Superior Glokta has a problem. How do you defend a city surrounded by enemies and riddled with traitors, when your allies can by no means be trusted, and your predecessor vanished without a trace? It’s enough to make a torturer want to run – if he could even walk without a stick.
Northmen have spilled over the border of Angland and are spreading fire and death across the frozen country. Crown Prince Ladisla is poised to drive them back and win undying glory. There is only one problem – he commands the worst-armed, worst-trained, worst-led army in the world.
And Bayaz, the First of the Magi, is leading a party of bold adventurers on a perilous mission through the ruins of the past. The most hated woman in the South, the most feared man in the North, and the most selfish boy in the Union make a strange alliance, but …
Superior Glokta has a problem. How do you defend a city surrounded by enemies and riddled with traitors, when your allies can by no means be trusted, and your predecessor vanished without a trace? It’s enough to make a torturer want to run – if he could even walk without a stick.
Northmen have spilled over the border of Angland and are spreading fire and death across the frozen country. Crown Prince Ladisla is poised to drive them back and win undying glory. There is only one problem – he commands the worst-armed, worst-trained, worst-led army in the world.
And Bayaz, the First of the Magi, is leading a party of bold adventurers on a perilous mission through the ruins of the past. The most hated woman in the South, the most feared man in the North, and the most selfish boy in the Union make a strange alliance, but a deadly one. They might even stand a chance of saving mankind from the Eaters. If they didn’t hate each other quite so much.
Ancient secrets will be uncovered. Bloody battles will be won and lost. Bitter enemies will be forgiven – but not before they are hanged.
The pros and cons are very similar to the first volume in the series. The characters are interesting (and a bit more familiar, so there is less wondering how things fit together). The overall plot arcs are interesting. For better or worse the book includes some fairly extended and graphic descriptions of violence. I don't know if I am extra sensitive, but I struggled to get through it because of these passages, or perhaps because of my anticipation of these passages.
A good read. I don't find Joe's stuff engaging in the way that a truly amazing book is, where you sit there enraptured until you absolutely have to go to bed or do something else, powering through page after page, but it's enjoyable and nags at me to keep at it. The story is quite grim in an unpleasantly realistic way, and sometimes it can be tiring, but the story he's telling is engaging and every paragraph serves to build up to a climax you can feel coming a long way off. I also appreciate that Joe's characters genuinely feel fleshed out - they grow and backslide, and have some dimensionality to them. All in all, not a bad read.
It's funny. I read the first book in this trilogy (now a bit of a long running series actually) [b:The Blade Itself|944073|The Blade Itself (The First Law, #1)|Joe Abercrombie|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1284167912l/944073.SX50_SY75.jpg|929009], back in 2015. I really enjoyed it and promised I would read the next one, this one, soon.
But that didn't happen. Hey, I am a guy with nearly 2,000 books on my Want to Read list, so it isn't surprising. But earlier this year, I read [b:A Little Hatred|35606041|A Little Hatred (The Age of Madness, #1)|Joe Abercrombie|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1558367199l/35606041.SY75.jpg|57338685] and really enjoyed it, not even realizing it is connected to The First Law trilogy! It is the next generation of these characters. So I decided I should head back and finish reading the original trilogy.
And wow, am I glad I did! It is another grim, dark, brutal fantasy, with limbs flying and a dark cold death …
It's funny. I read the first book in this trilogy (now a bit of a long running series actually) [b:The Blade Itself|944073|The Blade Itself (The First Law, #1)|Joe Abercrombie|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1284167912l/944073.SX50_SY75.jpg|929009], back in 2015. I really enjoyed it and promised I would read the next one, this one, soon.
But that didn't happen. Hey, I am a guy with nearly 2,000 books on my Want to Read list, so it isn't surprising. But earlier this year, I read [b:A Little Hatred|35606041|A Little Hatred (The Age of Madness, #1)|Joe Abercrombie|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1558367199l/35606041.SY75.jpg|57338685] and really enjoyed it, not even realizing it is connected to The First Law trilogy! It is the next generation of these characters. So I decided I should head back and finish reading the original trilogy.
And wow, am I glad I did! It is another grim, dark, brutal fantasy, with limbs flying and a dark cold death around the corner for everyone. To be honest, I don't remember much of the first book at this point, so I'm not really sure how the story carries along. But I quickly became friends (again?) with the main characters. In this book, there are 3 groups:
+ The Magician Bayaz and his group head off on a quest for a "thing" to help win the war.
+ Colonel West tries to help the stupid prince not die in a battle, then gets dragged along by another group to fight a big battle against Bethod.
+ Superior Glokta tries to save an outpost against the Ghurkas
Told in usually alternating chapters, the story moves along quickly and the characters in each group reflect off each other, have adventurers, kill, die and make love in equal doses.
