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Joe Abercrombie: The Collected Works 2 (A new trilogy on the horizon)


Rhom

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Figured I’d take a cue from the Bakker threads and just copy my now two year old intro from the other thread.  Amazing it took that long to close out the thread when we used to have three to four active topics going at a time!  :lol: 

Its a damn tragedy that we only have one thread dedicated to Joe on the first page, and that one is now locked.  So anyways, here's a new thread about the legend himself.  (Yes, he really did chase off some ruffians with a banister after already taking a shot to the head.)  I presume we can accept spoilers up through Sharp Ends in this topic and for Shattered Sea.

Resources unavailable to those of us who discovered Joe back around the release of The Blade Itself that are now free for you to peruse include Wert's very own handy dandy link to a map of The First Law world.

And to address the perplexingly persistent question of "What order should I read Abercrombie?"  From Wert's link above, here's a timeline of all the stories set in the world of the The First Law:

566 (spring): A Beautiful Bastard
570 (summer): Made a Monster
573 (autumn): Small Kindnesses
574 (autumn): The Fool Jobs

575: (spring) The Blade Itself 

575 (summer): Skipping Town 

576-77: Before They Are Hanged

576 (spring): Hell

576 (summer): Two's Company 
577: Last Argument of Kings
579-80: Best Served Cold

580: Wrong Place, Wrong Time

584 (summer): Some Desperado 

584 (autumn): Yesterday, Near a Village Called Barden
584: The Heroes
587 (autumn): Three's a Crowd 

590 (summer): Freedom!

590: Red Country

592 (spring): Tough Times All Over
605: A Little Hatred (due in 2019)
6??: The Trouble With Peace (due in 2020)
6??: The Beautiful Machine (due in 2021)

For reference... The bold titles are the main sequence novels and can (and should) be read in publication/chronological order.  All those non-bolded are short stories that are available in Sharp Ends.

There you have it.

Oh... and we like the Shattered Sea trilogy around here too.  Much debate on where they fit on the shelves at your local bookseller, but they generally are a lighter read than TFL.  They are completely unrelated to TFL.

Proceed

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2 hours ago, Rhom said:

From Wert's link above, here's a timeline of all the stories set in the world of the The First Law:

566 (spring): A Beautiful Bastard
570 (summer): Made a Monster
573 (autumn): Small Kindnesses
574 (autumn): The Fool Jobs
575 (summer): Skipping Town 
576 (spring): Hell
576 (summer): Two's Company 
576: The Blade Itself 
576-77: Before They Are Hanged
577: Last Argument of Kings
579-80: Best Served Cold
580: Wrong Place, Wrong Time
584 (summer): Some Desperado 
584 (autumn): Yesterday, Near a Village Called Barden  
584: The Heroes
587 (autumn): Three's a Crowd 
590 (summer): Freedom!
590: Red Country
592 (spring): Tough Times All Over
605: New Trilogy Book 1 (due in 2019) 
 

For reference... The bold titles are the main sequence novels and can (and should) be read in publication/chronological order.  All those non-bolded are short stories that are available in Sharp Ends.

 

Doesn't Hell take place at the end of BTAH? Shouldn't it be read after that book?

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1 minute ago, SeanF said:

I have a question about Half a War.

Was Yarvi's remorse genuine, during his final conversation with Skara, or an act?

Hard to say with Yarvi.  I want to think so, but he really turned out to be a bastard.

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Just now, Rhom said:

Hard to say with Yarvi.  I want to think so, but he really turned out to be a bastard.

It's hard not believe the worst of him.

Did he have Skifr's family murdered, and frame his enemies for it?  Did he see Brand's likely death in the raid as collateral damage?

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32 minutes ago, Nicomo Cosca said:

Doesn't Hell take place at the end of BTAH? Shouldn't it be read after that book?

Yeah it does. Wert's timeline is one year off. Joe confirmed in an old thread that TBI starts in spring 575.

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1 hour ago, Consigliere said:

Yeah it does. Wert's timeline is one year off. Joe confirmed in an old thread that TBI starts in spring 575.

So the Reading order should be something like this?

566 (spring): A Beautiful Bastard
570 (summer): Made a Monster
573 (autumn): Small Kindnesses
574 (autumn): The Fool Jobs

575: (spring) The Blade Itself 

575 (summer): Skipping Town 

576-77: Before They Are Hanged

576 (spring): Hell

576 (summer): Two's Company 
577: Last Argument of Kings
579-80: Best Served Cold

580: Wrong Place, Wrong Time

584 (summer): Some Desperado 

584 (autumn): Yesterday, Near a Village Called Barden                                                                                     

584: The Heroes

587 (autumn): Three's a Crowd 
590 (summer): Freedom!

