HarperVoyager
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
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London SE1 9GF
www.harpervoyagerbooks.co.uk
First published in Great Britain by HarperVoyager 2014
Copyright © Joe Abercrombie 2014
Map copyright © Nicolette Caven 2014
Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2015
Cover photographs © iStock (detail of cloaked man); Shutterstock.com (all other images)
Joe Abercrombie asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the authorâs imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780007550227
Ebook Edition © January 2015 ISBN: 9780007550210
Version: 2017-11-23
âJoe Abercrombie does it again. Half a King is another page-turner from Britainâs hottest young fantasist, a fast-paced tale of betrayal and revenge that grabbed me from page one and refused to let goâ
GEORGE R.R. MARTIN, author of A Game of Thrones
âFast-moving, gritty and violent, Half a King will not disappoint Abercrombieâs legion of followersâ
Guardian
âAnother great tale from a master. His medieval, post-apocalyptic land is full of such brilliant banter it would find a laugh at a funeral. It is macabre, menacing and Machiavelli himself would have enjoyed the way half-handed âheroâ Yarvi triumphsâ
The Sun
âEnthralling. An up-all-night readâ
ROBIN HOBB, author of Foolâs Assassin and the Realm of the Elderlings novels
âJoe Abercrombie is fast becoming my favourite writer. The action is frenetic, the characters are as sharp as the blades they wield, and the humour is bitingâ
DEREK LANDY, author of the Skulduggery Pleasant novels
âAs Jarvi gets to know his motley band of renegades, you feel you are meeting real characters underneath the stubble and the grime. Itâs this quality that both grounds the fantasy and lifts the book onto another level, so while it grips like a bear hug, it warms like a bear skinâ
Daily Mail
âHalf a King is woven with a narrative of delightful cunning as we have come to expect from Joe Abercrombie. This is a âto read in a dayâ kind of bookâ
British Fantasy Society
âBloody awesome. A must-readâ
BEN KANE, author of the Spartacus novels
âClassic Abercrombie, and yet also something unexpected â grimdark fantasy for people who arenât necessarily very youngâ
SFX, 5 Star Review
âIâve been a fan of Abercrombieâs stuff for years. His worldâbuilding is great, his characterization is marvellous, he writes an amazing action scene. I think this is my favourite Abercrombie book yet. And thatâs really saying somethingâ
PATRICK ROTHFUSS, author of The Name of the Wind
âOne of the most gripping books Iâve read for a long time. Once this plot has its teeth in you, it will not let you goâ
Fantasy Book Review
âAbercrombieâs stellar prose style and clever plot twists will be sure to please both adult and teen readersâ
Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
âHalf a King isnât merely equal to Abercrombieâs previous work; it is his finest novel to date and the one that may one day make him a household nameâ
Tor.com
âItâs lightning fast and filled with a wonderful collection of rogues, villains and two-faced bastardsâ
Sci-Fi Now
âHalf a King can be summed up in a single word: Masterpiece ⦠Itâs a coming of age story. Itâs a Viking saga. Itâs a revenge tale and family drama and the return of the prodigal son. But most of all, itâs this: a short time alongside people as weak and blundering as we are, and in the midst of it all, as heroic. What a wonderful bookâ
MYKE COLE, author of Control Point
âA gripping novel, structured to keep its tension at a constant nail-biting pitchâ
Strange Horizons
âThe authorâs economical voice gives a clear and unsentimental account of events sordid, beautiful, or, often, a blend of the two. Abercrombieâs Shattered Sea is a fantastic yet believable backdrop to Yarviâs struggle, a vivid imaginary land to which both habitual and newly minted grimdark readers will happily return for Half a Kingâs projected sequelsâ
Seattle Times
âHoly crap this is a good book ⦠Half A King is full of all the adventure Iâve come to expect from Abercrombie and a tenderness I never knew he had. Thereâs infinitely more to Joe Abercrombie than we ever thoughtâ