizzle at all it is that the room was too small and badly designed. Why any room should need two queen sized beds boggles the imagination (let's not go there) and they’d crammed a pallet in as well. Surely a hotel of that standing should have a room with a double and two single beds, or three single beds?
 
My only disappointment was the printed program, which did not include the usual potted bios of panellists. There is a partial list on the website, but I always find it very handy to be able to look in the program book to find out more about panellists I’m on with or who have said something really interesting that I want to follow up by checking out their blogs or websites. As it is, I have no idea who some of the panellists were.

That’s a small grizzle, for the con was well organised and efficiently run by DonnaMarie Hanson  and Nicole Murphy. They are to be congratulated on putting together a winning team and getting Conflux 9 to the finishing line with flying colours. Bravo!
Tuesday, 30 April 2013

Meet one of my characters


I've written a post about one of my nastiest characters as a guest on Joanna Fay's blog:
http://joannafay.me/2013/04/24/character-column-meet-satima-flavell-and-nustofer/ 

Booze is not Nustofer's greatest weakness, but this 13th century picture from Wikimedia Commons sums up his sneaky character very well!

Thanks to Joanna for inviting me to guest on her blog. You can find info on Joanna and her books  there, too - her second one, Reunion, has recently been published by Musa.
Sunday, 14 April 2013

Book review: Eagle of the East by LS Lawrence

Eagle of the East
Eagle of the East by LS Lawrence

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This review first appeared on the now defunct site The Specusphere in July 2007.

L.S. Lawrence is a nom de plume for one of Aussie fandom's best regarded medieval historians, whose earlier work in the realm of YA fantasy will be familiar to most Speculative Fiction buffs in this country. Out of respect for the wishes of his agent and publisher, his name has been held back from this review. He is, of course, in good company: several other writers use different names for different genres. One who comes to mind is Stateside romance and specfic author Jayne Ann Krentz, who writes under no fewer than seven discrete names!

Based on an intriguing historical vignette, Eagle of the East speculates on the destiny of 10,000 Roman prisoners, who, according to Pliny, were commandeered by the victors to protect the eastern frontier of the Parthian Empire after Crassus's ill-fated expedition in 53 BC. These prisoners, apparently serving as mercenaries, would probably have met the conquering Han Chinese, thus becoming, perhaps, the first westerners to meet people of Chinese ethnicity. From this sketchy episode, Lawrence has developed a richly imagined tapestry of the meeting of three peoples: the Romans, the Parthians and the nomadic tribes of the Central Asian Steppes.

Eagle of the East is largely a coming-of-age novel in which Ardavan, a boy with no father, nevertheless finds his place in the world. Told from the point-of-view of a half-Roman youth of Parthia, the story weaves together themes of jealousy, suspicion, mistrust and murder, giving plenty of opportunity for sword-fighting scenes as well as episodes from the rough-and-tumble life of an army on the march.

While spec-fic fans will miss the magical element that characterized this author's earlier works, young men from eleven to eleventy-one will enjoy Ardavan's adventures. Right from the first chapter, when the youngster defeats a much bigger opponent by squeezing his testicles, we are right in the thick of a world where sharp eyes and ears, together with well-practised self defence skills, are pre-requisites for survival. Along the way, we experience with Ardavan the essentials of Roman fighting techniques, taste the elegant precision of Parthian archery and become embroiled in political and military manoeuvrings and skulduggery.

So many excellent books have been written for young women in recent years that it is a refreshing change to read such a boldly masculine story. Not that the book entirely lacks feminine interest, for the nomadic warrior chieftain Shara will quickly win the heart of any girl who yearns for heroines who are not the usual run-of-the-mill princesses and slave girls so beloved of spec-fic and hist-fic writers. Shara can shoot arrows from horseback faster than I can eat cashew nuts – and that without reins or stirrups. And she gets her man in the end, too, although it must be admitted that romance is only a peripheral element of this unashamedly blokey book.

