 For several years now people keep telling me to read Joe Abercrombie and I know he's written a lot of stuff I just haven't read any of it and most of the time people tell me to read the first law trilogy But I just I don't know it hasn't been a priority for me this whole time but a while ago I did see one of his books was For sale on the Amazon audible store, which still hasn't sponsored me by the way And I'm still a little salty about that And it was A Little Hatred which is actually the first in a new series Although I believe it takes place in the same world as first law trilogy and it was It was alright. This is the introduction song. It's not very good, but it's not too long I debated even making a video about this because honestly I don't have that much to say this will probably be a short review or at least a relatively short review But I just don't have that much to add like I read A Little Hatred or rather listen to it as an audio book And I got to the end. I went yeah, that was alright Like it took me a while to get through because I wasn't super into it It was like they basically had two different stories that they meshed together and it didn't do a very good job of meshing them together And then they had a bunch of characters who were all right You know, they weren't bad by any means There wasn't any characters here that I thought were particularly annoying or stupid or otherwise bad Uh, but most of them just didn't really stick with me, you know, like the only one whose name I even really remember is Sabine Lady Sabine who And she's not like a great character But there's stuff about her I did like the world the setting it takes place in I was able to get something of an idea of what this world is like And like I said, I believe this is a sequel series to something else. However, if it's going to be a different series all together then Well, it should be a good entry point for first timers, you know Because if it's just part of the same series or spin off of the same series then you should probably uh Label that a bit better But uh, that said I didn't have trouble following what was going on in this world or anything and it's actually It seems to be a low fantasy setting Which I know I just a couple months ago made a video about low fantasy and how the genre is kind of stagnant and dead and not Very interesting anymore if it ever was and Yeah, this this one actually does seem to be taking steps towards solving that problem. So that's good. That's great Um, nothing in this book really stands out is terrible But overall it just didn't grab me if I had to sum this up very very simply I would say that It feels like it was written by someone who knows what they're doing Which by all accounts. Joe Abercrombie is a pretty good author. So he probably does know what he's doing But he didn't really have a solid idea of what he wanted to do with this series and what he wanted it to be about You know what I mean? Because like I said, there are two separate stories. It starts off with just a War story and this is The level of technology in this world At least in terms of weapons technology is medieval. So they're still using swords and spears and such they don't seem to have much in the way of like Gunpowder weapons or anything like that But outside of that their technology does seem to be improving quite a bit like at the end they mention That they're starting to use trains and that they have like factories and they use coal for power Like they're undergoing an industrial revolution basically So That that is kind of an interesting mashup. Usually in fantasy Whenever their technology starts going up to that level, they also include gunpowder weapons and stuff But this way is actually just More unique, you know, I haven't really seen something like that. It'd be neat to see something with closer to modern technology, but No modern weaponry, you know, I've been wanting to see something like that for a long time The closest we ever got was a tv show called Into the Badlands, which was Okay, I guess but it had a lot of other issues But anyways, the first storyline is just a war storyline between these two countries who there's like anglans And the north and then the union that they're just fighting. Why are they fighting? They're like they're fighting over lands and titles and whatever. It's like nobles fighting over noble stuff And part of me feels like the book was also On my side with that where you don't really care that much about it. It's just an excuse for them to be fighting And it's really just a setup for the rest of the story and you're not supposed to care that much This is just what nobles do they fight over lands But then a huge chunk of the book is just about that storyline You know, it goes into detail about oh this side is fighting and this side's fighting and Excuse me and like the leaders of both sides and you know, they're more Persona, they're more personal reasons for doing this and after a while I realized like, oh, okay this is just what the book is largely going to be about and Like I said, I just I just didn't care that much, you know There's not like a clear cut good guy or bad guy, which is fine in situations like this, but It's also just Like I have no reason to care, you know Not not at all that said this storyline does have a climax, you know, it has Uh Battle at the end. I won't go into the specifics of it, but it does have a battle at the end and I mean, I wasn't particularly rooting for one side or the other like I said But hey There are characters involved. There are stakes involved. There is some action there. Like it's a proper climax It's just not as good as it would have been had I given even half a shit the other storyline is simultaneously better and worse than the worst storyline because Like at first we