Prince Yarvi has vowed to regain his throne. First he must survive cruelty, chains and even drowning. And he must do it all with only one good hand. The deceived will become the deceiver. Born a weakling in the eyes of the world, Yarvi 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, he finds they can help him more than any noble could. Will the usurped become the usurper? Even with loyal friends at this side, Yarvi’s path may end as it began – in twists, and traps and tragedy… I have to start with an apology. After about an hour of reading Half a King, I had already re-christened this book as Game of Throne in my head. I couldn’t help it, but I’d like to stress that I do mean this as the highest form of compliment. Abercrombie’s latest has a distinct flavour of George R R Martin about it. Not only is there plenty of adventure and fighting, it also deftly explores the same sort of political power plays, skull-duggery and manoeuvrings that Martin…