The book suffers a bit in being the middle book of the trilogy. It starts off in the middle of stuff and the endings are not much. The futile end of the quest and the start of another, a murder and a huge battle that ends when things fade away in the mist, literally. But other than that, I was pretty riveted for the entire book. Loved (and hated) the characters, enjoyed their growth and their humor and can't wait to read the third book.
However, a couple things bring this down. First one is, of course, the big quest. If you have read any of my reviews, I am not a big fan of quests, ie, just one damn thing after another. This one wasn't quite as bad as others I have read and at least I liked the characters. But it was still A Quest.
But the biggest drawback to the book is the use of torture. I know Superior Glokta is an Inquisitor, who, almost by definition, uses torture like others use a credit card, but it still gets tiring. Ever since watching The Report, an expose on the torture of Iraqis by American soldiers, I have become a warrior against torture. I won't watch shows that glorify torture (I'm looking at you Watchmen) or movies either.
And this book uses it as a sort of deus ex machina to give Abercrombie an easy way out. Want to solve a murder? Torture some one and he spills be the beans. Not only does he tell the truth, but you don't doubt it in the slightest and without even a shred of supporting evidence, you convict the other two. Even just the threat of torture works every time. It's just wrong, it's just ugly and it's just lazy.
But besides that, I love this series and love this world. I need to read the next book ASAP!
If you clenched your teeth hard enough, and took enough strides, you could get anywhere.
Before They Are Hanged is a slog in the most sincere and positive way possible. The book is fantastic and an excellent middle step of a trilogy. However, for our characters after The Blade Itself nothing is easy, everything is a struggle and war is all around them.
The slog of Ninefingers, Glokta or Jezel is tiring, ruthless and a continuous struggle for survival and it made for a brilliant read. Grizzled veterans or fresh faces to battle experience the constant onslaught of existence and what could be a monotonous read is gripping and suspenseful.
We are leaders. War is what happens when fail.
Each chapter moved the story along and I never felt my enjoyment drag. The book was shorter than The Blade Itself and that helped prevent the story from having any unnecessary …
If you clenched your teeth hard enough, and took enough strides, you could get anywhere.
Before They Are Hanged is a slog in the most sincere and positive way possible. The book is fantastic and an excellent middle step of a trilogy. However, for our characters after The Blade Itself nothing is easy, everything is a struggle and war is all around them.
The slog of Ninefingers, Glokta or Jezel is tiring, ruthless and a continuous struggle for survival and it made for a brilliant read. Grizzled veterans or fresh faces to battle experience the constant onslaught of existence and what could be a monotonous read is gripping and suspenseful.
We are leaders. War is what happens when fail.
Each chapter moved the story along and I never felt my enjoyment drag. The book was shorter than The Blade Itself and that helped prevent the story from having any unnecessary weight. For as much as I enjoyed it I'm not sure it is worthy of it was amazing five stars.
The story focuses on familiar characters, there are struggles and wonderful character development, and more action than its predecessor but ultimately the book doesn't conclude anything. This moved characters along, cranked up the tension and set up for what should be an incredible finish in Last Argument of Kings.
Got to have fear to have courage.
The spoils of war aren't sugar coated in this story the violence may be extreme for some reader but I am glad Abercrombie writes this way because you feel that life and death truly hangs in the balance. Fantastic story and I'm looking forward to finishing the trilogy off!
Before They Are Hanged is the second book in Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy. As such it would make sense to start with the first book in the series. You can read my review of The Blade Itself right here if you wish. The book picks up almost directly from where The Blade Itself left off and concerns itself with largely the same set of characters.
I remember reading, many years ago, the criticism that a trilogy structure almost invariably resulted in a middle book where people were "going somewhere." That is certainly true in this case. The book threads between three major storylines using several different viewpoint characters. These three storylines barely intersect at all during the course of the book. You can see that they will eventually impact each other, but to all intents and purposes at this point you're reading three stories set in the same world …
Before They Are Hanged is the second book in Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy. As such it would make sense to start with the first book in the series. You can read my review of The Blade Itself right here if you wish. The book picks up almost directly from where The Blade Itself left off and concerns itself with largely the same set of characters.
I remember reading, many years ago, the criticism that a trilogy structure almost invariably resulted in a middle book where people were "going somewhere." That is certainly true in this case. The book threads between three major storylines using several different viewpoint characters. These three storylines barely intersect at all during the course of the book. You can see that they will eventually impact each other, but to all intents and purposes at this point you're reading three stories set in the same world at the same time.
Of those three I found Sand dan Glokta's storyline the most compelling (whereas in the previous volume it was that of Logen Ninefingers). Glokta is a fascinating character being crippled and cynical yet with a strangely honorable core to him. His role as Superior of Dagoska in charge of the defense of the city and his interactions with the political leaders make for some entertaining scenes. Glokta also seems to be perpetually nosing around the edge of some larger conspiracy that is happening in the Union.
That's not to say that the other storylines are disinteresting. The battle between The Union and the northmen in Angland has some very tense moments to it but neither Colem West or the Dogman are as interesting characters to read. And the bickering of the "main" party gets a bit repetitive at times, particularly since they are the ones essentially doing a tour of the world in their quest to find The Seed which, naturally, is at the end of the world.
