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"Live long enough...you see everything ruined."

Surprise, surprise! Another Joe Abercrombie novel and another five star review. Would you expect anything else from a loyal subject of Lord Grimdark? Not a chance. Red Country is the final book in his collection of three stand-alones that are connected to his magnificent, stupendous First Law trilogy.  It certainly hits the target as one of his very best and does not let the reader down. Not if you're after dark, violent and bloody fantasy with one of the best set of characters you'll find in fiction that is.

With his standalone pieces Joe aimed to give us three different types of narrative within a fantasy setting. In Best Served Cold he gave us a Kill Bill style revenge tale and in the Heroes a war story. In Red Country he dons his Sergio Leone hat and gives a spaghetti western with blades instead of guns.  Indeed he dedicates the book to Clint Eastwood and you know what? I'm dedicating this review to Clint to. I was brought up on his movies and he's one of my movie icons.  I'm sure he'll be frilled when he reads this.

Say one thing about Joe Abercrombie, say he gives you great characters. Red Country is no exception, although it is not quite up to the insanely high standards of the previous novels. Don't get me wrong, there's outstanding character work on display here. But when you constantly set the bar at a ridiculously high level like Lord Grimdark does, it's just not possible to constantly keep raising it with every new piece of work.


Shy South and Lamb

So what about the characters?  We have Shy South (the good), a young farm girl with a dark past who's trying to live a good life caring for her young siblings.  A returning fan favourite in Nicomo Cosca (the bad), who is leading his band of mercenaries to root out rebels wherever they may be. And finally Lamb (the ugly), a cowardly farm hand with a bloody and violent secret that will not stay hidden.

There's a load of other great characters thrown in and it really is a fantastic bunch despite the slight criticism I made earlier.  In fact, if I was to say the one thing I love most about Red Country it's the character of Lamb and the story surrounding him.  I don't want to spoil anything by saying too much, but I was so invested and engrossed in the mystery surrounding his character.  Honestly, if you're a fan of First Law you'll be a huge fan of Lamb.

"She poured out a measure but Temple declined. 'Drink and I have had some long and painful conversations and found we simply can't agree.'

'Drink and I can't agree either.' She shrugged and tossed it down herself. 'But we keep on having the argument."

The use of dialogue is also tremendous. I'm not sure if I said it before but it's very Tarantino-esque in what he does for the genre where the conversation and interactions become the focal point of the novel. It's so engaging and entertaining where you look forward to the banter between certain sets of characters. Certainly one of Abercrombie's strongest qualities.



The plot, as with all the standalone novels, is very solid. When a band of villains burn Shy's farmhouse to the ground and kidnap her brother and sister, they prompt a rescue mission that see's her and Lamb journey into the wild west to try and get them back. Violence and mayhem stand in their way and the western backdrop lends itself fantastically to this style of narrative.  Fans will eat up the world building that is included in this as we are introduced to brand new locations like the bandit town of Crease and the unchartered territory of Far Country. 

"Battle is...not always glorious. A general must be a realist. Victory first you understand"

We also can't leave without talking about the action scenes, which are absolutely top draw.  I can't think of anyone who writes them better than Abercrombie. They're so realistic and he brilliantly renders these in terms of the raw emotion and relentless violence.  I literally can't get enough of them.



My only criticism with Red Country is what the author does with Nicomo Cosca. One of my favourite characters from the series so far, Joe takes him from a hilarious, drunken legend to a bitter, old wretch of a villain. It was really sad to see and he certainly didn't hit anywhere near the highs that he soared to in Best Served Cold, where he absolutely stole the show.

" 'Scared is good' he said 'the dead are fearless and I don't want either of us joining them' "

That's it for now. I can't spend all day on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ when there's more First Law to read. You got to be realistic.  An easy five stars like all of Abercrombie's work. Next up his short story collection Sharp Ends. I do love a good short story. Thanks for reading. Peace!


Joe Abercrombie AKA Lord Grimdark