[QuickTidal]

Wow, 200 Pages into Before They Are Hanged and I am completely riveted. Every chapter leaves me salivating for more . I am starting to realize that The Blade Itself was really (for the most part) setup, and that may be why I had trouble with it to begin with and had to read it twice before getting through it properly....but things are really cooking now. Abercrombie really knows characters, and I really dig that kind of fantasy.

[cjd262e]

I just finished the series. I thought it was great. For some reason I found a lot of humor in Glotka. Also, one of my favorite movies of all time is "The Unforgiven" with Clint Eastwood. Logen reminds me of Eastwood's character from that movie. (I think I actually read a quote where Abercrombie said he was shooting for "Unforgiven" over "Blazing Saddles). I kept wanting him to kick ass, but then once he kicked ass, I found him to be pretty nasty. I enjoyed the series, and can't wait to read more of his stuff.

[QuickTidal]

So, just finished Before They Are Hanged, and I must say that I very nearly devoured it. Every chance I got to read it, I did so. All 4 plotlines and characters were completely engrossing to me and made me want to keep reading.

Spoiler

I absolutely LOVE the fact that the trip that Bayaz and Co. took across the wastes and through Aulcus and whatnot to get the Seed was for naught, and that the Seed held by the spirit at the end was just a stone. Brilliant!

I bought Last Argument Of Kings a few days ago and I am dying to read it....but...I am going away on holiday to St. Lucia in two weeks and want something to read down there on the beach, so I am going to hold off and read something else in the interim.....sufficed to say I am salivating for the conclusion, and am likely to weigh in upon finishing it.

[Apocalypse Now]

I just finished this trilogy, and I must say...HOLY SHIT.

I really liked Glokta most of books 1 and 2. However,

Spoiler

during a large chunk of Book 3 I really didn't like him, my sympathy for him was running out, he was always on the other side of all the other characters I like. Yeah, yeah, I know, he doesn't have a choice or whatever, but I don't think I would have persisted so much in his place. He redeemed himself in my eyes though when he started unraveling the conspiracy(his practicals, sult) and when he asked Marovia for help.

Another thing I found funny was

Spoiler

Jezal becoming King. As they were about to vote I thought 'you know, it would be funny if they somehow did something and Jezal ended up king', I totally called that shit.

Logen is a fucking badass. End of story. I like the names of the chapters, the first one in the first book being 'The End', the last one in the last book(not really a spoiler) being 'The Beginning'

[HoosierDaddy]

Spoiler

I had fingered Jezal as king from the first book. He starts foreshadowing it with Bayaz telling him stories of the first king...

[polishgenius]

Spoiler

I thought it was meant to be obvious, from the moment Bayaz started favouring him, that this was the 'hidden King' cliche, so he could brutally subvert it later on

[QuickTidal]

T-Minus 4 Days till I start reading Last Argument of Kings on the flight south!

[Mentalist]

finished reading this this weekend

Liked it, wasn't blown away by it.
Aside form Glokta, who's interesting, because he's different, best char is Collem West.
must say, in the second book, I'm looking forward more to the War in the North and Glokta's storyline then I am to the "main" story of Bayaz, Logen, Ferro and Jezal.

best second tier-character--Gorst. After building him up to be a brute, his congratulation to Jezal made him look like one of the better people in the Union.

[QuickTidal]

Finished Last Argument of Kings a few minutes ago. Brilliant ending! Loved every last drop of that book. Could not put it down.

I eagerly await Best Served Cold!

[pat5150]

Many thanks to the folks at Orbit for wanting me to be the first to get a look at this one!

Just posted the US cover art of Abercrombie's Best Served Cold on the blog! Similar to the UK cover, yet quite different, I really like it! Both covers look very good indeed!

Check the blog to get a glimpse!

Patrick

[pat5150]

There's a 5-part video interview with Abercrombie here.

The author talks about the upcoming Best Served Cold and the First Law trilogy.