Subverting Expectations
On the one hand Abercrombie is clearly telling an epic fantasy tale here. We have powers in play that can destroy cities. I mentioned in my previous review that there are moments where you get echoes of Tolkien. Here for example we get the idea that these same battles have been played out on a larger scale before. That what we have now is a mere shadow of the power and majesty that this world once knew.
And yet every time we get one of those moments, Abercrombie deftly flips things around to show us that what might seem like majesty is little more than arrogance and selfishness. That the golden past, wasn't really so golden.
He does the same thing with characters. There really isn't a noble one amongst the bunch. They are arrogant or selfish or cruel or flawed in some other way. Many of them do, or have done, horrible things. Yet, in most cases, he keeps them sympathetic.
Colem West is a good example of this. In the first book he lost his temper and violently attacked his sister. But we don't come away hating him. Instead we see someone who is struggling, desperately, to hang on. To stay in control. To keep his sister safe. He feels threatened and overwhelmed by everything around him. And from time to time he gives in to the anger that fear breeds. Flawed? Very. Evil? No.
Sand dan Gloctor is another one. On the surface he is a horrible person. He tortures people. Sometimes, he enjoys it. On occasion he knowingly sentences an innocent to death, because the alternative is his death. And yet, when given the chance, more than once he has taken a risk to save someone else. There is a strange nobility to the character. His pursuit of the truth is oddly honorable in a very twisted way.
Complexity Of Character
This complexity of character is present throughout the book and is one of its biggest strengths. The world building is solidly done but in truth there isn't that much to distinguish this fantasy world from many others beyond a certain gritty realism. The characters, however, are remarkably rich.
Take Ferro Maljinn for example. An escaped slave who was clearly treated very badly, her past has scarred her present. There's a great moment in this book where Ferror reveals that she cut her own face as an act of rebellion because then her owner wouldn't be able to charge as much for her "services." That rebellious self-mutilation is a physical manifestation of her personality. It reflects how she speaks to people and how she conducts relationships.
And the complexity is not limited to the primary viewpoint characters. While the minor characters, obviously, don't get the same time and attention even they have a complexity that you don't normally see in fantasy novels. They live lives and form relationships that aren't directly related to the needs or interests of the main characters.
Grim, Gritty And Ugly
I've mentioned elsewhere that I'm increasingly tired with the grim and gritty emphasis of modern fantasy. Not only do I think it has become a lazy way to add credibility to a book, I also think it's just plain depressing to read endlessly.
Before They Are Hanged is grim and gritty to the core. This is a brutal and ugly world. And in a brutal and ugly world people do horrible things to each other. There is also a layer of cynicism coated over everything that happens in this book. Cynicism that I would hazard a guess is informed by the British history (the Union strikes me as a fairly clear parallel to Britain), both political and military.
The book is also, at times, quite depressing to read because of all the violence and misery. And yet, Abercrombie manages to instill enough empathy for the viewpoint characters and offer out the meagerest of hopes that each of these characters may find some sort of redemption.
It's enough, at least when combined with the exceptionally skillful writing, to make me love reading these books. They aren't going to be to everyone's tastes. Some will find them just to grim and the violence too unpleasant. But they are really well written.
Liked this even better than the first. Quests! Battles! Torture! A little magic! A little sexytimes! Never a dull moment in this one and pacing is great. Going to start #3 immediately.
Narration outstanding, although audio does bring out the overuse of the word "grimace". Probably wouldn't even notice it if eye-reading.
Great 2nd book. Both the first book and this one end abruptly, very glad I am reading these now that there all out. Hate to be waiting for the next book.
This is an excellent continuation to the series, picking up where book one left off. Abercrombie delves deep into his characters and moves the plot forward, the latter being a welcome addition after the slower moving character work that made up the majority of the last volume. I loved the first book, but Before They Are Hanged entranced me and I was unable to put it down. In particular, I loved Logen's tale in this book, and really enjoyed Glotka's adventures in the south. There is still some of the same issue I described from the first book, where a chapter may not start with a clear indication of which character's perspective is informing the narrative, but otherwise this is a fabulous story, and the rest of the writing more than made up for it.
I'll keep this review brief and write something longer when I finish the third and …
This is an excellent continuation to the series, picking up where book one left off. Abercrombie delves deep into his characters and moves the plot forward, the latter being a welcome addition after the slower moving character work that made up the majority of the last volume. I loved the first book, but Before They Are Hanged entranced me and I was unable to put it down. In particular, I loved Logen's tale in this book, and really enjoyed Glotka's adventures in the south. There is still some of the same issue I described from the first book, where a chapter may not start with a clear indication of which character's perspective is informing the narrative, but otherwise this is a fabulous story, and the rest of the writing more than made up for it.
I'll keep this review brief and write something longer when I finish the third and final book in the series.
