Half the World

Half the World follows the first book with a standard fantasy journey and a new set of protagonists. Thorn Bathu is the daughter of a dead hero, an uncompromising woman who wants nothing more than to be a fighter. Brand has risen from the bottom of society seeking a warrior’s place and has a desire to “do good”. The two of them find their fates entangled after Thorn kills a boy in the training square and Brand speaks up for her. Father Yarvi, the protagonist from the first book, takes the two of them on a long journey to find allies against the High King who threatens the Viking-inspired societies of the Shattered Sea.

Abercrombie draws from the historical journeys of Vikings upriver from the Baltic Sea, then portaging their longships overland, and down-river to the Black Sea as Thorn, Brand, and Yarvi head to the First of Cities. Thorn trains under a mysterious and deadly delver of “elf-relics”, they fight horse raiders, Brand ponders morality, our two teenage protagonists have a will-they-won’t-they dynamic as they get closer. Finally Thorn becomes a big damn hero, fighting seven men and dueling the deadly enemy king Grom-gil-Gorm.

This is a fine book, but it’s definitely a step back from the desperate fight for survival of the first one. The personal stakes are much lower, even as the geopolitics step higher. Scene to scene there’s a lot to love (except awkward young lovers dragging out a few beats too long), but it’s less than the sum of its pieces.