Patrick

[Eddie Dean]

I really enjoyed reading this series (just finished the other day). I didn't like a few characters by the end of it, but I thought that they were without a doubt all pretty original. I like Collum West probably the best. If youve started reading book 1 and are bored it is basically just setting up the next two, so stick with it. Book 2 was my favorite. I didn't really care for the ending much though; too much left unresolved.

[alestar]

Just picked up "The Blade Itself"...

[Tarcanus]

I just finished The Blade Itself, and I don't have a lot to say about it.

Abercrombie does, indeed, know characters, though why was Glokta the only one who had italicized internal dialogue? It seemed inconsistent. The characters were the strongest part of this book.

His writing, however, I was tired of by the end of the Prologue. Way too many adjectives thrown around and I feel like he abuses parallel structure to the max. His useless adjectives started bugging me, too. His character introductions were repetitious and the voice was inconsistent.

That said, since everyone states that the first book is setup, and I did enjoy it for what it was, I will read the 2nd and 3rd books. I'm hoping the writing gets better. I always hate sounding like a book snob, but since I started paying attention to writerly things while reading, I can't help but be annoyed at them.

[globish rip]

haha he uses too many adjectives? i noticed the repetition thing although not really w/ the character intros maybe i'm not sure what u mean - thought he was going for something vaguely tolstoyian with the repetitive images/words and short declaratives followed with longer ropey descriptives ~~~ maybe not remembering it that well.

a couple of the characters tend to think in cliches a lot and i assume this is on purpose their povs def evolve over the books, anyway. sometimes its hard to judge tho i remember the chapters/sections where nine fingers first visits the BIG CITY - his slack-jawed yokelisms are like a checklist of every cliche from that playbook. and logen is supposed to be this subtle/original thinker but none of his "observations" about unequal distribution of wealth or indoor plumbing felt character driven or real~

in the first book i think the desert ninja girl is probably the best written~ yah having the escaped former slave gaze with ineffectual rage at sullen slave girl that is just like her is prety lol but its written in a way thats really raw and ~believable~

[Ninefingers]

For me, the First Law trilogy by Abercrombie are simply THE BEST BOOKS I'VE EVER READ! I just couldn't put them down, and I found myself craving for the next installment.

In a strange kind of way, it's Joe's fault that I'm here at all. Until I read The Blade Itself, I wasn't into the fantasy genre at all. Up until that point, fantasy was all about "Lord of the Rings" and over-used clichés like in Eragon. That stuff just bores me senseless. But then I read Joe's stuff, and it's really opened my eyes. Next thing you know, I'm reading GoTM (and lovin' it) and thinking to myself, "I really should be taking notes."

Anyway, having just completed DG, I'm gonna switch to reading Joe's new book (Best Served Cold), to give my poor brain some time for the inflammation to die down.

[Slum]

I don't know what it is about Abercrombie, but I just don't share the love. Sure, the First Law trilogy was fun, and I've read worse; but, it's not that great. Abercrombie is a good writer, but his prose is still a ways off from noteworthy.

I guess he improved a lot by the end of Last Argument of Kings, but I still wasn't convinced. First off, I didn't really care about Jezal. Not a whit. And I could not care less about Bayaz and his obvious scheming. And those were the characters on which the book depended. On which the story pivoted.

I liked Ninefingers and the Northmen. Occasionally I liked Glotka's take on things, and I liked his ending.

Still, I would not dare rank this alongside the better fantasy works of our generation. It's just not that good. Serviceable, fun, off-the-cuff and humorous? Yes. It's all that. It's not, however, some groundbreaking example of how fantasy should be done.

[Ninefingers]

Oh well, opinions vary...

[Grief]

 Slumgullion Spitteler, on Aug 10 2009, 06:02 PM, said:

I don't know what it is about Abercrombie, but I just don't share the love. Sure, the First Law trilogy was fun, and I've read worse; but, it's not that great. Abercrombie is a good writer, but his prose is still a ways off from noteworthy.

I guess he improved a lot by the end of Last Argument of Kings, but I still wasn't convinced. First off, I didn't really care about Jezal. Not a whit. And I could not care less about Bayaz and his obvious scheming. And those were the characters on which the book depended. On which the story pivoted.

