ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.ค. 2024
- Today I'm giving you my definitive ranking of all ten First Law books by Joe Abercrombie...and I think I have some unpopular takes. Don't forget to drop your ranking in the comments!
Channels mentioned
@LienesLibrary
@thefantasynuttwork
@jakebishop7822
Chapters
00:00 - Intro
00:44 - First law Trilogy
02:36 - Best Served Cold
04:33 - The Heroes
06:30 - Red Country
07:58 - Sharp Ends
09:11 - The Age of Madness trilogy
10:56 - Joe's new book that isn't included
Socials
bookborn.reviews - บันเทิง
The heroes does it for me. Gorsts inner monologue has me laughing my head off half the time and feeling so bad for him the rest. So much fun to read imo
He’s sooo funny Abercrombie just captured the character so perfectly
Because of The Heroes, Gorst is my favorite character with Logen a close second.
You have to be realistic about these things.
Lowest ranked book is The Blade Itself. Why? Simple - there’s no Shivers.
I'm about half way through "The Last Argument of Kings" and there is a Northman in this book named Shivers. Is this who you're talking about?
@@warrenbuckley3267 Keep going, you'll see ;)
The reason I love Best Served Cold is because it turned Shivers from a supporting player into... well okay, still mostly a supporting player in the wider saga, but! He became, for my money, the best character in that whole world. He's the one who tries the hardest to hold onto idealism in the face of all his disappointments; whose disappointments feel the most tragic to me; and who most lingeringly mourns the loss of the man he used to be.
Shivers arc is amazing and depressing haha, great character to focus on throughout the series
Shivers arc is one of the most depressing for me lmao although I do think it had a little bit of hope/lightness in Age of Madness, which was nice.
Steven Pacey is THE audiobook narrator. I find it very difficult to listen to any other audiobooks after hearing him read this series.
He just showed up and DID THE THING in the best possible way
You should listen to the narration of The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell. As good as Pacey. In the beginning alot of descriptions so there is a singular voice but starting a quarter way through many voices.
He’s very good but imho the German narrator David Nathan is even better. But that is only an option if you speak german
Oh man, perfect timing! I'm halfway through Last Argument of Kings right now, and I can't stop reading.
Same
This one was my favorite!!! The ending is too perfect
Had no idea people dislike Red Country. I love it! The three standalones are my favourite Abercrombie novels.
I enjoy Red Country tons as well.
I loved it too.
It's something I heard a lot in the fandom before I read it! I'm glad there are a lot of appreciators in the comments for it though; I think it's a solid book.
To me it has the feeling of a Western. I realised almost right away who Lamb really is, and when he uncoils his hand and shows Golden who he is, still gives me shivers thinking about it.
@@Luke47895 "This is going to be my last fight" is the greatest line in the book
I'm reading Before they were Hanged right now. I'm reallly enjoying the series so far but glad to see there is more good stuff ahead!
Just finished that. 1 day into Last Argument and I'm over 100 pages in lol. So fire
Good ranking. After i reread them all the blade itself shot up to 1 for me. Because all the knowledge i had for the future makes that book even better
Great thoughts, love this world! Got The Blade Itself for my Dad as a Christmas gift, he's already through the first two and into LAOK. Want to get a new person into the First Law world each year
I think JA was so worried about portraying a female main character in Best Served that he kept second guessing himself and not taking risks the result being that Monza is a far less rounded character than all his other protagonists. And I say that as a massive fan of the book and the author.
Oh man I can TOTALLY see that! He really kills it in age of madness though
@@Bookborn Yeah, I think he got over any hangups by then.
Looking at the woke outrage and cancel culture nowadays. You can't blame him for being worried
Just here to say how much I love Shevedieh & Javre. I’d love an entire book with them, and the story with Whirrun is hilarious. Great video.
Just getting ready to dig into this series. Excited to see how my opinion differs.
Only read the first trilogy, which I liked a lot. You convinced me to read more of his stuff with this video.
Currently working my way through Red Country and already finished A Little Hatred. Psyched to hear the best is up next!
Nice list, although I have only completed 5 of the books listed. Your number one is the book I am working on now and it really has been keeping me up at night so far. I'll definitely work my way through the entire set in time. My biggest issue is that none of my friends have read any of his work. All the Martin, Tolkein, and Hobbs folks are missing out with this author's world and I haven't been able to get any of them to give it a chance yet.
