Reading Joe Abercrombie's The First Law for the first time. (Spoilers for Books 1-3)

[KingGendry]

I enjoyed BSC but with the standard of his other books it unfortunately is my least favourite. I probably concur with most posters on here in that LAoK and TH are my favourites.

The northern setting and characters have always been my favourites so TH was always going to be a nailed on winner however.

[First of My Name]

Two-thirds of the way through LAoK...

I salute you, mister Abercrombie. I'm absolutely loving this; IMO, it wipes the floor with TBI and BTAH (which were by no means bad books). Now, I;ve been hearing rumors of a notorious ending, so I'm very curious how that will play out.

[Goodbye World]

I disagree with the above two comments, BTAH was the best of the trilogy IMO.

[The Lord's Kiss]

This might turn out to be a stupid question, but what's ARC?

Joe originally titled it "A Red Country," if I'm not mistaken. And that's how it was released in the UK. For whatever reason, in the U.S. it is published as strictly "Red Country." Not sure what kind of contract would stipulate an arrangement like that, but I guess them's the brakes.

[Joe Abercrombie]

I was thinking of an 'A' early on in the writing. We dropped it long before it was published, which I think was the right call. Feels more urgent, more emphatic without. It's never been published anywhere with the 'A' on the title.

[Chun-Li]

O_o, then how do you explain the 'A' in the title of my copy?

Just funnin' ya'.

[The BlackBear]

You should have published it as 'An Red Country' just to piss people off. Also I kept reading it as 'Red County' which made it seem like cricket was involved.

[Crowjack]

Ironic that the first post I am making in the ASOIAF forums is in a thread about Joe Abercrombie.

I stumbled on The Blade Itself is a Border's Bookstore (RIP) several years ago. I was hooked after reading the first chapter and purchased all three books that night.

Too add to the fun, I was turned on to GRRM's works by a bookstore employee's recommendation when they saw my purchase of Abercrombie's works.

Good times.

[Eponine]

I liked TBI the best. I have yet to read the Heroes or Red Country, but I like Western settings so expect to enjoy RC. It'll probably take me a while to circle back around to that because I need to knock out more of The List.

[The BlackBear]

Finished Red Country. It was good, have an apple Mr Author. It seems like you've mellowed though, the ending could have rotted teeth :lol:

[Maithanet]

Finished Red Country. It was good, have an apple Mr Author. It seems like you've mellowed though, the ending could have rotted teeth :lol:

Really?

Red Country Spoilers

Don't you remember what happened to Cosca? Because he had turned into a pretty horrible person, and dies in very ignoble fashion. Now maybe if you see him as simply the villain, then you could call that a happy development, but I didn't.

[The BlackBear]

Really?

Red Country Spoilers

Don't you remember what happened to Cosca? Because he had turned into a pretty horrible person, and dies in very ignoble fashion. Now maybe if you see him as simply the villain, then you could call that a happy development, but I didn't.

Red Country Spoilers

I'm talking kind of relative to the other books. It's certainly happier note than LAoK, but now I think about it: BSC had a good ending for Monza at the very least. And the Heroes was fairly upbeat for Craw.

And I think at his very last moment Cosca is fairly ok with himself, remembering his last words. He sorted himself out with Monza, which isn't that much of a consolation but is still important to him.

Shy and Temple seem to be working out ok, Pit doesn't seem to have been phased by his experiences, Ro misses the Dragon people but seems to be relatively ok all things considered.

Carlot Dan Eider is now almost certainly beyond the reach of Glokta, and Crease is now a more respectable town or well on the way. A substantial part of the fellowship are doing well. Conthus has money to fight her war.

Lamb managed to do some good and doesn't seem to be off to start carnage in the North again (which was what I was kind of expecting.)

And I think the happiest ending of all was Shivers, he was barely in the book, but we see the glimmer of the Good man he wanted to be before he went to Styria. Obviously he's not good, but he's not as far gone as he seemed.

[Crowjack]

I'm afraid to hit Eponine's spoiler, so I won't.