590: Red Country

592 (spring): Tough Times All Over

605: New Trilogy Book 1 (due in 2019) 

 

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1 hour ago, Nicomo Cosca said:

So the Reading order should be something like this?

566 (spring): A Beautiful Bastard
570 (summer): Made a Monster
573 (autumn): Small Kindnesses
574 (autumn): The Fool Jobs

575: (spring) The Blade Itself 

575 (summer): Skipping Town 

576-77: Before They Are Hanged

576 (spring): Hell

576 (summer): Two's Company 
577: Last Argument of Kings
579-80: Best Served Cold

580: Wrong Place, Wrong Time

584 (summer): Some Desperado 

584 (autumn): Yesterday, Near a Village Called Barden                                                                                     

584: The Heroes

587 (autumn): Three's a Crowd 
590 (summer): Freedom!

590: Red Country

592 (spring): Tough Times All Over

605: New Trilogy Book 1 (due in 2019) 

Yeah, that would be the chronological order except BTAH covers 575-576 autumn to spring.

TBI - 575 spring to autumn

Skipping Town - 575 summer

BTAH - 575-576 autumn to spring

Hell - 576 spring

Two's Company - 576 summer

LAOK - 576-577 summer to winter

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8 hours ago, SeanF said:

I have a question about Half a War.

Was Yarvi's remorse genuine, during his final conversation with Skara, or an act?

I think he might feel some regret for some of the things he's done, but not to the extent that he wouldn't do the exact same things again if it would  help him achieve his goals.

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23 hours ago, SeanF said:

I have a question about Half a War.

Was Yarvi's remorse genuine, during his final conversation with Skara, or an act?

Genuine remorse in my opinion, but he would have done the same again if it gave him an advantage. He is essentially Bayaz at the beginning of his career.

 

23 hours ago, SeanF said:

Did he have Skifr's family murdered, and frame his enemies for it?  Did he see Brand's likely death in the raid as collateral damage?

Yes and yes. In fact, I think that he wanted Brand's death in order to fuel Thorn.

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2 minutes ago, TheRevanchist said:

Genuine remorse in my opinion, but he would have done the same again if it gave him an advantage. He is essentially Bayaz at the beginning of his career.

 

Yes and yes. In fact, I think that he wanted Brand's death in order to fuel Thorn.

And once you go down that path, it's hard to stop.  He can never really rest secure while either Skara or Thorn are still alive.

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3 hours ago, TheRevanchist said:

Genuine remorse in my opinion, but he would have done the same again if it gave him an advantage. He is essentially Bayaz/Walter White at the beginning of his career.

 

Yes and yes. In fact, I think that he wanted Brand's death in order to fuel Thorn.

I think it's also important to recognise there's an ego at play too. So even if there is remorse, there's a "I beat them all" aspect to him to which makes the remorse a little empty.

3 hours ago, SeanF said:

And once you go down that path, it's hard to stop.  He can never really rest secure while either Skara or Thorn are still alive.

That's a really good set up for a sequel if Joe ever entertains the thought of returning. Who knows how messy Yarvi could have made things after another generation?

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Huh, just realised I somehow never read the final book of Shattered Sea. Odd, I loved the first two books and was looking forward to the final instalment but somehow I just kept putting it off

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On 5/22/2018 at 7:51 AM, Rhom said:

Figured I’d take a cue from the Bakker threads and just copy my now two year old intro from the other thread.  Amazing it took that long to close out the thread when we used to have three to four active topics going at a time!  :lol: 

 

 

Probably because Abercrombie actually brings home endings without leaving stuff he's started unfinished.  Unlike some other authors whose threads have a bunch of activity *cough Bakker cough Rothfuss* despite not even having any more books on the way.

 

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2 hours ago, Darth Richard II said:

Well it would be hard to go the Rothfuss route unless Joe is lying about the books actually being written.

Joe has always been sincere and giving regular updates. Next to Sanderson and Abraham, he is one of those author I trust when they say that the book is almost ready and will be released in this time.

But Gosh, I miss a book from him. His last book was 2 years ago, and I enjoy his books more than those of any author in the genre.

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