This is awesome, I just started Last Argument of Kings the other day
Agree with the number one pick, TTWP is a complete masterpiece.
Interesting ranking! Best Served Cold at the bottom definitely hurts, but I also get where your'e coming from. Also, had NO idea about The Great Change, but thankfully they still had copies available))
Oh good!! I guess I shouldn’t have been so lazy and just checked 🤣
That sense of "clicking" is one of the main things I read for. Good stuff :)
I thought best served cold was all over the place too,or the world building was lacking.
Hero’s was one of my tops as well.
The audiobooks are really good for this series. Especially for the 1st law trilogy, I love hearing them scream “ It’s the Bloody Nine!”
Having only listened to these on audio, i couldn't get into the blade itself twice regularly reading it, I like this world quite a lot after that initial book. Best Served Cold is the most recent one I've listened to so only 4 books deep but Best Served Cold is definitely the best so far for me, it had a plot, lol. I also went into it only knowing people liked it because it was more plot driven, didn't even know it primarily a female main character or girl power book.
My Favourites In Order:
(Most to least fav but love them all)
Best Served Cold
Last Argument of Kings
The Heroes
The Trouble With Peace
The Wisdom of Crowds
Before They Are Hanged
A Little Hatred
The Blade Itself
Red Country
Sharp Ends
I went through a journey with Red Country. On a re read I really fell into the western vibes in a way I didn’t on my first read. One of my favorites now. Lamb is a standout to me in this novel and Cosca makes the book
Cosca is SUCH a good character, I enjoyed his little short story in Sharp Ends a lot too
I read the original First Law series and had decided I was done with Joe because I felt that grim dark was just a little too grim and dark for me. However, time moved on, and I read your assessment of The Age of Madness series and you convinced me to give it a try. I literally just finished The Wisdom of Crowds and I can honestly say that set of stories are the best books I have ever read. I’m only sad that I have to wait till who knows when to get more new First Law. Thanks so much for your recommendation.
That was nice! I have heard that people disliked Red Country. In any case, I only read the first trilogy, and got discouraged to read Best Served Cold for a similar reason--everyone telling me I'll love it, and i know by experience that expectations can kill a book. So I'm perennially on the fence on whether to read it. I'll guess I'll wait for the adaptation and then decide. Great ranking btw!
You could always skip BSC and do the other stand alones first!
Completely agree with you on best severed cold
I still need to start on the First Law universe but for some reason I find it so intimidating. Maybe because I don’t read grimdark or because it takes a bit before you get to everyone’s favorite second trilogy. But it’s in the plans someday!
This was my first grimdark series lol! I def don’t favor it but abercrombies character work is so good - AND he’s so funny. The humor def helps lighten the darker tones and themes
Red country is my favorite of the first 6 books. I don't understand people not liking it.
Best Served Cold is my favorite and is the second best revenge novel of all time. Second, you need to do a re-read someday via Audiobooks as Pacey adds so much entertainment to the entire series.
I've heard Pacey specifically does Glokta super well, so I need to relisten just for him!
Cosca and Gorst and tbh all of the characters are narrated brilliantly.
Pacey’s Friendly is a damn riot on audio. Funniest character so far. Starting Red Country atm.
I just finished The Trouble With Peace yesterday and I can't wait to read the final First Law book! Although I'm sad it's coming to a close. My current ranking as of right now would probably be
1. The Last Argument of Kings
2. The Trouble With Peace
T3. The Blade Itself
T3. A Little Hatred
5. Best Served Cold
6. Before They Are Hanged
7. Red Country
8. Sharp Ends
9. The Heroes (sorry)
It’s ok my baby heroes is often disliked, I’ve learned to cope 🤣
I did an Abercrombie ranking video last year (including the Shattered Sea Trilogy) and our lists are WAY different lol. Except for #1 - The Trouble with Peace is truly remarkable.
lol but I sort of love that, Abercrombie never misses really (although admittedly, I've only read Book 1 of the Shattered Sea - that was actually my first Abercrombie WAY before I got on youtube! I only thought it was okay, so I never finished the series)
Yeah, it's definitely the lesser of all of Abercrombie's works. I don't regret reading them, but they won't get reread like everything else!
I completely agree with your ranking of the Age of Madness trilogy, The Trouble with Peace is my favorite book with Wisdom of Crowds being a very, very close second.
