Best Served Cold

"If there is one thing I have learned in all my many last stands, it is that death is never certain, only. . . extremely likely."  -Nicomo Cosca (p. 321)

I picked this book up thinking it was going to be a really awesome read, and was excited by the prospect since it is my first fiction pick of the year. Gary had read it before me and sung its praises, so I was ready to be astonished. . . And the result was very anti-climactic.

Best Served Cold is the story of Monzcarro Murcato, opening on her truimphant return from another campaign for the man she was loyally served for many years as a mercenary. But her employer has suspisions that she wants his position of power and so he decides to kill Monza and her brother Benna. Unfortunately for him, the death doesn't stick for Monza, and she comes back with a need so strong for revenge that she will hurtle great heaps of dead bodies to get to the 7 men responsible for her brother's death.

Don't get me wrong, this was a good book. I enjoyed the story greatly, even as characters did things I didn't want them to. I like the changes in many of the characters, even though it was not always for the best. And the twists that occured throughout kept me on my toes. Many times I found myself unable to put the book down, wanting to find out about the next murder, the next confrontation, the next city. As a work of fiction it was such an amazing story, I am glad I took the time to read it.

However, there were parts about it that made me think on many occasions that this was a book written by a man for men. Which confused me a lot since the main character was a woman, and she is very masterfully written. But it takes a strong stomach sometimes to get through scenes, including the few. . . physical scenes between men and women *hint, hint*. The language was often vulgar, which is to be expected when all the characters are killers, but I don't think it was often necessary in the naration of the story. There was also a point about the narration that drove me crazy: when the main focus was the character Caul Shivers the use of slang often occured at random. For a while this "device" distracted me from the story. I had to force myself to get used to it, and it was not an easy task.

I would recomend this book to the strong of constitution and those able to overlook flaws in writing. Otherwise you might find it difficult to get through the first few chapters of this otherwise very good read.