237. The Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie...

About the book:

The end is coming.

Logen Ninefingers might only have one more fight in him-but it's going to be a big one. Battle rages across the North, the king of the Northmen still stands firm, and there's only one man who can stop him. His oldest friend, and his oldest enemy: it's time for the Bloody-Nine to come home.

With too many masters and too little time, Superior Glokta is fighting a different kind of war. A secret struggle in which no one is safe, and no one can be trusted. As his days with a sword are far behind him, it's fortunate that he's deadly with his remaining weapons: blackmail, threats, and torture.

Jezal dan Luthar has decided that winning glory is too painful an undertaking and turned his back on soldiering for a simple life with the woman he loves. But love can be painful too-and glory has a nasty habit of creeping up on a man when he least expects it.

The king of the Union lies on his deathbed, the peasants revolt, and the nobles scramble to steal his crown. No one believes that the shadow of war is about to fall across the heart of the Union. Only the First of the Magi can save the world, but there are risks. There is no risk more terrible, than to break the First Law...

drey's thoughts:
Oh what a mess! Lots of dead people--and the ones in positions of power result in lots of wrangling over successions (and the accompanying politicking). Lots of surprises--including to the (supposedly) bastard-born son of the late king. And lots of left hands not knowing what the right hands are doing. Or do they?

This third book of the First Law series brings to a close storylines hatched in The Blade Itself and Before They are Hanged. And what a close it is. Joe Abercrombie's snarky wit is scattered liberally throughout this romp through the lives of kings and bastards, barbarians and heroes, slaves and master manipulators. Who are all deftly weaved together into a story that entertains. Read it. But make sure you put aside the time, because these books are not little by any means of the imagination!

Title: The Last Argument of Kings
Author: Joe Abercrombie
ISBN-10: 1591026903
ISBN-13: 9781591026907
Paperback: 636 pages
Publisher: Prometheus Books, 2008
Purchase at IndieBound, Amazon

Challenges: 100+, Series, Support Your Local Library

Disclosure: My copy of The Last Argument of Kings visited for quite a while, but eventually returned to my local library.

215. Before They are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie...

About the book:

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.

drey's thoughts:
Ok, so if the "about the book" section above doesn't make you at least pick this book up, I don't know what will... *grin* So. After inhaling The Blade Itself, I swallowed Before They are Hanged. Literally. Mostly because it had to go back, like, NOW!

So. The adventure continues. And the characters that Joe introduced to us in book #1, continue on their merry way in book #2. Well, maybe not quite so merry way... But the tone and temperament of book #1 is definitely carried on in this one. And so. Prepare to chuckle out loud, even at passages that are a little more dire than those that deserve a chuckle. Because Joe's snarky wit is littered all over the pages of Before They are Hanged. Definitely worth picking up if you're a fan of fantasy, and especially if you're a fan of wit, snarkiness, sarcasm, and plain old understatement.

Title: Before They are Hanged
Author: Joe Abercrombie
ISBN-10: 1591026415
ISBn-13: 9781591026419
Paperback: 539 pages
Publisher: Prometheus Books, 2008

Challenges: 100+, Series, Support Your Local Library

Disclosure: My copy of Before They are Hanged sat patiently on my shelves for quite a while, waiting till I got and read The Blade Itself so I could get to it, and return it from whence it came (i.e. the public library).

214. The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie...

About the book:

Logen Ninefingers, infamous barbarian, has finally run out of luck. Caught in one feud too many, he's on the verge of becoming a dead barbarian - leaving nothing behind him but bad songs, dead friends, and a lot of happy enemies.

Nobleman, dashing officer, and paragon of selfishness, Captain Jezal dan Luthar has nothing more dangerous in mind than fleecing his friends at cards and dreaming of glory in the fencing circle. But war is brewing, and on the battlefields of the frozen North they fight by altogether bloodier rules.

Inquisitor Glokta, cripple turned torturer, would like nothing better than to see Jezal come home in a box. But then Glokta hates everyone: cutting treason out of the Union one confession at a time leaves little room for friendship. His latest trail of corpses may lead him right to the rotten heart of government, if he can stay alive long enough to follow it.

