The First Law Trilogy Boxed Set: The Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged, Last Argument of Kings

The First Law Trilogy

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Chi ama i libri sceglie Kobo e inMondadori. Buy the eBook Price: Available in Russia Shop from Russia to buy this item. Or, get it for Kobo Super Points! In this series Book 1. Ratings and Reviews 14 star ratings 14 reviews. Yes No Thanks for your feedback! Dark and wonderfully disturbing. Great story, superbly written, if you like a song of ice and fire then you'll love this … Show more Show less.

A mix of humor and suspense. Story told from the view points of several protagonists. It kept me reading late into the night. Why 3 stars and not 4 or even 5? Just because the third book was so depressing and honestly, a bit boring. Yes, I was bored.

The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie

Mostly with the repetitions: Yes, I know that Glokta is in pain bloody leg, bloody arse, bloody neck, bloody tasteless food, bloody gums Or should I say their non-development? There Why 3 stars and not 4 or even 5? There was the faintest glimmer of hope in the second book. I'm not against "darkness" now and then and I don't care about happy endings. I wish I had given a higher rating considering how good the first 2 books were but I just couldn't considering how darker-than-this-and-I-might-have-died the 3rd book was.

I'm glad I've read this trilogy though Even if I know I will not put it on my to-re-read list. May 19, Satima rated it it was amazing.

It is remarkable not only because of its brilliantly complex plot and characters, but also because of its fearless investigation of the dark labyrinths of the human condition. Here be no dragons, and hardly a mage or a McGuffin is in sight, either. Good actions are not necessarily rewarded and neither do the bad guys always get their comeuppance.

They speak of our own foibles and failures, sins and successes. Technically, Abercrombie achieves this through his deep understanding of the close third point-of-view. The trilogy is centred on a man the author calls the 'thinking man's barbarian', one Logen Ninefingers. For the most part, Logen does what he has to do and does it well, with as much—and as little—exertion as is needed. Yet in battle he can be a berserker, when his alter ego, The Bloody Nine, takes over and he is as likely to slaughter friend as foe.

In book one, The Blade Itself , war is in the air and many look to the return of Bayaz to save them. We see Bayaz gathering his team together and realise the conflicting interests his presence arouses. Book two, Before They Are Hanged , shows the struggle of the poorly-trained and equipped Midderlands army against the Northmen who have invaded their province of Angland. It also deals with the quest of Bayaz, and has the most surprising ending that any quest story could possibly have.

And 'The First Law'? The expression refers to the injunction against using magic from the Other Side. What are the consequences when that law is broken? Abercrombie can only be compared to George R. Martin, but he is, thankfully, rather more succinct, having managed to squash his story into the customary three volumes. And you must read all three books, in order, as close together as possible, if you are to get the most out of this epic. Although each book is well-rounded and skilfully crafted, none truly stands alone.

Apr 27, Marko rated it it was amazing Shelves: The characters - oh, the characters! The First Law trilogy has its flaws. Most of the minor and a lot of the major points of the plot are predictable though a sufficient number of shocking twists and revelations partly alleviates this , and repetitions of characters' catchphrases can get tiresome, to name the two that bothered me most.

But the characters themselves more than make up for it! Unorthodox, vividly written, with their own contradictions and personal fights, rarely have I seen such a p The characters - oh, the characters! Unorthodox, vividly written, with their own contradictions and personal fights, rarely have I seen such a powerful display of antiheroic creations. The underlying message, that people might change though only slightly and sometimes, is not to my liking, but that doesn't mean it's not a valid viewpoint. The ending is, while dark, fascinating, and shines even more light on the characters' motivations and goals or at least for one of them.

I'm not quite sure what people mean by "grimdark" when they describe Abercrombie's books.

I'd rather use the term "realistic". And while I understand that realism is not something one might look for in escapist literature, the tone of these books was very much to my liking. I'd wholeheartedly recommend The First Law trilogy to any lover of fantasy literature who has nothing against having his characters more "anti" than "heroes". A otro nivel, se nota que Abercrombie estaba empezando. Te lo pasas bien y eso ya es mucho. This trilogy was beyond-description fabulous. Characters you love to hate, a dynamic plot and amazing battle scenes have propelled this trilogy into my absolute favorite.

