Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie

[Werthead]

From the blog:

Last Argument of Kings is the third and concluding volume of The First Law Trilogy, following on from The Blade Itself and Before They Are Hanged. Those who have not read the first two volumes may wish to skip the plot summary as it does contain spoilers of events in those books.

In the frozen wastes of Angland, the army of the Union and its allies continues to wage war against Bethod and his forces. The Gurkish, having retaken Dagoska, now develop new and more bold plans to continue to wage war against the Union from the south. And, having failed in their quest to the far side of the world, Bayaz and his companions return to the city of Adua to make new preperations for the conflicts to come. But in this struggle it becomes clear that different factions are scheming for power, that those who are allies one day may be bitter foes the next, and that the price of victory may be far too high...

The First Law has attracted a great deal of praise since the publication of The Blade Itself a little under two years ago. Abercrombie's clear style delivered an apparently 'straightforward' fantasy tale with some interesting ruthless edges to it. Before They Are Hanged forced the reader to revise a lot of what they thought they knew whilst putting several key twists into the story that were unexpected. Last Argument of Kings delivers exactly what this trilogy needed: a no-holds-barred war story in which secrets are exposed, mysteries are explained and the author resolutely refuses to pull any punches. Those expecting a gloriously happy, neat ending to this trilogy best look elsewhere.

Instead, we get huge battle sequences, including one that threatens to displace the supremacy of Steven Erikson's siege of Capustan from Memories of Ice as the greatest epic fantasy battle this century. We get more intricate, devious politics. We get more torture, courtesy of our friend Glokta (whose character arc remains the most vivid and engrossing of the series). The deepening of the character of Bayaz, who first turned up looking like a jovial Belgarath-style wizard and is now revealed to have a lot more going on to him than just that, is also tremendously satisfying. To those who have taken part in debate on various fan forums some plot elements may emerge as rather predictable, at least until Abercrombie pulls the rug out from under your feet and, just for giggles, does it again a few chapters later. Best of all is the way quite small storyline elements from the previous two books are revisited and minor charaters of no great significance are now revealed to have their own important roles to play.

The ending is superb, particularly the tremendously satisfying epilogue and the final scene. Enough loose ends are left that Abercrombie could revisit the storyline in future books or series, but not to the extent that it is a necessity. Life goes on, albeit in a manner which some characters (and perhaps some readers) find criminally unfair. We also get enough clues laid about other, hitherto undeveloped parts of the world such as Styria that the news that the author's next novel, Best Served Cold, will be set there is most welcome. However, for the time being at least, we must bid a fond farewell to Superior Glokta, the redoubtable Jezal, the secretive Bayaz, the proud Ardee, the solid Colonel West and, of course, the Bloody-Nine. I look forward to the day when we catch up with them and their adventures once more.

Last Argument of Kings (****½) is a more than worthy conclusion to this trilogy. The novel will be published by Gollancz in the UK on 20 March 2008 in hardcover and trade paperback and by Pyr Books in the USA in September 2008.

[niamh]

I read that with one eye covered.

Phew, no spoilers.

Well, it was hard to wait already, now it's worse.

eta: The siege of Capustan is greater than the siege of Dros Delnoch (which lasts a whole book)? I better check that out and it better deliver. I know where you live

[Werthead]

Not quite:

including one that threatens to displace the supremacy of Steven Erikson's siege of Capustan from Memories of Ice as the greatest epic fantasy battle this century

As I'm pedantic on the whole century thing, the battles in A Storm of Swords and obviously in Tolkien also qualify as 'last century'.

[Blue Roses]

This has cheered me up after a particularly soggy and miserable weekend.

A trilogy in three years. ye gods, pigs really do fly. :-

[niamh]

Not quite:

As I'm pedantic on the whole century thing, the battles in A Storm of Swords and obviously in Tolkien also qualify as 'last century'.

Oh. BAH! I haven't cottoned on to the 21st century yet.

[Ser_Not_Appearing_In_This_Book]

Thanks for the review! (even if it does make the waiting a wee bit more hard to handle)

[BLU-RAY]

Mpppphh. Dammit, I want Before They Are Hanged, quickly. Quickly!