I liked Ninefingers and the Northmen. Occasionally I liked Glotka's take on things, and I liked his ending.

Still, I would not dare rank this alongside the better fantasy works of our generation. It's just not that good. Serviceable, fun, off-the-cuff and humorous? Yes. It's all that. It's not, however, some groundbreaking example of how fantasy should be done.

I really agree with Slum here.

I found the plot to be, to be honest, rather dull. The twists I felt were predictable, and I didn't care for the vast majority of the characters. Bayaz in particular I felt was predictable and obvious, and like Slum I didn't care about Jezal at all. Aswell as this I found it to be almost cliched, particularly towards the end, and particularly Bayaz. I didn't feel any real sense of mystery or suspense, and finished the books because someone bought m the first two and I dislike leaving a series unfinished.

I really don't get all the praise he gets, I've read worse certainly, but he really doesn't rank with people like Erikson or Rothfuss at all in my mind.

Not books I would re-read, probably only around 4 to 6 out of 10 in my opinion.

[Obdigore]

 Grief, on Aug 10 2009, 01:18 PM, said:

 Slumgullion Spitteler, on Aug 10 2009, 06:02 PM, said:

I don't know what it is about Abercrombie, but I just don't share the love. Sure, the First Law trilogy was fun, and I've read worse; but, it's not that great. Abercrombie is a good writer, but his prose is still a ways off from noteworthy.

I guess he improved a lot by the end of Last Argument of Kings, but I still wasn't convinced. First off, I didn't really care about Jezal. Not a whit. And I could not care less about Bayaz and his obvious scheming. And those were the characters on which the book depended. On which the story pivoted.

I liked Ninefingers and the Northmen. Occasionally I liked Glotka's take on things, and I liked his ending.

Still, I would not dare rank this alongside the better fantasy works of our generation. It's just not that good. Serviceable, fun, off-the-cuff and humorous? Yes. It's all that. It's not, however, some groundbreaking example of how fantasy should be done.

I really agree with Slum here.

I found the plot to be, to be honest, rather dull. The twists I felt were predictable, and I didn't care for the vast majority of the characters. Bayaz in particular I felt was predictable and obvious, and like Slum I didn't care about Jezal at all. Aswell as this I found it to be almost cliched, particularly towards the end, and particularly Bayaz. I didn't feel any real sense of mystery or suspense, and finished the books because someone bought m the first two and I dislike leaving a series unfinished.

I really don't get all the praise he gets, I've read worse certainly, but he really doesn't rank with people like Erikson or Rothfuss at all in my mind.

Not books I would re-read, probably only around 4 to 6 out of 10 in my opinion.

Wasn't GOTM an odd book? It certainly didn't rate as higher than a 5 in most lists.
How bout the terrible Fionovar Tapestry? I to this day have been unable to complete that since in the first book one of them has to die like Jesus.
Was Rand an amazing and always likeable character? Or the Tug Braid Coalition? Or Cutter or Nimander?

The fact is you guys are judging the first work of a new author based on the best collected works of fantasy, and then say it fails to compete. Of course it does. The first Runelord book should rate a 5. It was an ok book, and much better than most of the trash out there.

And really, Rothfuss? One good book then unable to produce a second one? Or Scott Lynch? A good book, then a mediocre one, and unable to complete the trilogy?

Lets take a step back here guys, and realize that being gorged on the best fantasy has to offer dosen't mean you should raise your standard so high no author can compete.

The First Law Trilogy was a fun, dark, and somewhat twisted piece of work. It makes no asperations to be high fantasy, and fulfils avoiding those asperations. Fun, short-ish reads with memorable, even if you don't like them, characters.

Spoiler

I didn't expect C. West to die. I didn't expect Glokta to live past helping Bayaz get Glokta on the throne. I certianly didn't expect Glokta and Ardee to marry.

I would guess you didn't either, until it was right there and happening in the books. And then you look back, and fool yourself into realizing you should have seen it.

Did you really expect

Spoiler

the seed to be not there? Or for Shivers to refuse to help betray Ninefingers? Or for Glokta to end up being the true decision maker in the kingdom?

You are fooling yourself if you say yes.