Spoiler-free
'Best Served Cold' is the first of the standlone trilogy, which suceed 'The First Law Trilogy'. By all means, you could read this book completely as a standalone, but you will undoubtedly get more out of it by reading 'The First Law Trilogy' prior.
This book is essentially a revenge story. Right at the beginning, our main character, a ferocious mercenary, Monza, is betrayed by Duke Orso, who kills her brother, Benna. Monza is also persumed dead. However, she awakes to find her body stitched back together, in a frankenstiein's monster type fashion. Now, only one thing drives her forward. To kill all 7 people involved in the murder of her brother. Vengeance is a dish. Best Served Cold.
As the premise suggests, this is a much more structured and streamlined addition to the First Law world. Initially, I appreciated this, as it felt a lot easier to get into. Instantly, we know who our characters are and what their goals are. However, as the book progressed, it was this simplistic approach that held back this entry from reaching its full potential. I still very much enjoyed being back in this world, and it definitely has its high points, so my feelings are conflicted. I had very high expectations going into this, and no doubt that added to my slight disappointment.
I loved the beginning and the end but kinda hated the middle. As always, Steven Pacey was incredible in his narration, so I use the word "hate" very harshly. I just felt the plot became tedious and repetitive, and the middle section was jam-packed with action scenes after action scenes, and the whole thing became tired. Luckily, I became reinvested towards the end, which I'm happy about, as now this instalment has left a much nicer taste in my mouth.
🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑3.5 Stars!
Side note- I read this with Chad using the Buddy Read feature on Storygraph. I've never used it before, but I would definitely recommend it. It's cool how any comment you make is hidden until the other person catches up. It is important to note, as reading this in this way definitely added an enjoyment factor!
Onto spoiler chat!
SPOILER CHAT
Morveer was my favourite thing about this book. For some reason, I pictured him as Odval from 'Disenchantment' and that really added to his appeal. Steven Pacey's voice was hilarious, and just by hearing one sentence, you can just tell he's a sly old thing. Morveer also added a new element to the world, science. In my head, it was witchcraft stuff, but Morveer would kill me in my sleep if I said that. It was so much fun witnessing him prat around with different ingredients, concocting all sorts of wonderfully lethal potions. I think this development of scientific practices is going to play a big role as the series progresses.
Cosca was kind of a nothing character to me in the first trilogy, but this was definitely his time to shine. He grew on me a lot and provided great comic relief. For example, every time he got caught killing someone, he somehow managed to act his way out of it. Cosca is a theatre kid, and you can't tell me otherwise, but he's that one straight theatre kid who gets all the main roles, much to the annoyance of the try-hard gays.
Was so happy to see Shivers! He was a standout favourite of mine from the first trilogy and always felt like he had the potential to become something more. That being said, I was so annoyed when he got his haircut! I feel like he'll grow it back out by the next book, though. The northmen will all take the piss out of him otherwise. Oh, and hopefully, he'll wear an eye patch. I really thought that the metal eye would have some special power or something, like built-in binoculars, but no... I think it is purely cosmetic. Aesthetics aside, while I continued to enjoy Shivers as a character, I couldn't help but feel as though he was dragged down by a certain Frankengirl, who shall remain unnamed.
My god, did Monza piss me off in this. I enjoyed her at first, but I think the constant obsession with revenge ripped away at any shred of personality. She was so bland. I was also expecting her franken-stitches to come into play at some point, but they never did. I thought she wouldn't be able to feel pain or something, like an eater, but she seems pretty normal. Guess we got Shenkt to thank for that.
Speaking of the devil, Shenkt grew on me so much and was the king of reveals. The way he just thrust his hand into people's bodies and rips out their guts is pretty grousome. I have a feeling he's gonna play a much bigger role in future installments, so that's exciting. I was hoping for it to be Morveer that would play some big future role, maybe as a rival to Bayaz, but alas, I'll settle for Shenkt. Definitely need to learn more about his whole story, especially as he's with Vitari? Wtf...
Ishri is an enigma. Is she a cat or what? I kept getting her confused with Pheobe from 'Empire of the Vampire'. They kinda have a similar vibe. I'm interested to see how she pops up in the future, and no doubt she will without anyone noticing.
Friendly was such a G, and a nice change of pace whenever we got to his perspective. I like it when a dude just does his own thing and is fully his own person. You can always count on friendly ;) tehe. I'll take a standalone novella of just Friendly playing around with his dice and counting miscellaneous items any day.
There were without doubt some standout moments in this book, and it definitely serves as a good instalment in introducing some new characters. Lowkey, it kind of feels like an origin story for Monza, but we shall see. Loved the mass poisoning on the crown. And also every preceding poisoning, basically anything Morveer did or said. Gutted he died. In a way he gets his happy ending, by being remembered as the "The greatest and most subtle murderer in history."
I feel as though the process of killing the 7 people one by one just got very tedious during he middle, which really hindered my enjoyment for that portion of the book. I found myself not really caring about the outcome and just wanting to get through it. During the final few hours, I was pulled right back in, so it definitely ended on a high!
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