 A lot happens. This made a whole heck of a lot more sense. I don't get it. I did not like that movie. There is no bad book in the first love. I made it way better. Hey guys it's Leanna and I'm here today to talk about Red Country by Joe Abercrombie. Red Country. This book suffered in the re-read. This was never my favorite Abercrombie book. So with the heroes I originally that was like bottom of my tier ranking my least favorite in the first love and I bumped it up to a four stars on my reread. Red Country was originally at four stars the first time I read it but upon reread it is now down to a three. By no means is it a bad book. There is no bad book in the first love but this is now my least favorite. So Red Country. What is Red Country? This is the third of the standalone and it is a western. So the project each of the standalones is kind of its own unique project while still being set in the world of first love. So this book is taking characters and taking conflicts that exist in this world and setting them in a setting that is reminiscent of the American West. Obviously this doesn't take place in the American West but it has the trappings of a western. It has a barren kind of frontier landscape with settlers who are trying to carve out a new and better life because they are promised wealth and prosperity here in this far off country that is not yet civilized that doesn't really have the stamp of government yet. It is it is the frontier. We're following characters that I won't say any characters that are familiar because any character that we see in this book that is a known character in the first love it is a spoiler to know that they are in it. I won't say who we see but you do see familiar faces I'll say that much. That is one of the most amusing. Amusing isn't the right word but one of the I guess most fun things. I don't feel like those are the right words to use when talking about first love but it is great seeing familiar characters especially in newer settings and in newer roles because the roles that they take on in red country because of this new setting that they are in they are very different from how they are when you see them in other settings in earlier books where you first saw them. The idea I think part and parcel of the idea of the west and of going and going to the frontier a lot of it is to do with becoming a new person and finding a new life let the past die turning over a new leaf so I think part of that what goes with that is this opportunity for characters like these characters that you do recognize their opportunity to go beyond the reputations that they perhaps have earned go beyond any rivalries or feuds or relationships that might have been holding them back or at least if not holding them back but defining them like I feel like I know I've experienced this I think most people experience this that it doesn't matter how much you change how much you as a person try to change or have changed when you go back and you spend time with people that knew you when you were a different person they still think of you and treat you as that person and they will be less likely to recognize that you are different if that makes sense in particular this can come up with family like it doesn't matter if you're grown up and have a mortgage and have a job your parents your family you're still like their kid and they still kind of think of you that way they still kind of treat you that way and so to escape feeling like someone's kid you have to be somewhere else where you are not surrounded by people that think of you this way so similarly like characters from the first law that have a reputation it sometimes doesn't matter how much you yourself change or how much your behavior changes or anything if people still treat you like the person that you once were if that makes sense so all that to say seeing red characters that you saw before both seeing them be different is interesting and also seeing their opportunity to be different and what they do with that opportunity is interesting so yeah there's a lot about red country that I think is great I just don't like westerns very much and as westerns go I think this is pretty swell I just like compared to westerns I think this is great compared to first law I don't like it so much so it's like on the scale like westerns are here and first law is here and so red country is like here at top of the westerns bottom of first law but so what I did do and what also like bumps this up in my esteem as I mentioned before each of the standalones is not a retelling of but is in some way inspired by a particular film that is in some way a classic of its genre because the drama Cromby was kind is kind of a film buff and so I'd never seen although I had heard of the movie unforgiven which is what red country is again inspired by it is not a retelling of unforgiven although in some aspects it is so both times that I read it this second time as well I had not yet seen unforgiven so I mean I knew it was inspired by that I knew it was a western but I didn't know any particulars about what happens in unforgiven to free me to be like oh that's from this and oh that's like this however when I now went to watch unforgiven which I did not enjoy I did not like that movie but watching unforgiven it gave me a new appreciation for red country because all I kept thinking when I was watching unforgiven was yeah I mean I can see how some of this became what I saw in red country but red country is just so much better than this I guess I mean I I imagine that in order for that like one doesn't write a book inspired by film unless one likes that film I imagine that Joe Abercrombie likes the movie unforgiven and unforgiven is like a mega classic of the western genre I don't get it because there are westerns I like to be clear I do like some westerns I love tombstone I really enjoyed the new version of 310 de Yuma I like the new the Netflix for isn't Netflix they did Hatfields and McCoys I like that I like the wider movie with Kevin cosner I like the magnificent 7 I like I mean yeah I can I can like a western I don't absolutely hate every single western unforgiven I don't get it that movie was so long and boring and the absolute worst part of it was Clint Eastwood like hands down every other character was way more interesting so that said there were multiple times when I was watching unforgiven where I was like oh okay I can see how that became the thing that was in red country I see oh okay I actually thought I thought that was Joe Abercrombie's idea but I see now he kind of got that from unforgiven but made it way better even though it didn't bump up the star rating for red country it again rose