This is less of a review and more my general thoughts and if you disagree with any of them that’s fine I’m not gonna give the book a rating other then to say I enjoyed the reread

On reread I still think the first book is the weakest one though it’s still a solid read and entertaining book if a bit more predictable since on reread you always know what’s gonna happen the book has a bit of a slow start but the pacing gets better after the first few chapters and I think the is book builds up the world and plot for the next 2 books very well.
I did like the fact this book hade less POVs since the more POVs there are the slower the plot moves generally even tho it never bothered my in the first 3 books.

Logan: definitely the most entertaining pov in the first book imo and his interaction with Bayaz are the best parts of the reread since you know what Bayaz is cooking this time around it’s also nice to have a book where Logan is mostly Logan. I forgot he could eat a bonfire and spit it out why did he never do that again seems like a useful thing to have.

Jezal: hated him on first read but on reread it’s easier to feel bad for him even tho he’s still a prick in the first book he has the least entertaining chapters imo but I do like his pov when he runs passed the house of the maker.

Glokta: such an interesting character even on reread even if I wanted to skip some of the chapters where he was torturing people. his inner monologue is as sarcastic as I remember and his dental skills.

Bayaz: fuck this guy hate his guts but love him as an antagonist was very fun to read whenever he was on screen since and knowing what he does later on and in the past gives a lot more depth to anything he says.

I just find this quote so profound and prevalent to contemporary society.

I do understand pushing for mental health, and understanding people as we progress as a society.

But the line between understanding and just exoneration is blending.

Because I don’t believe there are naturally evil people out here. By bottom of my heart I believe no one’s born evil. It’s the experiences that shape a person. Then by extension their actions. Any terrible person you look at has probably had copious amounts of trauma and adversities.

So no evil or troubled person is born without adversity. We just can’t let adversity justify absolve people from their actions.

People should get sympathy for their troubles, people should get help for their troubles. But never at the expense of the innocent.

Guys… I’ve been excited to get to Red Country for a while knowing a bit of what it was about and knowing it was styled as a Western of sorts, but this novel is blowing me away. I’m still near the beginning of Part 2 so no spoilers for the bulk of the novel, but I had to share something.

I think Abercrombie’s writing is sharper and more elegant than ever here and I think he’s generally been improving with every book so far starting with TLB. I didn’t like BSC as much as the second two books of the first trilogy but the writing has been really impressive. The Heroes was incredible as everyone’s said, but Red Country man is already on another level. Like I said I’m extremely partial to Westerns, and Logan was the most beautifully wrought character in the first books. Fitting him into the Clint Eastwood role in a fantasy Unforgiven is just too fucking clever an idea. It works so damn beautifully.

Anyway, this is also his funniest novel so far imo, all the new characters are brilliant, Temple is an immediate icon, the smaller cameos so far also great. But really I’ve been reading a lot of fantasy lately, hitting some of the popular names - Martin, Sando, Erikson, Wolfe, etc. and I’ll just say the quality of writing in the genre even at the supposed top levels here can be wanting. Martin I think is really excellent, especially in voice, but I have to admit I sort of trailed off near the beginning of Feast though I’ll come back to it. Sando is workmanlike, Wolfe is obviously on a whole other level, but his puzzle box style of work is something I need to be in the mood for. Likewise I’m finding Malazan really bingeable at the moment but uh… I have some mixed feelings about Erikson as a writer I’ll just say.

But Abercrombie is just so all around wonderful. He’s definitely truly a genre guy, but his voice is so specific and he approaches the writing with real care toward efficacy, readability, wit, and I’m finding a level of poeticism I think a lot of genre writers strive for but just don’t have the chops to pull off. I think a lot of fantasy in particular tends to be overwrought in this regard or just lacking in vision, but I think this stuff deserves a place in the canon. Anyway I attached a lovely passage that inspired me to make this post, I’ll stop gushing for now and get back to reading.

