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Best Served Cold  By  cover art

Best Served Cold

By: Joe Abercrombie
Narrated by: Steven Pacey
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Publisher's summary

Springtime in Styria. And that means war. There have been nineteen years of blood. The ruthless Grand Duke Orso is locked in a vicious struggle with the squabbling League of Eight, and between them they have bled the land white.

While armies march, heads roll and cities burn, behind the scenes bankers, priests and older, darker powers play a deadly game to choose who will be king. War may be hell but for Monza Murcatto, the Snake of Talins, the most feared and famous mercenary in Duke Orso's employ, it's a damn good way of making money too. Her victories have made her popular - a shade too popular for her employer's taste.

Betrayed, thrown down a mountain and left for dead, Murcatto's reward is a broken body and a burning hunger for vengeance. Whatever the cost, seven men must die.

©2010 Joe Abercrombie (P)2010 Orion Publishing Group Limited

What listeners say about Best Served Cold

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Fun and Twisted

At this point, I think it's a safe bet that I will enjoy anything read by Steven Pacey. And I honestly think Joe Abercrombie gets better with every book. Very very addictive.

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9 people found this helpful

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11ty times better than the Michael Page version.

Which character – as performed by Steven Pacey – was your favorite?

All of them. Shame this version wasn't available first. Steven Pacey narrates so significantly better than Michael Page it ain't even funny.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Disappointing narration

After being blown away by the excellent production (& excellent narration by Steven Pacey) in "The First Law" series, this production really let me down. I started listening to it immediately after the completion of "The First Law" and it was terrible. I had to stop, I'll try it again later, because I am sure it is a good story, but "The First Law" excellent production is still to fresh in my mind.

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4 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Great from start to finish

A great new cast of characters along with some familiar names. Things kick off right from the start and keep pace righ to the end. Great characters, well developed and in Abercrombies style often put to beffitting or undeserved ends.

Once again Steven Pacey puts in a flawless performance, every character unique and he hits every whispered, whimppered, croaked, shouted and stranggled line without fail.

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3 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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not for all tastes

Found this book a bit too gruesome for myself. The underlying story is quite interesting for the more hardened listeners.

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Very average

I listened to this book following the First Law series which I found very enjoyable.

Unfortunately this particular book is pretty much a straight out, almost boring tale, with only a twist at the end to keep it from being rated even lower.

Abercrombie has excellent character development, but I feel that the characters are a little too disfunctional in an almost "American sitcom disfunctional family" style.

One particular failing that I found annoying was the eventual predictable situation of knowing something was going to go disasterously wrong when detailed and meticulously laid plans were set in motion.

All in all it felt like the characters and story had moved from the sublime to the ridiculous.

There aren't really any surprises here, no multi threaded grand design all coming together at the end. The characters are all so extremely flawed and hateable to point you feel nothing for them, which doesn't give the listener much to identify and feel with through the course of the book.

Excellent narration rescues a rather forgettable storyline.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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Great narrator. Awful book.

Really struggled with this one. Between Unlikeable characters and a predictable story full of deus ex machina, there's really only one thing to enjoy and that's the narrator doing his damndest to breathe some life into this mess.

Steer clear.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely riveting. Paceys narration is masterful

Abercrombies world is dark, humorous and fascinating. I find myself mumbling quotes under my breath. Brilliant.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Delicious

Another triumph by the best current writer of epic fantasy. From the first page Joe Abercrombie's Best Served Cold is a deliciously sordid tale of revenge, murder, cowardice, triumph and trial.

The narrative is pacey and very well constructed. The scenes each build upon each other as the book progresses. The book is also on funny. There are many moments when you can't help but laugh (and then feel guilty for laughing).

The main characters are each triumphant yet flawed; dogged yet weak; hateful yet at the same time likeable. Although none of the characters are typically heroic, you can't help but sympathise with them, notwithstanding how despicable they can be.

Michael Page is excellent.

One of my top 10 audiobooks of the last 12 months. The book caused me to laugh, sympathise, despise the violence, root for the under dog, hate the hero whilst at the same time willing her to victory...a simply delicious book.

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Steven Pacey is now my favourite narrator

Another great book by Joe Abercrombie. Steven Pacey has made it hard for me to enjoy similar books in this genre by other narrators. He isn't just narrating, he is acting out these characters with a wide range of emotions and regional dialects and accents. He is absolutely amazing. It was interesting to get some of the minor characters from the First Law trilogy becoming some of the major characters in this story...a great story of revenge with some exciting capers.

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1 person found this helpful