My only grizzle is that in places I would have liked more dialogue. The narrative is excellent and always in character, but even in the heat of a fight, surely the antagonists would engage in a little light conversation about each other's ancestry and personal habits?

Lawrence has written a story in the tradition of such luminaries of the genre as Rosemary Sutcliff and Mary Stewart. His work, however, is fresh and exciting, being presented in a way that will appeal to today's more streetwise youngsters. Don't tell, them for heaven's sake, that they will be unable to avoid learning a bit of history at the same time. Who knows? Some young men might even find they like it and look for more. Let's hope Lawrence's fertile imagination will come up with a sequel. I, for one, would love to speculate on what those Romans did when they settled in Han country!


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Sunday, 7 April 2013

Book review - Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie


This is another review that first appeared on the late lamented Specusphere, this one in cahoots with my old crit buddy Ian Banks - not the Scottish one, the Western Australian one who only has one i.


Best Served Cold takes place a few years after Abercrombie’s breakout trilogy, The First Law. It involves a few subsidiary characters and features one or two memorable cameos from people we got to know in that series, but it is a stand-alone volume.

It is the story of Monza Murcatto, a mercenary captain who has schemed her way to the top of her profession and into the confidences of her employer, Duke Orso, who has been using her to expand his interests. Unfortunately, though, she appears to be too popular with the masses for Orso, so he arranges to have her and her brother murdered. Monza survives the murder attempt and plots avenge her brother’s death by killing all the men who took part.
She begins by recruiting agents to her cause and assembles a wild bunch indeed. There’s the disaffected Northman, Caul Shivers, who just wants to be better than he is; Friendly, the convict savant who loves numbers; Morveer the poisoner and his assistant, Day; and several other colourful and well-drawn characters.

The story doesn’t follow the epic pattern established in The First Law but plays out more like a western, with Monza assembling her team, seeking out information, uncovering a wider scheme in which her revenge is only one factor in a greater fight, and then building to a bloody and unbelievable climax in which it seems that she may have taken on a job that even her ruthless nature cannot stomach.

This is great read: it sprawls across countries and cultures, with memorable characters and some great scenes and, as expected with Abercrombie, fantastic dialogue. He also raises a lot of questions about the nature of revenge and of nobility which make this quite a meaty story. In many ways it’s an easier read than the First Law Trilogy, because there in only one plot and one set of characters who interact in various ways as they swap allegiance or interact with minor characters.

All this more than makes up for the shortcomings of this novel, such as they are. Fans of The First Law will enjoy meeting some old friends and revisiting some places around the Circle and Azure Seas. Mention is made of the greater, shadowy conflict that served as the basis for the denouement of that earlier series, but newcomers may find it all a little confusing when the story delves into that realm if they haven’t either read the earlier books. Also, some of the scenes seem a little too over-the-top when you play them on the large-screen television inside your skull. There is one in which the team has to cross from one tall building to another by hitching along by clinging under a rope with hands and feet. The resultant misadventures, both real and imagined, would make either a terrifying dark horror movie or a screamingly funny slapstick, depending on how it was played. 

Abercrombie has also, perhaps, gone overboard with the sex, violence and bad language: more than one reader has given up on Best Served Cold because of these. In the earlier trilogy these elements fitted seamlessly into the plot: in this book they sometimes appear gratuitous. It could well be, also, that some readers will be annoyed by the little tricks Abercrombie plays, especially in the last third of the book. He leads us to believe certain things are happening or have happened, and then a few chapters later more or less says 'Hah! Fooled you!'

But these are small flaws when put against what is on offer here: a revenge thriller with great characters and snarky dialogue. If you enjoyed Abercrombie’s earlier books, you will find much to savour here. If you’ve also enjoyed The Good, the Bad And the Ugly and any kind of vengeance story in which the payoff may be more than the characters are willing to come at, you will have a ball with this.
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