So what is this series, then? While the exact nature of the storyline is best unfolded over time – like The First Law, it really takes until the final volume to see the threads that have tied it all together – the series starts with Yarvi, a disfigured son of the royal family being thrust onto the throne far before he was ready. (Abercrombie himself has some interesting thoughts on the matter here.) It’s still stark, still brutal, still cynical about human nature and what we do to each other, still darkly humorous and understanding of every character while never flinching from what they do – in other words, it’s an absolute treat for someone like me who was disappointed at almost being done with everything else the man had written.

Well, rest assured, there’s little taming down of Abercrombie in the Shattered Sea trilogy, to the point where I’m not quite sure exactly what makes the series any different from the rest of his works. Abercrombie’s gift was that he made it all palatable and rich somehow, giving everything a dark sense of humor and an empathy for his characters that made the books readable without ever turning them into “misery porn.” But still, young adult fiction? Over the course of the First Law trilogy, Abercrombie made it clear that he was an author who embraced the darkest aspects of human nature, giving us heroes as memorable for the brutality and viciousness they could display as for anything else they could ever accomplish.

The idea of Joe Abercrombie writing young adult fiction is odd, for anyone who’s read Abercrombie at all.

The shattered sea series