I've got a few drinks in me (man that seems to be a theme lately... I'm a night owl these days and once the wife & kids are asleep at 10pm... why not? I find myself asking), so let's talk about "grimdark" for a minute (did people hate the term cyberpunk when it was first bandied around?). WTF is that supposed to mean anyway? It's grim and it's dark? I mean, grim, dark fantasy has been around for a helluva long time. I found LOTR to be very grim and dark, (not talking the movies here). Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn. Even the Wheel of Time during the worst of the books to read (because Rand & co. are all being emo and not developing at all, besides the plot grimly taking a standstill for a few five or so books). The difference is these books are all PG rated... or PG-13 at a stretch. GRRM and Abercrombie (and others I've yet to read) are R-Rated, but I don't find the stories themselves to be different enough to call it something else. It's fantasy that doesn't gloss over the sex and violence, but that's about it. (Hello Brandon Sanderson, how do you think kids are made?)

I guess this is my first (supposed) foray into the subgenre, if we aren't counting GRRM. But the old plotline that draws us to fantasy is some dark overlord/force/etc. is taking over the world, yo. Hoping to enslave or remake in his image or <insert_synonymn_here>... Isn't that grim enough for you? Sauron isn't dark enough? Cuz he's pretty freakin' dark. Is what Saruman does to the shire, or the heart of Boromir not grim? Not to mention Rand al'Thor hating on himself for books on end with internal dialogue with a dude that he's pretty sure is actually himself, and a madman? Not everything turns out all peachy for our heroes all the time in regular, PG-13 fantasy. So what's the difference? All I can come up with (in my albeit inebriated state) is the R-Rating.

I guess I'm just saying, I'm really enjoying The Blade Itself, but I don't see how Abercrombie is (thus far) some new-age savant of the grim and dark, or "realistic" side of characters. But the difference is perhaps that we are seeing things from the POV of these characters? Possibly. On further thought, maybe it's just that I've always been attracted to the realistic character, and thus don't judge other works based on the "pure" protagonists (read that as Frodo-esque). The characters that really attracted me in LotR (and I'm just using this as a most-common reference) were really Saruman, Gollum, Boromir, Denethor. Because I related to them. I could totally get where they were coming from. Even if I'm pulling for the "good guys", I found the grey/dark guys very interesting and compelling.

So I suddenly realize I'm saying this after only reading 75% of book 1 of The First Law, but so far I don't get the label. The characters are people, yes. And portrayed realistically. But I don't get what makes it "grimdark"? Maybe I'm way off and the book will take a turn in the next 150 pages that will open my eyes a bit to the whole thing. I find Joe's writing style to be very refreshing. I find his characters to be interesting and compelling, with realistic human motivations. He doesn't always adhere to common fantasy tropes (which is a good thing), but some times he does as well (also a good thing). I find the funny moments to be hilarious, and intense moments to be intense, etc.

So maybe there are holes all through my logic here, and I'll change my mind tomorrow. But I still don't get the label. Hopefully it sells more books for him or something. Maybe you guys can help me out on what I'm missing

It's a label applied by others. To my knowledge, Abercrombie has not proclaimed himself a disciple of a new genre.

[RedEyedGhost]

It's a label applied by others. To my knowledge, Abercrombie has not proclaimed himself a disciple of a new genre.

Uuuuuhhhhh, he's LordGrimdark on twitter.

[Rhom]

It's a label applied by others. To my knowledge, Abercrombie has not proclaimed himself a disciple of a new genre.

Except you know... his twitter handle is @lordgrimdark

No he didn't label himself, but he has certainly embraced it.

[Rhom]

Uuuuuhhhhh, he's LordGrimdark on twitter.

Get out of my head Jayhawk!!!!

[MisterOJ]

Except you know... his twitter handle is @lordgrimdark

No he didn't label himself, but he has certainly embraced it.

I think he meant for his twitter handle to be a bit sarcastic.

Of course, he can answer that himself...

[Derfel Cadarn]

It's a label applied by others. To my knowledge, Abercrombie has not proclaimed himself a disciple of a new genre.

Of course he's no disciple of grimdark ... He's the Lord.

[Durckad]

I think he meant for his twitter handle to be a bit sarcastic.

Sarcasm? From Joe Abercrombie? Bullshit.

Of course, he can answer that himself...

Pfft. Where's the fun in that?

[Ser Rodrigo Belmonte]

Thats actually a bot guys. The real Abercrombie won't bother with us lowly readers.