in my steam because I was just like this isn't a pale limitation of a great classic unforgiven this is taking that is a classic for some reason and turning it into something much much better I was I'm glad I did it it was interesting because I'm I'm also glad I saw unforgiven because it's classic so I like to have seen it I'm never watching it again there's one thing in particular I'll talk about this at the end because I want this to be a non-spoiler review but I do want to mention it and it is there's no way to talk about it without being spoilery so I'll save that for the end and I'll let you know when I do it but yeah so red country is it does follow a fairly traditional kind of western vibe arc whatever like you have characters who are living out in the west in their frontier home and trying to make ends meet trying to survive in this barren land and then tragedy strikes and now we have to get revenge I guess it's not well not revenge so much as it is I don't think this is spoilery because it's kind of the inciting incident is it what can I tell you well the back of the book just says the past never stays buried which is so helpful remember what I said about letting the past die I mean unsurprisingly no matter how much they want the past to die it does come creeping back into their lives again unsurprising oh I never ever noticed this it's the dedication is for Teddy and Clint Eastwood but since Clint probably ain't that bothered mostly Teddy oh don't dedicate this to Clint Eastwood this is so much better than unforgettable the inciting incident is like someone is kidnapped and now we have to go get him back and so a lot happens a lot of other characters come into it and join in the quest I guess chaos ensues violence ensues backs are stabbed and etc etc so it's an Abercrombie book and a lot of first law-e type things happen there's a lot of dark humor which is fantastic there is almost no humor in Unforgiven it is such a slog to watch there are a few standout characters in Unforgiven that I find extremely amusing and they were like the best parts of the movie they did not save the movie yes red country it's great I think you should read all of the first law books you can't skip any of them there are things in red country that you need to know about in order to go on and read sharp ends and the new trilogy like you cannot skip any of them and if you like westerns which a lot of people do I know that it is maybe not unusual but I know it's specific to me that I just don't care for westerns if you like westerns then you'll probably love this I feel like a lot of people that I know that do really really like westerns this is like borderline if not their favorite one of their favorite books in the first law which is fine like if you like westerns he delivers on western in this book which is a it's it's fun to observe him successfully execute this relatively unique project within the fantasy space like there's not a ton of westerns around so like yay I see you did the thing you did the thing well that's just not my thing so it's it's well executed and well done and it is still fun to read even for me who doesn't love westerns I guess that that's really all I can say without spoilers is it's just a very westerny western that is made better by being in the first law I am going to dip into my spoilery section now which is it's just this one brief thing I want to mention but it is extremely spoilery so yeah if you haven't read Red Country then click away now so in the movie Unforgiven this is again like to to refresh you this is me watching Unforgiven and this is the thing that most more than anything else made me go oh my god Red Country is just like way better than Unforgiven because because because because in Unforgiven when I was watching it and the Richard Harris character they make a kind of big deal about this Richard Harris character about him coming into town about him whether he is or isn't an excellent sharpshooter and him kind of having a vendetta against the Clint Eastwood character Clint Eastwood's character spots him at one point and he's kind of out of it and but he says that he's seen him and I just kept thinking well that's shivers having read Red Country then that's shivers and at some point at the end once you think everything is already all said and done once you think everything is resolved we're gonna see this character come back because they've made a big deal appoint this character out and then we never see that character again nothing comes of that it was like Chekhov's character where you need like you showed me this character you have to make them be somehow relevant to this story and they were not ever at all and Richard Harris I was glad he was in it because he was far more interesting than Clint Eastwood I enjoyed the parts he was in but just from like the plot perspective there was no point to him being there other than him being more interesting than Clint Eastwood so I just I feel like when I watched that I was like did I don't have a problem watch this and go why did that character just like never come back into it let me fix it in Red Country because you have shivers show up and you have people saying there's somebody looking for you somebody that has like a vendetta against you and then it's not like nothing comes of that at the end shivers does pop up and have a confrontation with Logan and I just I kept waiting for that to happen and when the movie seemed to be wrapping up I was like oh no but it's not wrapping up I'm so smart I know we're still gonna see Richard and the credits were rolling and I was like but what what what about that guy what happened with that why did we see him why did that happen yeah this just this made a whole heck of a lot more sense and also Logan way more interesting than Clint Eastwood's character I don't know what was Clint Eastwood's character's name I they said it I'm sure they said it multiple times but he was just Clint Eastwood is how it felt so yeah the bloody nine turned into lamb it's just way more interesting as a character study than Clint Eastwood's character which what what he even was his character he doesn't drink anymore that's I guess he used to be a killer or whatever I don't know boring as shit so yeah uh I definitely like Red Country way better than Unforgiven let me know in the comments down below presumably everyone left here has read Red Country and has hopefully seen Unforgiven so let me know your thoughts and feelings about Red Country whatever you want let me know I post videos on Saturdays other random times as well but nothing Saturdays so like and subscribe join my patreon if you feel so inclined and I'll see you when I see you bye