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  • Best Served Cold

  • Written by: Joe Abercrombie
  • Narrated by: Steven Pacey
  • Length: 26 hrs and 28 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (625 ratings)

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Best Served Cold cover art

Best Served Cold

Written by: Joe Abercrombie
Narrated by: Steven Pacey
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Publisher's Summary

Springtime in Styria. And that means war. There have been nineteen years of blood. The ruthless Grand Duke Orso is locked in a vicious struggle with the squabbling League of Eight, and between them they have bled the land white.

While armies march, heads roll and cities burn, behind the scenes bankers, priests and older, darker powers play a deadly game to choose who will be king. War may be hell but for Monza Murcatto, the Snake of Talins, the most feared and famous mercenary in Duke Orso's employ, it's a damn good way of making money too. Her victories have made her popular - a shade too popular for her employer's taste.

Betrayed, thrown down a mountain and left for dead, Murcatto's reward is a broken body and a burning hunger for vengeance. Whatever the cost, seven men must die.

©2010 Joe Abercrombie (P)2010 Orion Publishing Group Limited

What listeners say about Best Served Cold

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Abercrombie continues to be brilliant

The First Law trilogy narrated by Steven Pacey was magnificent, and it quickly became my favourite series. Abercrombie's character writing is a master class and should be the subject of study for aspiring writers.

And with all that said, I think I may even enjoy Best Served Cold even more than the original trilogy. The story is tight with a sense of solid direction, filled with tension, moral dilemmas, and well written character progression. Steven Pacey absolutely nails the performance here, making every character feel unique and distinct.

I would recommend this to anyone and everyone.

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Masterful writing and an amazing performance!

Joe's amazing utilization of the English language paints every scene, colors every moment and breathes life into every character!

Pacey's performance is amazing! You can feel every characters shift in temperament and ever conversation has excellent flow. A really great story!

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Well done

Another well done book by Abercrombie. Great characters, vivid scenery, chilling action and, of course, amazing narration by Pacey.

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Excellent listen

the narrator does this book series so well that I'm hooked. Would recommend highly to anyone

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Best Abercrombie Book so far.

I’m listening to the series in order and this is his best one yet. Fantastic story, amazing performance from Steven Pacey- he is one of the best voice actors out there. A fantastic listen, can’t wait to read the next one.

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Best fantasy series I have ever listened to

amazing character development, moving from different time spaces was flawlessly done with no confusion. 10/10 would recommend.

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Best narrator and story of all time

Stephen Pacey is the best narrator I’ve ever listened to. Joe Abercrombie is my favorite writer of all time. This is pretty fantastic I think I’ve listened to it 5 times over the years.

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Great story

Some great characters !

Also great length too for an audio book. Narrators tone is phenomenal and the story is full of twists and turns.

Highly recommend

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Quickly becoming one of my all-time favourites

Gripping, raw, tense, funny, action-packed, and with superb character development. An absolutely stellar stand-alone in the First Law world I love. Just enough callbacks to make it feel like a part of that world, while independent enough to stand on its own merit. And it goes without saying, there is no better narrator than Steven Pacey.

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perfection really

Perfectly paced with fantastic characters. Steven Pacey is awesome. I think Joe Abercrombie might be good at this whole writing thing. Maybe he should consider it as a career?

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