Half a War by Joe Abercrombie

*Spoilers Below*

I think I have finally put my finger on what it is that I don't really like about grimdark-type fantasy, even when it's grimdark lite as this series has been. It's not that it's dark (although I don't enjoy books that are unrelentingly pessimistic). It's not that bad things happen. It's not even that characters are posed questions that compromise their morality and sense of self.

It's that there's nothing else. And in the long run, that gets boring.

I mean, compare it to real life:every once in a while, the tough choices come along. They can be gutwrenching, heartbreaking, soul-destroying. But be serious. They don't come along *that* often. Certainly not every damn decision in a row, even when you're in a position of power. Drama is better when events build to such a decision, or one comes along out of the blue. But when a morality-compromising decision comes along, followed by another, followed by another, followed by another, well...that's just as unrealistic as constant sunshine and lollipops. And if the latter would be saccharine, this is a different flavour of artificial drama that sits poorly on the tongue.

So I finished this series, and it wasn't as dark as Abercrombie's other series that I've read, the eventual grind of never having lightness for longer than it takes for another moment where principles are useless when the call of expediency comes along (and no one ever considers that expediency might ever not be the right answer - this is dour utilitarianism) got to me. It all got to me. I was, in the end, bored. Not upset, not shaken. Bored.

I don't really care at the end that Yarvi is revealed as having taken the evil path again, that yet again, the ends have justified the means, because there's never anything else, and no real discussion about whether or not that is necessary. In this world, it simply is always the case. No other options are even considered.

At any rate, Yarvi advises a tenuous alliance of his mother's kingdom, the forces of Grom gil Gorm, and the motivating presence of a young queen who escaped massacre at the hands of the forces of the High King. They fight, a lot. People die. Atrocities are committed. To fight atrocities, atrocities are committed. There is no room for principle. There is nothing but winning or death.

We also get a tiny bit of the payoff for something that has been woven through these books - the elves. I knew, because I'd read something online, that this was not a fantasy book in the sense of taking place on another world or in a fantastical past. It's our world, after we have eradicated ourselves, because of course we would. There's never any hope.

So a small band led by Father Yarvi breaks all the taboos they have to go into an elfcity and bring out weapons. (Taboos seemingly based on residual radiation, although one character has iodine pills or something of the sort?)  Armed with machine guns, although not so named, they kill more people.

And...this is technically proficient. But the song is always the same. The key is always minor, the outcome always the clashing sounds of death and self-compromise. Of staying alive and in power no matter what. Because that's where these books live. They're not bad, but I'm not interested. I've seen the tricks.