There's no character I've found to love then hate then love again like Sand dan Glotka. Oct 01, D. Peach rated it it was amazing. A definite for the fantasy enthusiast. This is an amazingly well-crafted trilogy by a master story-teller. Characterization was by far my favorite part of the book. Every character is thoroughly unique, utterly compelling and terribly flawed.

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Murderers, torturers, drunks, cowards, and betrayers people the pages. I loved them all, rooted for them, and was equally disappointed and horrified. The main characters are, by and large, trapped in lives they wish they could change. As a reader I kept hop A definite for the fantasy enthusiast. As a reader I kept hoping…hoping…hoping. There is plenty of humor, moments of nobility, friendship, and sacrifice.

I would characterize the genre as dark, the narrative as gritty. My dear old mom would hate it; I loved it. The plot is exceptionally tight for a trilogy. No wandering tangents, not a scene too many or few, every paragraph engaging. The book abounds with bloody action. Plenty of cleaving heads in two and severing body parts.

The madness of close combat and the berserker loss of control are exceptionally well-written, as is the general grossness of stinky bodies and brown teeth.

Halfway through the trilogy my major concern was that I would soon finish it. Have to live my life without a great read in hand? I solved that by downloading another Abercrombie book, Best Served Cold. Aug 11, Siobhan rated it really liked it. Joe Abercrombie is one of those authors that spent far too much time on my to-read list. I was never really sure where to start, unsure of which of his trilogies I wanted to read, but in the end the choice was made for me.

My friend gave me a collection of his books, included were the first three books from the First Law world. In my opinion, it took too long to truly start. The character devel Joe Abercrombie is one of those authors that spent far too much time on my to-read list. The character development was wonderful, yet it seemed to overshadow the story.

The second book changed that. I really enjoyed the second one. The third book was also great. Overall, the trilogy took a while to get started but once it was moving it was a lot of fun. A great trilogy for any fan of fantasy, although it will never be my number one choice in the genre.

Well, its been almost two months since I started. I did take a break between each book, but still, that is some investment. I did not do this in the right order, lets get that out of the way first. I stumbled upon 'The Heroes' by accident, immediately realized I was probably a bit in the dark about some things-and yet plowed ahead anyway because what the hell, I was sucked in. Then a year later I wanted to go back-but wasnt ready to commit to the full trilogy, so I did 'Best Served Cold', which re Well, its been almost two months since I started.

Then a year later I wanted to go back-but wasnt ready to commit to the full trilogy, so I did 'Best Served Cold', which remains my favorite book by this author and possibly the only one that truly stands alone-even if you'll miss some minor things. But finally, starting on Christmas day, I got to the foundational text as it were.

More books by Joe Abercrombie

Were this a less famous work, or a less reviewed one I would no doubt go into great detail, which it no doubt deserves. But Im lazy and there is no need as there is a plethora of reviews for this out so I am going to list the striking things as if I were doing a load of laundry. I knew from previous experience that Abercrombie likes to take characters into unexpected places.

The sympathetic become unsympathetic and vice versa as events unfold. In some cases Monza in Best Served Cold even there and back again. But in this series I felt only two characters definitively moved in the direction of becoming more sympathetic, but almost all the others became worse with time save two who stayed in about the same place. Given the length and stress of the events described, I thought this a good outcome. Even the things which don't show up in the stand alone novels I have glanced at before were often predictable twists, once you get the gist of what is really going on.

Not all bad, just an observation. The battle scenes are excellently written and may be the best since Howard. The handling of Arch Lecter Sult was particularly well done, to make a minor character so loathsome in a cast of loathsome characters was particularly impressive. When it comes to nations, the idea of making the Union both the worst of the states and also the best at the same time was something to also give the author credit for.

I wont go into spoilers with details, but by far the objectively worst character in the entire series is also the one which in conventional narratives would not be. This, and the outcome of this, I thought was a nice subtle commentary on the nature of power politics and the people who rise in them. Tack on a much smaller character in the north triumphing as well and the message is rammed home. Best in how messy the ending was, as big conflicts actually are.

The climax in real life still is followed by chaos, suffering, unintended consequences, personal tragedy. But also, having read two of the stand-alones, I have to say that I feel this series is better without the magic, the mystery, the ancient-if corrupted-legends. I feel like there were still some tropes here which fade out later, and for the better of the series at that. But again, I didnt really read them in order and maybe that was the intent. Glokta is easily the best and most memorable character, period.

