Another day, another short story having its moment here on
the blog. Joe Abercrombie is an author that I really need to be reading more of
(well, start/finish ‘The Heroes’ anyway) and ‘Tough Times All Over’ seemed like
as a good a place as any to find my way back in. In case you’re wondering; this
is another story taken from the ‘Rogues’ anthology, a book that is already
proving to be a handy book to dip in and out of on the daily commute.
Seriously, if I didn't already have a copy I would buy ‘Rogues’ when it is
published but any way…
‘Tough Times All Over’ tells the tale of the courier Carcolf
and the somewhat circuitous route that one of her packages takes through the
city of Sipani. I got into this story right away as, unlike GRRM’s contribution
(reviewed further down the page), Abercrombie stuffs ‘Tough Times All Over’
chock full of rogues; you literally cannot read a single paragraph without
tripping over a rogue up to something nefarious. It was because of this
approach that I became well and truly absorbed in a tale full of thievery,
daring escapades, well known characters making a return and at least one
character that I would really love to see appear again. ‘Tough Times All Over’
is a glorious romp (with loads of surprises and twists, the story ends just before the flow of these becomes overly repetitious) and Abercrombie adds a human touch to the proceedings which
means that the tale isn’t just a Technicolor piece of fluff. Rogues are roguish
but there is always a very good reason, whether it’s because they’re in debt up
to their eyeballs or they just like the thrill of being the best. A little bit
of motive can go a long way and here it certainly does a fine job of fleshing
characters and providing a hard edge to a fun tale.
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