Red Country

A First Law Novel

By: Joe Abercrombie

Narrated by: Steven Pacey

They burned her home.

They stole her brother and sister.

But vengeance is following.

Shy South hoped to bury her bloody past and ride away smiling, but she'll have to sharpen up some bad old ways to get her family back, and she's not a woman to flinch from what needs doing. She sets off in pursuit with only a pair of oxen and her cowardly old stepfather Lamb for company. But it turns out Lamb's buried a bloody past of his own, and out in the lawless Far Country, the past never stays buried.

Their journey will take them across the barren plains to a frontier town gripped by gold fever, through feud, duel and massacre, high into the unmapped mountains to a reckoning with the Ghosts. Even worse, it will force them into alliance with Nicomo Cosca, infamous soldier of fortune, and his feckless lawyer Temple, two men no one should ever have to trust...

The past never stays buried...©2012 Joe Abercrombie

Critic reviews

Highly recommended - a funny, finely-wrought, terrifically energetic work of high fantasy. Seek it out (Joe Hill)

One of the best

One of the best from a series of great book by Abercrombie. Great characters, good story and a couple of good laughs in all the darkness.

My favorite character

I tend not to read books more than once. I’ve read this one twice and now listened to it as well. The Bloody Nine is my favorite literary character. I have now realise that when listening to a book the characters come over according to the emphasis given to them be the narrator, so my experience has been quite different as a result, which I’m still adjusting to. So with that in mind there was only one aspect that niggled me: the narrator when saying the word “grimaced” repeatedly pronounced it as “ghri-maced” as opposed to the only way I’ve ever heard it pronounced, which is “ghri-mussed”. Otherwise I quite enjoyed the experience.

Western fantasy - Unforgettable adventure

Whoa, yippiaiyee! At first I wasn't sure if Joe had taken a good turn going this way West with the series. Then I forgot about thinking and could only listen, spellbound as the miles went by and the prairies changed little, like humanity in these series.

Joe Abercrombie tackles the big questions of life with little everyday situations and very human characters. One of the best book series I've read/listened, definitely! Thank you!

Not the best - but still good

If you could sum up Red Country in three words, what would they be?

A Good Time

If you’ve listened to books by Joe Abercrombie before, how does this one compare?

no way near as good as the heroes

Which scene was your favorite?

Any scene with Union interests

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Not really

Any additional comments?

Set after the heroes - but u dont really know what happened to the UNION!
Last we heard they were off to Styria -but so many years have past we dont know what happened!! did they win?

Joe seems to be very Anti Union which is just strange.......

Horribly and terribly fantastic

Joe Ambercrombie is widely regarded to be among the founding fathers of dark or gritty fantasy, and his latest installment "Red Country" is among the best of his work.
Steven Pacey's performance and portrayal of the characters fits amazingly, portraying the key traits of the characters just perfectly.
Red Country is a good listen, it will make you cringe and it may make you feel sick to your stomach, a tribute to both Abercrombie's skill at description and Pacey's reading.
I fully reccomend this audiobook, but be prepared for bloody and gory descriptions and characters so vile that you can scarcely believe it.
furthermore, it would not be required to be familiar with Abercrombie's former works, but the book would hold much more depth if you are familiar with the characters and events that took place in his former novels.