A Red Country

#61 Abyss

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Posted 02 April 2013 - 04:46 PM

JUST FINISHED IT!

Loved it. Abercrombie just keeps writing winners.

SPOILERS

SPOILERS

BLOODY MESSY GREAT BIG FRIKKIN HACK YOU UP SPOILERS

BELOW FOR ALL
YES ALL

ABERCROMBIE BOOKS

That book was a hoot. The cover alone left me pretty sure who Lamb was from page 1, but even so each successive realization by someone else just ratcheted up the awesome.

Cosca was consistent with previous books and nicely evolved into not quite a villain so much as a desperate man trying to salvage something from his mess of a life.

Temple was great. His dialogue, inner and outer, was hugely fun even at his lowest.

Loved Shy. Abercrombie may be one of the best male authors writing female characters, awkward sex scenes notwithstanding.

Loved the supporting cast... Savian and Corlin, Sweet and his sidekick (tho he was hers), the Mayor and Papa Ring, the occassonal sacrificial merc or thug... all just a great set of peoples in the world.

Great to see Caul Shivers again, even in a cameo.

I had wondered whether the Mayor might not be Mercatto herself, but the meeting with Cosca didn't have that level of antagonism.

The settings, from the Fellowship on the open plains to Crease to Beacon to the Dragon People's mountain, just beatifully realistic and fantasy together.

And the action scenes... fuck me but those were awesome... the stagecoach-chase at the end and especially Shy's knife-fight on the roof... i won't say this replaces the finale of Butcher's DEATH MASKS as my favorite action-movie cinematic level writing moment in a fantasy book, but fuck me sideways if it didn't come close.

Great great book, second only to BEST SERVED from his work imnsho. Abercrombie remains firmly on my pre-order hardcover list.

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#62 Morgoth

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Posted 02 April 2013 - 07:20 PM

By far his funniest, and perhaps happiest book. I thought it was obvious that the mayor was Dan Eider or however you spell that womans name.

Take good care to keep relations civil
It's decent in the first of gentlemen
To speak friendly, Even to the devil

#63 Macros

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Posted 02 April 2013 - 07:50 PM

Yeah, the mayor was definitely eider.

2012
"Imperial Gothos, Imperial"

#64 Morgoth

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Posted 02 April 2013 - 08:35 PM

Macros, on 02 April 2013 - 07:50 PM, said:

Yeah, the mayor was definitely eider.

Some times I forget that you can read

Take good care to keep relations civil
It's decent in the first of gentlemen
To speak friendly, Even to the devil

#65 amphibian

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Posted 02 April 2013 - 08:45 PM

I love having my strong testimonials for this book echoed and improved upon by others.

This really was a terrific Western. Maybe the most fun one I've read since Lonesome Dove and Comanche Moon and Abercrombie did it all within the universe of a strongly fantastical setting.

I survived the Permian and all I got was this t-shirt.

#66 acesn8s

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Posted 04 April 2013 - 03:30 PM

Whenever Lamb would start alluding about his past I flashed to Clint in Unforgiven.

“The others followed, and found themselves in a small, stuffy basement, which would have been damp, smelly, close, and dark, were it not, in fact, well-lit, which prevented it from being dark.”
― Steven Brust, The Phoenix Guards

#67 Ain't_It_Just_

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Posted 09 April 2013 - 12:26 PM

I finished it a while back, can't believe I didn't come here! Safe to say it BLEW MY MIND. Vintage Abercrombie. I liked how it was already a Western allegory but it made Logen-sorry, Lamb-into the "retired gunfighter must fight once more" character, which was pretty damned awesome. Temple made me laugh every minute, and I'm pretty glad that he and Shy had a halfway decent happy ending.

And even Lamb's decision in the end kind of made me feel...I dunno, contented? If Shivers can let go of something, then maybe Lamb giving up on trying to have a normal life isn't so far-fetched either. That said, I'm sad to see one of my favouritest characters in fantasy head off into the sunset, both figuratively and literally.

Thanks for another terrific read, Joe!

Suck it Errant!

"It's time to kick ass and chew bubblegum...and I'm all out of gum."

QUOTE (KeithF @ Jun 30 2009, 09:49 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It has been proven beyond all reasonable doubt that the most powerful force on Wu is a bunch of messed-up Malazans with Moranth munitions.

#68 Abyss

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Posted 09 April 2013 - 01:31 PM

ENDING SPOILERS

...just in case...

SPOILERS

Lambgen riding off into the sunset was vintage Western. All that was missing was Pit running after him yelling "Shane! Shane!!!".

That said, the face-off with Shivers nicely subverted the gunfighter pistol duel trope.

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#69 Mikkelinski

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Posted 09 April 2013 - 02:59 PM

I know it's not Red Country, but it's well, related. From the mouth (or tweet) of LordGrimdark himself (his Twitter name, aptly):

"Announcement tomorrow. And I think you'll like it... pic.twitter.com/DPVjiXFf5I"

Lamb as we know and love.

This post has been edited by Mikkelinski: 09 April 2013 - 02:59 PM