These were not books that ever preached, or talked down to their audience. I started from the standpoint that young adults are, above all, adults. These were books full of authenticity, honesty, moral ambiguity, shocks and tough choices. … My main touchstones in the young adult arena were things I read and loved when I was younger – notably Rosemary Sutcliff’s historical books ( Blood Feud especially) and John Christopher’s post-apocalyptic The Sword of the Spirits. Where standing strong with your brothers, and holding a shield for the man at your shoulder, was the mark of being a man. Especially in a Viking or a Saxon inspired world, where fighting in the shield wall was at the heart of their culture. Then I started thinking how much tougher it would be in the medieval sort of world I tend to work in. There happened to be a boy with a malformed hand there, who was having some trouble joining in fully with the rest. I was at a ‘zany zone’ with my children one day…soft play, ball bath, slides, you know the type of thing. These were not books that ever preached, or talked down to their audience”. He was influenced by Rosemary Sutcliff whose books were “full of authenticity, honesty, moral ambiguity, shocks and tough choices. On bookseller Waterstones blog he comments that after writing several fantasy novels for adults he “felt the need to try my hand at something at least slightly different”.

He has now turned his attention to ‘young adults’, with his first YA fantasy book Half a King.

Joe Abercrombie is a writer of fantasy novels for adults, including the First Law Trilogy (The Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged, and Last Argument of King).

Blood feud rosemary sutcliff