only get like little hints of it because like I said, this world is undergoing an industrial revolution And that means we have a whole bunch more like workers in factories and stuff like that And these workers are being horribly mistreated just as they were in real life And there's people who are upset about that. Uh, but the powers that be are like Hanging union organizers and stuff. So It's pretty clear from the beginning that like, okay, this is going to come to a boil in a very violent way And without going into too much detail because this storyline doesn't start up until like a third of the way through the fucking book That is what happens. Like there is a big uprising And it's in the middle of this of this war going on. So the government is like, oh fuck, what are we gonna do now? We have like this uprising and we're trying to fight or at the same time and it's like it's just a mess for them And this uprising storyline is substantially better because I'm thinking okay. Yeah, like there is a villain here that is like the uh the society that is Keeping the workers down and uh the government and the army and all them like they're the villains here But at the same and you totally understand why the workers are rising up But at the same time they are doing some unpleasant stuff and you do Know that uh, most of the People on the other side aren't like pure evil. There are some that come across that way but they aren't pure evil and I will say it gets a little annoying how much he uh, Joe Abercrombie tries to both sides this but it is at least like a more interesting storyline that I wanted to see where it went and I was more interested in what happened and I wanted one side to succeed and it doesn't Well, this is gonna be a bit of a spoiler, but this storyline doesn't have a climax You know, that's why I mentioned the other storyline has a proper climax because this one fucking doesn't It just putters around for a while And then it comes to an end And it's not very satisfying and I know that this is part of a series so expecting everything to be tied up right away is Well, I shouldn't expect that but at the same time like Come on man. Like you you just end it and That's very unsatisfying and as I said, I don't have a lot to say about most of the characters, you know Most of them are fine. They're likable enough. They serve the role in the story I feel like there's maybe a few too many because there were points in the war storyline where uh characters were Talking and about how much they hate the other side and I would forget like which side they were even talking about Because they're just too similar to one another and as I said before There's no real substantial reason for them to be fighting other than some people want the land Because they're evil and imperialistic and that's just what they do um And like I mentioned lady Sabine. I will talk about her just for a minute because she's a pretty good character. She's like born Into the aristocracy basically But she has grown her wealth Exponentially by taking advantage of the fact that the world is industrializing and it's kind of moving from feudalism into capitalism and so she's she's a business woman, you know, she's invested in stuff and she's Uh built up companies and businesses and things like that And some of the other aristocracy straight up looked down on her for that Uh, which is kind of neat, but they don't go to anywhere with excuse me. They don't go anywhere with it really so I don't know there's just nowhere to There's nothing else I can add in that regard And Sabine is like the closest thing to a main character this book has but I would still not call her the protagonist Uh, like really there isn't a protagonist in this book, which is Not necessarily a problem, but it's it's something I don't particularly like in this case And Sabine does go through some changes over the course of the story She realizes like what the world is really like and how it's much bigger and more complex than she realized once She experiences like the war and the uprising and stuff and she realizes. Okay. I need to Change my views on some things which is kind of nice to to see but I just don't have a whole lot to add So like I said, this book is not bad It feels like it was written by someone who is competent at what they do and Joe Abercrombie does seem to be competent You know the actual prose and how it's written is pretty good And like I said, the characters are pretty good But it just feels or rather the characters are serviceable Let's say because I know someone's going to be upset with me if I don't specify that a little better But uh, it just feels like he didn't have a specific idea of what he wanted to do with it You know, it doesn't feel like he wanted it to be about the war And it doesn't feel like he wanted it to be about the uprising either It feels like he started off on one and then he moved on to the other and then he just tried to mash him together In a way, which just wasn't very satisfying And maybe the rest of the series is will be good afterwards. Who knows maybe his other works are also really good. I don't know but I can't uh, comments on that really and If you're looking to get into Joe Abercrombie, I don't think this is the best place to start but I mean I've read much worse over the years, you know, I I just Felt like I should make a video about this even if it's not super long or in depth Uh, because I just don't have that much to say about it. A little hatred was All right Goodbye Huge thank you to everyone who watched this far. Uh, I'm sure everyone who's leaving a comment telling me to kill myself Definitely made sure to watch the whole video. Uh, so thanks to them as well And all the names you see on screen right now. 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