Shattered Sea
 First editions (UK hardback) | |
| |
| Author | Joe Abercrombie |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Publisher |
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| Published | 2014 – 2015 |
| Media type | |
Shattered Sea is a young adult fantasy series written by the British author Joe Abercrombie. The trilogy was published by Del Rey in the United States and Harper Voyager in the UK.
Novels
[edit]| # | Title | Pages | UK release | UK hardback ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Half a King | 384 | 3 July 2014 | ISBN 978-0007550203 |
| 2 | Half the World | 496 | 15 February 2015 | ISBN 978-0007550234 |
| 3 | Half a War | 512 | 16 July 2015 | ISBN 978-0007550265 |
Plot
[edit]Half a King
[edit]King Uthrik of Gettland and his eldest son are killed by soldiers from Vansterland. Prince Yarvi becomes king. Yarvi was training to be a King's minister under the tutelage of Mother Gundring. However, he has a malformed hand and is considered to be a weak ruler. His mother Leithlin is a brilliant economist; many believe that she would be the true power behind the throne. Yarvi is betrothed to Isriun, his dead brother’s fiancée and cousin, to shore up his political station. On his father's funeral,he makes an oath to the Gods to kill the murderers of his father and brother. While on a raid against the Vanstermen who killed his father, Yarvi is betrayed by his uncle Odem, who usurps the crown. He escapes assassination by Odem’s men, but is captured by Vanstermen and taken as a slave.
Yarvi is sold to the ship “The South Wind” as an oar slave, despite his crippled hand. When captain Ebdel Aric Shadikshirram leaves the ship, Yarvi and the other slaves revolt. The ship sinks, and a group of survivors reaches land. Yarvi’s companions include Nobody, a warrior, and Sumael, the ship’s navigator and Ankran who was stealing from Shadikshirram. Together, they travel back to Gettland. Shadikshirram and her surviving soldiers pursue them, but Yarvi kills her in combat.Ankran is also killed. As they are recovering from this fight, Yarvi and his surviving companions are captured by Vanstermen. Yarvi reveals his identity and promises to make Gettland a vassal state of Vansterland in exchange for passage home.
In Gettland, Odem is trying to get rid of Leithlin by marrying her to the High King, but she is delaying. Yarvi and his companions enter the palace. The swordsman Nobody is revealed to be Uthil, Odem’s and Uthrik's older brother who had previously been captured after he was betrayed by them. Uthil and Odem fight and Yarvi kills Odem. Uthil becomes king. Yarvi gives up his claim to the throne in exchange for forgiveness for his earlier actions.Yarvi frees Ankran's wife and his son,Koll from a slaver in Gettland and takes them in his service.
Yarvi realizes that Mother Gundring and Odem had conspired with the High King and his minister Grandmother Wexen. The High King was afraid that Leithlin’s economic policies would take wealth from him, so ,Grandmother Wexen contrived to have her husband murdered and marry her to the High King. Yarvi poisons Mother Gundring and takes her place as minister to King Uthil in order to fulfill his oath against Grandmother Wexen and the High King .
Half the World
[edit]Thorn Bathu hopes to become the first female warrior of Gettland in living memory. During a training exercise, she accidentally kills a fellow trainee and is named a murderer. Brand, another young warrior, intercedes on her behalf to Father Yarvi. Yarvi pardons Thorn and she accompanies him to meet the High King. Meanwhile, King Uthil of Gettland organizes a raid in defiance of the High King’s orders.
Yarvi travels with Brand, Thorn, and a host of warriors to seek out allies for Gettland in the political conflict with the High King and Grandmother Wexen. Thorn is trained in combat by Skifr, a woman who steals elf relics for a living. As Thorn and Brand journey across the world, their mutual dislike slowly grows into friendship. They are interested in each other romantically, but a misunderstanding shatters their friendship.
The crew journeys south to the Empire of the South, only to find that its empress has died and the city is in the midst of a succession crisis. Thorn saves the new empress Vialine from an assassination attempt, which allows Gettland to form an alliance with the Empire.
The crew returns to Gettland. Brand’s sister confronts Thorn over the falling out. Thorn realizes that she has made a mistake and reconciles with Brand. They make love. Thorn becomes the chosen shield of Queen Leithlin. Brand is given the opportunity to become a warrior of Gettland, but as he doubts the morality of war, he declines.
