Joe Abercrombie writes in a style that I once abhored. He focuses a lot on the grimy and gritty nature of humanity. His fantasy world doesn't contain knights in shining armor or prim, pristine princesses and damsels. Every character he writes is heavily, heavily flawed. His countries only have the appearance of being functional while the cogs of corruption whirr beneath the social climbers and beggars alike. Joe Abercrombie doesn't bother sugarcoating his world: it is an uncaring place that doesn't love you and the best you can do is survive; don't even think about succeeding because 1) you'll probably die trying or 2) if you do, it will be at a price you never wanted to pay.
And I cannot put his books down for a minute.
There is something to be said about optimism: it is good for one's mind and spirit. There is something fundamentally nice about always looking on the bright side of life. However, there is something foolish in it as well. There are so many things in this life that aren't worthy of a glance, never mind trust. So many situations that don't have black or white teams. To look on the bright side of life all the time is also, when done wrong, to ignore a lot of ills. Depending on who you are or where you are in life, this isn't always a good thing. I used to trust everyone around me. A nasty encounter with the falsest of friends taught me that was not always a good path to follow. There's optimism and there's ignorance. I fell into ignorance, but I'm trying to go back to optimism. I'm what Abercrombie woulds call a "realist."
The optimists in Abercrombie's books rarely ever stay that way. The world beat the ever-loving bright side out of them. And yet they survive. Sometimes they become better people. Other times, they do not. But every time, they see things they either didn't want to or couldn't see before. And that new knowledge does them well, especially in tricky situations. They see the world not as it could be, but as it is. And they adjust accordingly.
It's good to have ideas, but it's better to have ideas while also having a working knowledge of how the world around you works. And while this world I live in isn't nearly as rough as Abercrombie's, it's not the enchanted, friendly, opportunity-land I once thought it was. But if I work hard enough, it can be, as long as I keep my heels firmly planted where I stand and march forward. I need to walk before I can fly, and Abercrombie's definitely given me an idea of how:
"Well. What can we do, except try to do better?" - The Blade Itself
- RG
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