Having read The First Law Trilogy and Best Served Cold I had certain expectations for this book. I was looking forward to reading more grim fantasy about flawed characters in a complex and intriguing storyline.

Half a King ticks 2 out of those 3 boxes. The main character is certainly flawed, both physically and mentally. Not as flawed as Glokta or Monza Murcatto though, cause underneath he is still a very virtuous guy.

The setting is certainly grim fantasy, given the ordeals he has to go through, but it still “feels” quite clean. It seems like the gory and brutal descriptions are left out.

Lastly, the storyline isn’t complex, nor intriguing at all. Everything is told from the same point of view and the story is very linear from start to finish. There’s a nice plot twist near the end, but it’s the only one.

I suppose that taking the above conclusions and weighing them against my expectations gives us the difference between a YA book and an Adult book.

In itself it’s quite a good book and a nice introduction into [Abercrombie](../_authors/joe-abercrombie.md’s writing, but I’m definitely not the target audience.