A Little Hatred

I was blown away with how much I enjoyed Abercrombie revisiting the world of the First Law trilogy in a sequel trilogy. You can easily read this right after the first trilogy though I highly recommend reading all the stand-alone books inbetween as well. Abercrombie is fantastic at returning characters, it's wonderful.

As always, it's the characters that make Abercrombie's grimdark fantasy shine, plus his dark humour. The Age of Madness does a time jump, it's set 30 years after the first trilogy. It's pretty much First Law TNG. The next generation is represented by PoV characters in the form of Prince Orso, the crown prince and wastrel son of Jezal, Savine dan Glokta, daughter of the Arch Lector, and an entrepreneur in the Industrial Revolution that has come to the union. Furthermore we have Lord Leo dan Brock, son of the Lord Governor of Angland, who's stuck in war against Black Calder's son Stour Nightfall. There's also Rikke, the Dogman's daughter, who has the Long Eye, visions of the future.

There's 3 more PoV characters, including another woman, which is truly my highlight, how much Abercrombie has evolved. In the original trilogy, there's one female PoV character, Ferro, and she has about as much depth as a flat screen TV. Vengeful woman, blah blah blah. All three female PoV characters already have far more depth than Ferro ever had. Rikke is so much fun, Sandrine is fascinating and troubled, and so is Vick. So greatly improved.

I can't wait to see where this is going, and Bayaz is still more Saruman than Gandalf, for sure.

The industrial revolution arrives, and it's ugly. Brutally cynical & vicious, yet somehow lighthearted.

Books #BookReview #Bookstodon #BookWyrm

Joe Abercrombie comes back one generation after his “First Law” trilogy. The main characters from the previous age have aged or gone back to the mud, leaving only stories behind them. Now is the time for their sons or daughters to conquer the world, fight each other, and wake up the old fights.

The “First Law” world has been established, so the author can really build on his characters. There's a lot of foreshadowing in this book (I think), a lot of buildup towards a great finale for this book, but also a good setup for what's next in the two following books. A key is given early (look for the one cursed with the long eye), but how will it all play?