I already finished reading book one and yet to finish the original trilogy, but I'm curious of what song choices would best fit the trilogy. What are your list of picks (and playlist you got) of songs and music that match or closely resemble the vibe to the original series as a whole? (A great picture art by Darey Dawn, just for reference)

I stopped in a book store to browse today, and saw new hardcover editions of the first 3 books. I checked the publishers page and it said 2026. Did I somehow miss the announcement these were being released? Looks like I know what I'm getting for Xmas!

Just admiring the artwork on this book. This is the US Edition. I am about to start the book, after reading a bunch of sci-fi. No spoilers here. Just appreciation.

I've seen some shit talked about Brock before, he's low on lists of favorite characters/perspectives. And after 2 books I definitely see it! Shit I saw it after the first one.. And I'm just so, SO annoyed at Orso for not hanging him. Probably even more so than when Leo spared Nightfall and that just pissed me off. No real point to this post other than bitching about Leo. I've been running thru these books, just started Wisdom of Crowds so fingers crossed for his death yet to come!

I'm new to this sub and just finished the trilogy.

Have you already exhausted the idea that The Circle of The World is inscribed within a Gnostic square? That is, a prison-world cosmogony? Bayaz and the other magi would thus be embodied Archons.

Are there threads worth reading? Any discussions with JA about parallels with Gnostic mysticism?

I’m towards the end of the book and the crew is at someone’s house whose name sounds like “Buckhorn”. They keep talking about him like I’m supposed to know him, but I genuinely can’t remember who this is? It’s the house where Cosca and Friendly ambush them

Any googling I do pulls up nothing because I’m probably spelling the guys name wrong. Can someone help me out with this?

I just finished my second "read" of the First Law Trilogy - I put "read" in scarequotes because it was really my first listen of the wonderful Steven Pacey audiobook.

As I was wrapping the final book up I became increasingly convinced that Joe's achievement here goes beyond just writing an entertaining piece of genre fiction. He's offering legitimate and original statements on the nature of the human condition. And if he's doing that, he deserves to be considered for inclusion in the canon.

In no particular order, I think the book makes serious points on the following:

• The nature of character and identity
• The nature and value of freedom
• The legitimacy of the state
• The functions and uses of power

There is a serious political philosophy in this story.

There's also the question of the character work. Glokta in particular is an achievement - and I'd argue Jezal and Logan are as well. I think the quality of this falls off a bit in Joe's later work - Leo dan Brock stands out, but the work isn't as consistently excellent.

Any of you have a reliable illustration of the makers mechanical dragon?

Compared to his other works, this one feels the most like Best Served Cold to me, in that it's a group of unrelated characters united under one goal. Except here it's more light-hearted since they all pretty much like each other from the start (except Balthazar) and those bonds only grow stronger over time. Nothing wrong with that, it's an easier read and Joe did a good job making all the characters likeable enough despite their flaws. I do wish Alex, arguably the main character, got a bit more to do instead of being saved at every turn, so hopefully she'll have more agency from the next book on.

But maybe that's why Balthazar was my favourite, since he was the exception. His escape attempts actually caused some tension (the scene with the Duke of Hell is also the funniest in the book), he got shit done in every single fight they had, and his slow acceptance of them all made for a more engaging character arc. He's also the main reason Baptiste and Rikard, the only non-POV team members, have any kind of character at all, since it's his interactions with them that lets us learn more about them.

RIP Baptiste though, that was brutal ;-; But it had to be done; you can't portray the Vigga Wolf as some uncontrollable danger without giving us some bad consequences, similar to the Bloody Nine, and I'm glad we didn't have to wait till book three for that to happen this time.

I heard that James Cameron is gonna turn this into a movie? If so, that's great news for Joe, he deserves all the success in the world! But then I can't help but wonder if this was written with a movie in mind, and if he added all the tropes and the quips and the suicide squad-vibes because he knew they'd go over well with a film audience, rather than what would work best for the novel. Something didn't feel quite right the whole time I was reading and maybe that was it, so maybe I'll end up liking the movie version more because of that.