The only one I rooted for the entire time from start to finish, despite not classifying him as sympathetic in a conventional way. I loved that character, even if his unique italicized inner dialogue often didnt quite catch which lines would be slanted and which werent in my kindle version. Oct 21, Jean-Luc rated it really liked it. Pick your favorite epic fantasy, cynical just-so tale, or grimdark war story. Imagine Joe Abercrombie picking up your copy of X, casually tossing it on the ground, unzipping, and pissing on it.

I'll show you grimdark! This is the box set for Abercrombie's first 3 books: Ja Pick your favorite epic fantasy, cynical just-so tale, or grimdark war story. The Northmen threaten war from the North. The Gurkhul threaten war from the South.

The First Law Trilogy Boxed Set : The Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged, Last Argument of Kings

The Inquisition tortures people. The Empire is knock knocking on the Union outpost in the South. Northmen are invading from the north. My summaries do not do these books justice, but here is what you need to know: Much of these books takes place in the characters heads, because they hate each other. They cannot stop thinking about how much they hate each other, except for when they smile and tell each other anything other than what they're thinking.

Throughout the trilogy, I was waiting for everyone to grow the fuck up and work together to defeat the forces arrayed against them, but nope! Their hatred outshines everything. I've never seen characters defeat themselves so deftly. Never have I seen a villain so purely evil, and never have I loathed a villain so passionately. Villains are just antagonists, right? They sit opposite the heroes. You can't have a epic without villains.

Even the heroes are villains in the villain's eyes, right? The First Law don't deal with demons and The Second Law don't eat people are direct consequences of those thousand-year-old murders, but the story of those murders has been manipulated by a very unreliable narrator. That revelation is the last nail in the coffin for a satisfying ending other than "rocks fall, everyone dies".

And when that wished for ending doesn't arrive, it's just howling pain. The Ninefingers foreshadows this reckoning when he reveals he was once Bethod's champion, and when it comes, Abercrombie unleashes his full skill. He goes fucking florid. It feels like everything changes color and this fight is the entirety of the universe. Few authors have this much self-control, and right now I cannot even name one. Say one thing about Joe Abercrombie, say he writes a good yarn. Jul 08, Charles rated it really liked it Shelves: Write a customer review.

Read reviews that mention game of thrones joe abercrombie character development well written law trilogy great read served cold george r r martin well worth looking forward best served writing style really enjoyed good guys third book looking forward plot twists main characters fantasy genre highly recommend. Showing of reviews. Top Reviews Most recent Top Reviews. There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later. I really like books with multiple first person characters.

There are plenty of parallel storylines to keep it varied and although there are lots of typical plots, they don't always end as expected. Not as full of surprises as Game of thrones where main characters die on a whim, but he makes an effort to have some unpredictable twists. Really detailed fight scenes and character thinking. It adds a depth that is welcome. It is a long series but I find myself lamenting the end of each book which is quite a feat for a page book. Many authors have tired out my patience by that time but not Abercombie.

Kindle Edition Verified Purchase. Epic Fantasy - First law trilogy In the famous Hindu epic Mahabharatha the Kauravas are vilified and the Pandavas are glorified as righteous and the god Krishna as the lynchpin around which the epic revolves. The righteous strive to be good and try to do the right thing.

Krishna is on their side and he does not care a rats ass to their righteousness. He just gets his way out by hook or crook. The author Vyasa dude simply justifies whatever Krishna does as "if god does, its for the greater good and therefore its the right thing to do. As you keep reading the great epic again and again, you start peeling the layers and then it strikes you.. There are only people and people only do things that serve their own purposes.

All human deeds are simply manifestations of 'whats in it for me'. Joe Abercrombie has woven an epic trilogy that is set almost on the lines of LoTR minus the ring. There are adventures, magic, man eating vampires, kings, knights and vain fools. The book fits the definition of a page turner to the T. It starts in the middle of a fight from page 1 and never stops.

While Joe's book has enough material for another 5 books, he has chosen to sacrifice it for the tautness that a trilogy offers. If you are a sucker for a good epic fantasy , you'll love this. Be warned, there are no heroes, none! Okay, I have only got through the first third of the first book, but it was so good that I wanted to see what else Joe Abercrombie has published. I was very surprised to see so few reviews for this book. First thing I thought when I started was:

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