[Trull's son]

I respected the portly mage much better then the sickly one...

also, First law was fun

[The Tyrant Lizard]

Both series are up there with my favourites.

The First Law is gritty, well written, and the characters and dialogue are second to none. The world building seems to be just a backdrop to what he wanted to do with his characters, but when you're reading it you dont really mind all that much, because the plot has you drawn in from the start.

It's full of anti-heroes and anti-villains and moral dilemmas and good people doing bad things and bad people doing good things and crippled people doing really bad things. Its like a standard fantasy that's been turned on its head. You come out the end of it loving the guys you should hate, and hating the guys you should love.

The Prince of Nothing blew me away when I read it. The scope leaves Abercrombie standing, and I found the power behind the writing astonishing. Now the bad guys in this one are different gravy bad... I dont want to give away any spoilers, but the last thing you want to do is get caught by the Sranc. The characters are well thought out and shrouded in a realsim that makes it hard for you to know who to route for.

I thought the Bakker books were brilliant, and I was absolutely blown away by the final scene in the first Aspect Emperor book. (kind of a homage to Moria, but with a twist of holy shit im fucking terrified)

In short they're both brilliant trilogies in my mind. For fast paced fun, swearing and end to end action, go for the First Law - which incidently I think pinched the Shanka idea from the Sranc - and for introvertive, clever, epic brilliance, go for PoN.

This post has been edited by The Tyrant Lizard: 25 August 2010 - 07:35 AM

[Hocknose]

OK, finished the First Law trilogy last night and I have to say I was impressed!!

Like a lot of reviews have said it was very dark but also very funny...I sometimes had to stop my self and think that I shouldn't be laughing to some of the stuff Glokta gets up to.

I though the characters were very rounded, and genuinely felt for the 3 main ones. I did enjoy the POV of the Northmen but I would have to say Dogman was my least favourite POV character.

I thought the story although not unique was quite fresh and I didn't work out any of the major plot lines early on.

Overall I'm very pleased it was reccomended to me and I've already passed it on to a friend to read.

p.s. I know that there are 2 more novels set in the same universe, but does anyone know if the author is planning to do any more books regarding some of the major plot lines that weren't finished in the trilogy?

[pat5150]

For Abercrombie fans, the video book trailer for The Heroes is here.

Patrick