[MCZ]∎ Read Gratis Before They Are Hanged abercrombiejoe 9780575077881 Books

Before They Are Hanged abercrombiejoe 9780575077881 Books

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Before They Are Hanged abercrombiejoe 9780575077881 Books

Middle entries in a trilogy are always complicated. You don’t get that exhilaration of a new story, nor the joys of watching plotlines end; instead, you’re watching pieces move around, setting up the finale yet to come. They’re hard books to write, and hard ones to evaluate on their own terms. And if anything, Before They Are Hanged has an even bigger problem: the lack of obvious structure of The First Law trilogy. So many fantasy series have an obvious endgame – the destruction of the One Ring in The Lord of the Rings, the Iron Throne in A Song of Ice and Fire, the Last Battle in The Wheel of Time, and so forth. But The First Law doesn’t have any such obvious structure or endgame that’s apparent yet. There’s a country in peril of two different invaders (as well as a peasant uprising), the journey of a powerful wizard to retrieve a dangerous object, and a slew of more personal plotlines ongoing, and no immediately obvious place for them all to go.

And yet, for all of that, Before They Are Hanged works not just as a middle book, but as a book on its own terms, delivering an even better tale than The Blade Itself, outstanding character work, incredible action, great plot development, and such rich worldbuilding and evolution that you’ll be hard-pressed to stop for even a moment.

Much of that joy comes from author Joe Abercrombie’s outstanding ability to let his characters live and breathe, and more than that, to let them evolve and change. If The Blade Itself represented the setup for the series, Before They Are Hanged is the section where the characters begin to be shaped by – and shape – events around them in fascinating ways. Logen “Bloody Nine” Ninefingers begins to reveal exactly how he became the leader he once was held to be, as well as showing signs of the human being under the grizzled warrior. Sand dan Glokta, the mutilated prisoner, is still capable of brutal and horrendous acts, but also shows himself capable of incredible leadership – and surprising mercy. And Jezal dan Luthar, the arrogant swordsman, begins to see the world beyond himself for the first time. It’s all done wonderfully, with care and slow patience, and it gives the book a richness and warmth that’s often lost in the plotting of an epic fantasy trilogy.

But Abercrombie proves to be no slouch at all the trappings of the genre, either. Before They Were Hanged delivers some absolutely fantastic battle sequences, and Abercrombie shows himself equally capable of handling both the big picture as generals watch the fronts battle and the up-close and personal one-on-one combat, with the latter delivering some truly brutal and disturbing violence at times. More than that, he knows when to use it and when to leave it offscreen, allowing the incidents to occur when they matter most, and when they can impact the story or the characters as much as possible.

And then, beyond that, there’s the rich story, which manages to follow two very different martial fronts and a quest to the edge of the world, and weave between them effortlessly and yet perfectly, allowing each plot to come in at the maximum point where tension can be drawn out. More than that, Abercrombie lets each story follow its own pace, which lets the books feel less plot-driven and more driven by the characters and the world, something that so often fails in epic fantasy series. And yes, it’s all done with Abercrombie’s pitch-perfect mix of cynicism, black humor, character work, and skilled writing.

As I’ve said, I’m still not entirely sure where The First Law trilogy is going…but that’s okay. Because every storyline, and every character in them, is riveting enough on any number of levels to keep me reading, and render me excited that there’s more books set in this world, and had me opening up the third and final book within seconds of finishing this one. It’s all really become one of my favorite fantasy series in recent memory, one that draws on any number of inspirations while still feeling like its own unique, standout creation.


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Before They Are Hanged abercrombiejoe 9780575077881 Books Reviews

Before they are Hanged is the second volume of The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. The First Law Trilogy along with a handful of other volumes are considered "must reads" by anyone who claims to be a grimdark fan. Whether or not this is the case is a matter of opinion but they are gritty, visceral, down-to-Earth fantasy with a lot of moral ambiguity as well as lack of pretension. They are the warm beer of fantasy and not the horribly watered down stuff we Americans produce, Samuel Adams exempted, but the good European stuff. The First Law Trilogy is a earthy lager with a rich working man's taste and...okay, I've wandered off topic.

I also want a beer.

In the previous volume of the series, archwizard Bayaz collected a ragtag collection of misfits to retrieve magical Maguffin which seemed deliberately designed to deconstruct as many of these fantasy road-trips as possible. This book picks up their journey where the previous one left off and allows us to reach a startling conclusion. It's a conclusion I only once before encountered in these kinds of stories, Young Indiana Jones and the Treasure of the Peacock's Eye, which felt out of place there but worked here.

I've claimed elsewhere The First Law Trilogy works well as the "spiritual antithesis" of The Lord of the Rings and that's never more apparent in the Bayaz portion of the plot. It's the equivalent of Gandalf leading Conan, Red Sonja, the most obnoxious shining knight in the world, a complete idiot for a navigator, and his apprentice on a quest for the One Ring to use against an Arabic Sauron. While this is happening, Colonel West is leading an invasion of the North which is criminally under-supplied as well as poorly trained. Very few fantasy novels show invading armies crippled by disease, desertion, starvation, and poor training but these were daily parts of life in Medieval warfare.

Likewise, Inquisitor Glotka, my favorite character, is given the unenviable task of attempting to hold a poorly-defended city-state against the infinite hordes of the Gurka army. We also have Dogman and his gang which is a group of Northmen hard to describe but basically would make a wonderful television series to follow. They don't do much but damn if they're not always entertaining while they're doing it.