I give it an 8/10 overall, same as The Blade Itself. It didn't have any standout characters like Logen or Glokta, but it also told a complete and interesting story while leaving plenty to look forward to for the rest of the series.

A little love for Malacus Quai ✊😔

For those interested.

https://www.chirpbooks.com/series/the-first-law-trilogy-audiobooks

Just finished The Heroes and that 1v1 duel Gorst fought during the battle in the third act was really just a fantastic piece of writing. I'm being intentionally vague just in case people are yet to read it, but if you've read it, you know which one I mean.

I have read a lot of fantasy (and 40k) but the pacing, description of the direction of attacks and just the visceral detail of that whole chapter was so, so good.

I was just thinking it would have been cool to see Leo and Orso fence. Orso is supposed to be a decent fencer and Leo likes to think he’s the hardest bastard since Skarling Hoodless, Bremer Dan Gorst and the bloody nine.

Would have been cool to see them cross swords as a sparring match and Leo to get beaten and get all upset by it. Not possible I know as Leo is injured by the time he meets Orso but still could have been fun.

Also really want a view of the fight between threetrees and Logan, either from Threetrees or method’s perspective.

I'm sure anyone could guess what I'm referring to based off the title... Orso has been one of my favorite characters in any fantasy series. I felt so attached to him, and I was so proud of him for his growth and development.

I understand this is grimdark and similar endings were given to characters in the first trilogy as well, but it didn't have to result in such an embarrassing and undignified death. To be sentenced to death by the man you lost your love to, while the woman you love is watching. He showed that little punk Leo mercy, he saved Savine's life. He didn't instigate a single conflict. All this was thrown at him and he dealt with each challenge head on. I've been literally having trouble sleeping. I'm upset with Joe for writing his ending this way. He could have easily had Orso live in exile, having to live a life of peasantry, it still would have retained some semblance of poetry and at least let him live after all the hell he was put through.

I know the book is a masterpiece and I respect the author, but I still have this opinion and I feel so strongly about it.

Also, f Savine and Rikke for letting it happen and screwing him over, f Leo for being a punka**, and f Adi for condemning Jezal's child with her plans. That's all I have to say.

So I’m a big DC guy and I saw this actor today. His name is Tom Rhys Harries. I wasn’t familiar with him before he got the roll as Clayface in the upcoming film of the same name. I saw the trailers but didn’t connect the dots until I saw this post today. This dude could play a pretty good Jezal I reckon. If he has the chops for it. Again, I’ve never seen him act yet. But that jaw. Am I the only one who is thinking this?

This has chunks of teeth chiseled out as Glokta implied was done to him, along with some nice Medieval hygiene shades (though Glokta seems to appreciate clean teeth anyway).

I still think this version has potential to chew food as opposed to my first set, since these remaining teeth are close enough and jaws can move forward and side-to-side a decent bit. Even though I chipped out places where two teeth contacted to allow him to close his jaw more, I daresay he could even eat a steak or crunch on veggies with these shattered remains, just veeeery slowly.

Next week I'll be finished with LAOK and onto the next trilogy! It's been a great ride!

God, I never would have expected to see Jezel have such a tragic ending. He's a puppet, and the love of his life is married to a cripple torturer. Ferro, I was really hoping I would have some kind of "Revenge isn't worth it." Kind of an ending akin to Abby in TLOU2, but no, she's basically gone crazy from the seed. Marshall, that hurt to see. Logen probably had the most poetic ending. Glockta mentioned waiting when Jezel asked if anything could be done. I'm curious how Age of Madness will end. Dogman.... existed IDK i never got invested into his character. But HS what an ending

some text post image things i’ve made for abercrombie and first law…. i love abercrombie… posted these to pinterest originally but thought the reddit would get a kick out of them too lol

Sick shirt I finally pulled the trigger on, just came in the mail

I like the subtlety to it

I’m ready for revenge. Leo, Savine, Rikke, Broad. I’m ready for Hildi and her train tracks of doom! Burn them all. What a great story. What a great series.