King Grom-gil-Gorm of Vansterland challenges King Uthil to single combat. Despite his poor health, Uthil accepts. Yarvi tries to avert war, as even a victory will weaken Gettland substantially. As Leithlin’s chosen shield, Thorn stands for Uthil and fights Grom in single combat. Grom barely defeats her but does not kill her. He decides to defy Grandmother Wexen and forge an alliance with Gettland against the High King.
Brand learns that Yarvi poisoned Uthil in order to manipulate the duel between Grom and Thorn. Yarvi administers the antidote to Uthil, who recovers. Thorn begins training girls for war with the High King.
Half a War
[edit]In the third book, three new point of view characters (Princess Skara, the Vansterland warrior Raith and Father Yarvi's apprentice Koll, who features throughout the second book also) are introduced.
Bright Yilling, the champion of Grandmother Wexen, conquers Throvenland and kills king Fynn, Uthil's and Grom's ally.His granddaughter Princess Skara escapes to Gettland. She pleads with Uthil and Grom to retake Bail's Point a strategic spot in Throvenland to stop Yilling's march. Grom sends his sword bearer Raith nas a servant to Skara in order to spy her.They start to fell in love.
After the retaking of Bail's Point,Grom proposes to Skara and she accepts is for political reasons.Father Yarvi and his apprentice Koll reunite with Skifr who tells them that Grandmother Wexen killed her family.Koll is torn between his desire to become a minister and his relationship with Rin, Brand's sister. In Bail's Point, Bright Yilling kills Uthil in a duel and reveals that there is a traitor from Gettland who feeds him informations.
Yilling's forces sack Thorlby , Gettland's capital and kill Brand. Desperate,Father Yarvi, Koll and Skifr enter the forbidden elf-city of Strokom and steal weapons.With elf-weapons they kill Bright Yilling and his army. Before he dies, Yilling reveals to Skara the traitor's name. Gettland's and Vansterland's army conquer Skekenhouse, the High King's capital. Father Yarvi kills Grandmother Wexen fulfilling his oath and the High King is found dead in his One God temple. Raith, shattered by war and his brother's death poisons Grom-gil-Gorm who is about to be crowned the new High King and marry Skara.
Despite being in love with him,Skara breaks up with Raith for politics and secretly aborts her baby from him. Raith leaves with Thorn for the Empire of the South. Yarvi , now a Grandfather ,attempts to annex Throvenland for Gettland and marry Skara to baby king Druin (Uthil and Leithlin's son),Skara rebuffs him and is revealed that Yarvi was the traitor though, he did it only to make sure that Gettland would never sue for peace. She blackmails him with evidence and tells him that Throvenland will no longer be a part of the High Kingdom.Yarvi is left guilt-ridden for Brand's death.Koll also abandons him and stays with Rin in Queen Skara's service.
Setting
[edit]The trilogy is set in what is at first glance an epic fantasy world, but is later shown as a Dying Earth-type post-apocalyptic Scandinavia, seemingly thousands of years in the future. Society has regressed to a medieval-equivalent level after a cataclysm of some kind, and the remnants of past are known as "elf-ruins".[citation needed]
The map of the Shattered Sea tallies closely with that of the current day Baltic Sea, the main three countries of the book, Gettland, Vansterland and Throvenland seem to make up most of what is a modern-day Sweden.[1]
Reception
[edit]Book 1
Ryan Lawler and Jo Fitzpatrick of Fantasy Book Review both gave the novel a rating of 9.5/10. Lawler notes that "this is not just a story for teenagers" despite being marketed as young adult literature. Fitzpatrick praised Yarvi's character development from a "weakling" into a strong leader.[2]
Book 2
Publishers Weekly called the novel "a splendid second installment" and wrote that Abercrombie "has a knack for building characters with pathos and wit."[3]
Book 3
Luke Brown of SFF World wrote that the final novel in the trilogy is "the book in the trilogy most like previous Abercrombie novels." Brown wrote that "I enjoyed it immensely" while still feeling that it was weaker than the previous two installments and somewhat predictable.[4]
References
[edit]- ^ Adam Whitehead (4 March 2015). "Decoding the map of Joe Abercrombie's Shattered Sea". The Wertzone. Retrieved 10 August 2015.[unreliable source?]
- ^ Ryan Lawler; Jo Fitzpatrick. "Half a King by Joe Abercrombie". Fantasy Book Review. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
- ^ "Fiction Book Review: Half the World". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
- ^ Luke Brown (16 September 2015). "Half a War by Joe Abercrombie (Shattered Sea #3)". SFF World. Retrieved 7 October 2019.