Skimmed the review, and I'm glad to see it doesn't go downhill from The Blade Itself. (Managed not to read anything that would've spoilt book 2 for me).

[RedEyedGhost]

The ending is superb, particularly the tremendously satisfying epilogue and the final scene.

This is beyond good news for me. Too many fantasy series are wonderful and satisfying for the first 95%, and then the ending is just flat or unimaginative.

It's also nice to hear that everything isn't wrapped with a cute pink bow; I like it when some things are left to the imagination.

[Gormenghast]

I'm just 50 pages into the first volume and it seems relatively small scale. If it opens up as it goes I'll like it a lot more.

I assume The Blade Itself starts relatively slow. After 50 pages I usually have already an idea about the book, the style, where it is going... while I don't have any about this one.

[Nymeria87]

I'm just 50 pages into the first volume and it seems relatively small scale. If it opens up as it goes I'll like it a lot more.

I assume The Blade Itself starts relatively slow. After 50 pages I usually have already an idea about the book, the style, where it is going... while I don't know have any about this one.

Waitaminute...you think it starts slow? Ok, if you're referring to the fact that you don't know where the overall story is going, I can agree, but yeah, wait and you'll see and I don't think you'll be disappointed with it

Other than that, awesome news and I'm really looking forward to the final volume that will conclude this series. I think I almost enjoyed Before They Are Hanged more than The Blade Itself, but all in all it's been an amazingly unusual series full of gorgeously realized characters so far, I'm looking forward to March 08 (or whenever Joe decides to send me a copy just...becaquse )

Oh and Mandy, go to amazon.com, it should have it...though I might be wrong because I got my copy from amazon.de when I was still living in Germany...American release dates suck sometimes...anyway, good luck in finding it, it's well worth the effort

[The Wolf Maid]

Thank you for the review. Spoiler-free, but enough to whet one's appetite for the book.

So this means we won't be seeing the First Law characters throughout the Second Law, or is that just for Best Served Cold?

Werthead, I'm currently very, very envious of you. Damn book bloggers. *shakes fist*

[Errant Bard]

Thanks for the review, though it only makes the wait until march 2008 seem that much longer.

Also, I couldn't help but notice that Jezal is now dubbed "redoubtable" and Ferro is suspisciously absent from the review, so I expect to be a sad panda in the end.

[danro]

Also, I couldn't help but notice that Jezal is now dubbed "redoubtable" and Ferro is suspisciously absent from the review, so I expect to be a sad panda in the end.

And that was not the only notable exception...

[Deornoth]

And that was not the only notable exception...

Hang on...

*reads review again*

What about the Dogman?

[Mexal]

I'm pumped!

[oneeye]

I can't wait )

[Edda van Heefmstra Ruston]

I prefer to think Wert is just deliberately messing with our heads than let things this major slip in a review.

[The Iceman of the North]

People, the review hardly mentioned any characters, so to despair just because someone wasn't mentioned is taking it a bit too far. I'm sure Wert knows better than to make major spoilers in a review like this.

[Werthead]

Thank you for the review. Spoiler-free, but enough to whet one's appetite for the book.

So this means we won't be seeing the First Law characters throughout the Second Law, or is that just for Best Served Cold?

I designed that comment so it's equally valid if every character survives the end of the book or if they all bite it on Page 2 (in which case it's still okay to bid them a fond farewell). Absolutely no spoilers on who survives and who doesn't.

I suspect that Joe's hedged his bets a little and left things open for a return to the characters who survive the book (and certainly a couple of story-threads are laid down that could be picked up later on), but my understanding is that neither Best Served Cold nor the following book will feature any of the major characters from The First Law. A couple of the minor ones, perhaps.

[Errant Bard]

People, the review hardly mentioned any characters, so to despair just because someone wasn't mentioned is taking it a bit too far. I'm sure Wert knows better than to make major spoilers in a review like this.

I can speak only for myself, but I don't think anyone is seriously complaining. Nothing wrong with over-exagerating any reaction you have while reading a review in the chance the reviewer might slip and feed you some useful info, heh? (Though wert is annoyingly good at it, and we cannot even know for sure if some characters really bite it based on the latest post)

Beside, I've been wrong reading their posts often enough to doubt what seems to be implied by westeros Lit reviewers.