Half a King by Joe Abercrombie a Book for Teen Boys

I loved Joe Abercrombie's First Law series for adults and his character, Logan NineFingers, is my all time favourite.  So when I heard he'd written a Young Adult Trilogy for boys, I had to read it. I was not disappointed.



The Shattered Sea series starts with the novel Half a King about Yarvi, a crippled teen Prince who finds himself thrown into the centre of his country's political power game as a pawn.  Abercrombie's style of character development and plot twists draws the reader into the story and keeps him there until the end. No one creates a conflicted character quite like him and although I miss Logan Ninefingers, in this story I found new characters to fall in love with.


The first book in the trilogy, Half a King
The second book in the trilogy, Half a World
The third book in the trilogy, Half a War

From Joe Abercrombie's Website:

The deceived will become the deceiver.

Born a weakling in the eyes of his father, Yarvi is alone in a world where a strong arm and a cold heart rule. He cannot grip a shield or swing an axe, so he must sharpen his mind to a deadly edge.

The betrayed will become the betrayer.

Gathering a strange fellowship of the outcast and the lost, he finds they can do more to help him become the man he needs to be than any court of nobles could.

Will the usurped become the usurper?

But even with loyal friends at his side, Yarvi finds his path may end as it began—in twists, and traps, and tragedy.

A Book for Teen Boys & Advanced Readers: 

Half a King is a good book for teenagers and boys who are advanced readers because it has the higher reading level, a complex storyline, and remains a book a parent would feel comfortable reading out loud with their tween.

Until my son pulled the apron strings to the breaking point, he would read stories to his sister and I before bed. Those evenings were special. We would cuddle up, share the storytelling and he'd always negotiate just one more chapter. I was a push over because I wanted to know what would happen next as much as he did and bedtime would be pushed another 20 minutes.

The memories of these evenings hit me over the head every once in awhile to remind me of days gone by when books were something we shared and reading was not a solitary activity. Tear. Sniff. Sniff. Feel sorry for me yet?

Click to read Half a King's reviews on GoodReads 

Shannon Peel is the author of THIRTEEN, a coming of age story about a boy, his single mom, a cop, and an invading army all set in modern day Canada.  What if you woke up one morning to the sounds of gunfire? What would you do? Could you survive without power, communications, or transportation? Shannon Peel asks these questions in her debut novel, THIRTEEN.

Click to find out more about her book for boys.  

Click to find out about Thirteen