Much of the book's appeal is, essentially, how ruthlessly unsentimental the storytelling is about the fantasy genre. While never approaching parody, just about everyone has it made clear how awful war is and how utterly pointless the concept of causes in most of them are. Glokta is holding a city he can't hold but which he's doing so solely because it's a point of pride to the Union to hold it, no matter how many people are killed. Logen Ninefingers tries to explain how he regrets the path which lead him to become a famous warrior but might as well be speaking Greek to young Luthar. Ferro, who has known nothing but violence, wants to make a human connection with Logen but finds neither of them is capable of doing so easily.

I enjoyed the world-building for The First Law world a great deal. We get the backstory of the wizards, ancient empires, as well as some personal insight into the characters not detailed in the first book. Part of what I like about the book is Joe Abercrombie leave hints the stories we hear from Bayaz and other characters aren't the whole truth. Another thing which makes this series so memorable is there's very few objectively true perspectives.

The Gurkish Empire is portrayed as a horrific threat led by a False Prophet and his cannibal wizards but this view of them is as ignorant as the view they are no worse than any other ruler. Peace-makers and warmongers are equally ignorant with distrustworthy characters manipulating events from behind the scenes. Ignorant and stupid leadership is also more dangerous than outright evil.

You know, just like in real-life.

The moral ambiguity of the series is one of its best features with heroes, anti-heroes, villains, and everything in-between existing. The heroes can't automatically make the world a better place, though, and the villains may be better for society in the long run. Hell, the heroes may actually be working at cross purposes (what a novel concept). Astute readers will appreciate the opportunity to judge for themselves about the characters' actions.

For example, Inquisitor Glokta is a torturer and supporter of a corrupt regime who doesn't even believe in his superiors but does horrible deeds in their name. Despite this, I find him one of the most fascinating antiheroes in grimdark. After all, if every way is dark, why not walk boldly in the path which appeals to you most?

Don't answer that.

In conclusion, Before they are Hanged is an excellent book. It's mostly set up for the conclusion in the next volume but resolves several outstanding plots. I suggest everyone who has an interest in dark, gritty, and morally ambiguous fantasy fiction would find the First Law Trilogy a good read. It's a story not afraid to have the heroes set out to do something epic, sacrifice everything to get it accomplished, and still fail due to circumstances beyond their control.

10/10
Middle entries in a trilogy are always complicated. You don’t get that exhilaration of a new story, nor the joys of watching plotlines end; instead, you’re watching pieces move around, setting up the finale yet to come. They’re hard books to write, and hard ones to evaluate on their own terms. And if anything, Before They Are Hanged has an even bigger problem the lack of obvious structure of The First Law trilogy. So many fantasy series have an obvious endgame – the destruction of the One Ring in The Lord of the Rings, the Iron Throne in A Song of Ice and Fire, the Last Battle in The Wheel of Time, and so forth. But The First Law doesn’t have any such obvious structure or endgame that’s apparent yet. There’s a country in peril of two different invaders (as well as a peasant uprising), the journey of a powerful wizard to retrieve a dangerous object, and a slew of more personal plotlines ongoing, and no immediately obvious place for them all to go.

And yet, for all of that, Before They Are Hanged works not just as a middle book, but as a book on its own terms, delivering an even better tale than The Blade Itself, outstanding character work, incredible action, great plot development, and such rich worldbuilding and evolution that you’ll be hard-pressed to stop for even a moment.

Much of that joy comes from author Joe Abercrombie’s outstanding ability to let his characters live and breathe, and more than that, to let them evolve and change. If The Blade Itself represented the setup for the series, Before They Are Hanged is the section where the characters begin to be shaped by – and shape – events around them in fascinating ways. Logen “Bloody Nine” Ninefingers begins to reveal exactly how he became the leader he once was held to be, as well as showing signs of the human being under the grizzled warrior. Sand dan Glokta, the mutilated prisoner, is still capable of brutal and horrendous acts, but also shows himself capable of incredible leadership – and surprising mercy. And Jezal dan Luthar, the arrogant swordsman, begins to see the world beyond himself for the first time. It’s all done wonderfully, with care and slow patience, and it gives the book a richness and warmth that’s often lost in the plotting of an epic fantasy trilogy.

But Abercrombie proves to be no slouch at all the trappings of the genre, either. Before They Were Hanged delivers some absolutely fantastic battle sequences, and Abercrombie shows himself equally capable of handling both the big picture as generals watch the fronts battle and the up-close and personal one-on-one combat, with the latter delivering some truly brutal and disturbing violence at times. More than that, he knows when to use it and when to leave it offscreen, allowing the incidents to occur when they matter most, and when they can impact the story or the characters as much as possible.

And then, beyond that, there’s the rich story, which manages to follow two very different martial fronts and a quest to the edge of the world, and weave between them effortlessly and yet perfectly, allowing each plot to come in at the maximum point where tension can be drawn out. More than that, Abercrombie lets each story follow its own pace, which lets the books feel less plot-driven and more driven by the characters and the world, something that so often fails in epic fantasy series. And yes, it’s all done with Abercrombie’s pitch-perfect mix of cynicism, black humor, character work, and skilled writing.

As I’ve said, I’m still not entirely sure where The First Law trilogy is going…but that’s okay. Because every storyline, and every character in them, is riveting enough on any number of levels to keep me reading, and render me excited that there’s more books set in this world, and had me opening up the third and final book within seconds of finishing this one. It’s all really become one of my favorite fantasy series in recent memory, one that draws on any number of inspirations while still feeling like its own unique, standout creation.