A Little Hatred
A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie
Copyright © Joe Abercrombie 2019
First published in Great Britain in 2019 by Gollancz, an imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd
An Hachette UK Company
A buddy of mine dropped off a copy of A Little Hatred without any comments attached. Our tastes in fiction are similar enough that he probably knew that curiosity would overcome the slightly off-putting title and I would get around to reading it as soon as the tidal wave of election-year politically oriented books had been reduced from a Tower of Babble. And sure enough…
First, it’s good. Not just “amusing diversion” good or “page turner” good; the writing in this is outstanding, some of the best fantasy writing I’ve seen anywhere. There’s an immediacy to the vivid settings that draw you right in, to the point where you sort of forget that you’re only reading a book. The characters are fully realized and engaging, and you could write a collection from this book consisting only in the mordantly funny throw-away lines the characters utter. ‘Clean as new snow! Your only stench now shall be of youth and disappointment.’ ‘The grimy ale-hall fell silent as Savine swept in, as if some exotic jungle beast had wandered off the street.’ ‘But that was the magic of banks. They could render the priceless tiny, the immense worthless.’ You don’t have to go more than a couple of pages to stumble across little jewels of narration such as those. There’s no shortage of action and conflict, and the world is enough like ours to keep the backgrounds fully recognizable.
Abercrombie’s world is roughly that of England in the mid 18th century (and there is one nation in the book named ‘Angland’), with two differences: there is some residual magic about in this one, just enough to put things slightly out of kilter, and firearms apparently haven’t been invented, so battles are still fought with swords, knives, spears, and large rocks by big hairy dudes in armor. The industrial revolution, with its chaotic changes to society and rebellion by Luddites and saboteurs is in full swing. Most nations are still monarchies, although the seeds of the reformation are making themselves felt. It makes for an interesting blend of King Arthur and Ned Ludd.
Abercrombie not only writes as well as Stephen King; he’s just as prolific. A Little Hatred is the first novel in his third trilogy, An Age of Madness, following First Law (plus three stand-alone novels!) and Shattered Sea. There’s also a fairly large collection of short stories.
Abercrombie’s next novel, The Trouble With Peace, is due out now. I plan on getting a copy. This guy is an absolute joy to read!