Enter the wizard, Bayaz. A bald old man with a terrible temper and a pathetic assistant, he could be the First of the Magi, he could be a spectacular fraud, but whatever he is, he's about to make the lives of Logen, Jezal, and Glotka a whole lot more difficult.

Murderous conspiracies rise to the surface, old scores are ready to be settled, and the line between hero and villain is sharp enough to draw blood. Unpredictable, compelling, wickedly funny, and packed with unforgettable characters, The Blade Itself is noir fantasy with a real cutting edge.

drey's thoughts:
So. I've mentioned before that Best Served Cold was my first Joe Abercrombie, and I had put Before They are Hanged on my library list without realizing it was book #2 in the First Law series. And because Before They are Hanged was due back at the library, I inhaled The Blade Itself pretty much as soon as I got it home.

Whereupon I realize that some of the characters here show up in Best Served Cold... Oh well, what's a girl to do?

Anyway. The Blade Itself is wittily snarky fantasy. The cast of characters are quite a collection. I think my favorite is Major West, the commoner who won glory in a battle and is now resented by the righteous nobility for usurping their ranks. Never mind that he might actually deserve to be there. Then again, how do you pick a favorite when there's Logen Ninefingers around? The scarred barbarian definitely follows that idiom about not opening your mouth (and removing all doubt that you're an idiot). Not that he is. Some of the others could do a lot worse than follow his example... Not that they'd deign to.

Joe Abercrombie takes a classic formula--characters from different backgrounds; class warfare; threatening barbarians; ineffectual government--and throws in cup of wit, a dash of snark, and a handful of plot. Which, when stirred together, gives you a very entertaining read where the good guys and the bad guys are sometimes interchangeable.

Title: The Blade itself
Author: Joe Abercrombie
ISBN-10: 159102594X
ISBN-13: 9781591025948
Paperback: 527 pages
Publisher: Prometheus Books, 2007 (reprint)

Challenges: 100+, 1st in Series, Support Your Local Library

Disclosure: My copy of The Blade Itself came for a very brief visit from my local library.

211. Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie...

About the book:

Springtime in Styria. And that means war.

There have been nineteen years of blood. The ruthless Grand Duke Orso is locked in a vicious struggle with the squabbling League of Eight, and between them they have bled the land white. Armies march, heads roll, and cities burn, while behind the scenes bankers, priests, and older, darker powers play a deadly game to choose who will be king.

War may be hell, but for Monza Murcatto, the Snake of Talins, the most feared and famous mercenary in Duke Orso's employ, it's a damn good way of making money too. Her victories have made her popular--a shade too popular for her employer's taste. Murcatto is betrayed and left for dead, her reward a broken body and a burning hunger for vengeance. Whatever the cost, seven men must die.

Her allies include Styria's least reliable drunkard, Styria's most treacherous poisoner, a mass murderer obsessed with numbers, and a Northman who just wants to do the right thing. Her enemies number the better half of the nation. And that's all before the mot dangerous man in the world is dispatched to hunt her down and finish the job Duke Orso started...

Springtime in Styria. And that means revenge.

drey's thoughts:
Best Served Cold is my first Joe Abercrombie. I saw "him" on another blog earlier this year, then I found his blog, and thought to myself, "this guy has a wicked cool sense of humor"... So I picked this up when I saw it at the library. I must say, this book reminds me of my husband's favorite Shakespeare tragedies. Lots of death, with a dash of tongue-in-cheek humor for flavor.

It's a pretty big tome, not that I'm complaining. Monza is literally a shell of her former self, and I'm amazed at the nerve she has in planning for revenge, when she can't barely walk without her hip aching. But, plan she does. And recruits, too. And so this band of misfits stumble and fumble their way down Monza's list. Seven men must die, after all.

Joe's characters are entertaining, if a bit irredeemable. But some of them land on both feet, some don't land at all, and you won't want to put the book down as you march surely (if a bit slowly) towards page 632.

Title: Best Served Cold
Author: Joe Abercrombie
ISBN-10: 0316044962
ISBN-13: 9780316044967
Hardcover: 632 pages
Publisher: Orbit, 2009

Challenges: 100+, Pub, Support Your Local Library

Disclosure: My copy of Best Served Cold made a brief visit from the local library and is probably gracing somebody else's home right now...