First Law Trilogy - Joe Abercrombie

topic posted Mon, October 19, 2009 - 3:12 AM by  Bink
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The Blade Itself - Before They are Hanged - The Last Argument of Kings are the three books. There is also a new stand alone novel in the setting, Best Served Cold, that takes place just after the First Law trilogy and focuses on some of the minor characters from the trilogy. I haven't read that yet though. The first law trilogy are his first books.

They are mostly low fantasy with some elements of high fantasy thrown in, but no dragons, elves, fairies or any of that. He sticks pretty close to standard formula for the genre through the first book, although all the main characters are a bit off archetype. As the series progresses he pulls farther away from the standard fantasy tropes and formulas. By the third book he kicking them squarely in the balls, which makes for some interesting reading. There is a good bit that is still predictable, but there are major plots resolutions and events that completely blindside you because they are so far from what you would normally expect. They are not great books and there are definite areas that Abercrombie falls flat, but they are his first books and get better as the trilogy progresses. I'd recommend them over most other straight fantasy though.
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Bink
Maryland
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