A Little Hatred is a tier below the other two for me but the weakest Age of Madness book is still excellent and better than most fantasy books out there.
My only complaint about Age of Madness is i thought Gunner Broad got increasingly less interesting with each installment to the point he's easily my least favourite POV in the entire series. "A used up man of violence being dragged into more violence" is a trope Abercrombie has done well before but I think he's probably overdone it now.
Oh I 1000% agree. Broad was sort of interesting but turned into a more boring Logen imo
My favorite kind of videos ❤️
I liked this video a lot. I don’t see many people talking about first law in this sorta format. For me it’s prolly:
1. Wisdom of Crowds
2. Last Argument of Kings
3. The Trouble with Peace
4. The Heroes
5. Best Served Cold
6. Before They’re Hanged
7. A Little Hatred
8. The Blade Itself
9. Sharp Ends
10. Red Country
Best Served Cold is also my least favourite, glad to know I’m not alone
My ranking:
1. The Trouble with Peace 5
2. The Wisdom of Crowds 5
3. Last Argument of Kings 4.5
4. A Little Hatred 4.5
5. Best Served Cold 4.5
6. The Blade Itself 4
7. Before They Are Hanged 3.5
8. Red Country 3.5
9. The Heroes 3.5
1. Best Served Cold is probably my favourite 😱 - granted I had no expectations going in and just continued reading in publication order so I was happily surprised
2. There's a new short story collection out?? This is the first time I'm hearing about it.
3. I did not connect with sharp ends at all the first time I read the series and when I did my reread this year I did not include it
I feel like BSC is many people's favorites, that's why I know my ranking is probably controversial 🤣 Sad you didn't jive with sharp ends, but I suppose I deserve that after my BSC slander
@@Bookborn 🤣🤣 we'll have to agree to disagree on these two
Blade itself was prolly my fav realky liked the fencing plotline
I really liked Best Served Cold and its my favorite as of now (still need to read the last trilogy). I didnt love Red Country but The Heroes was amazing. Everytime I see the picture of the Heroes cover I want to reread it. Im planning on reading the Age Of Madness early 2024!
Did I just meet a fellow Trouble with peace fan? Yeah you have yourself a new sub. (Red Country is top 5 is my hot take, I love a good western)
Hah, funny. I am currently nearing the end of Last Argument of Kings. I only have 2.8 books worth of data to work with, so I can't really rank them or assess your list, but I do find the timing of this video interesting!
Pretty reasonable rankings. I still maintain the The Heroes is the of his best books.
I had the weirdest journey with Joe Abercrombie.
I had heard so much talk of the first law and so much praise so i decided to start them. The first book for me was a slog, it felt like nothing was happening (I love plot rather than character development) I pushed through, mostly due to my completionist self. I finished the trilogy and had the exact same thoughts as I had at the end of the first book. I felt not much had happened, it ended kinda where it started etc.
For some reason though, I then moved onto the stand alones and Best Served Cold just grabbed me by the throat and locked me in a joe abercrombie cell.
The other two stand alones werent as good for me, with red country being a DNF for me.
I then read the second trilogy and loved them.
After the whole series, I couldnt stop thinking about thwm and within a couple of months I started again and read all the way through again, this time enjoying them all more.
I need to read this series 😊
Always interesting to see how different many people rank the First Law books. It speaks to the quality of the series, that there really are no clear-cut favourites among fans, and most people still rate their "lowest" First Law book with a 4 or 4.5 out of 5. The only time I was kinda disappointed with Joe was The Wisdom of Crowds, the ending just felt too convenient, and I had already figured out all the "big reveals" that happened in this book (some as early as my first ALH read). It just did not hit the way I wanted it to hit - at least for me.
I'd rank them:
1. Best Served Cold - 5/5
2. The Last Argument of Kings - 5/5
3. The Trouble with Peace - 5/5
4. The Heroes - 5/5
5. A Little Hatred - 5/5
6. Before They Are Hanged - 5/5
7. The Blade Itself - 5/5
8. Red Country - 4.5/5
9. The Wisdom of Crowds - 4/5
10. Sharp Ends - 4/5
The Heroes, my opinion, is the best of his work. It blew my mind.
Best Served Cold was actually my introduction to First Law so it’s my favorite.
And despite it being my least favorite I actually think it’s a super great introduction to the series overall!! I can see why it captured you
I would rank them from best to worst by going newest to oldest. Imo the series just keeps getting better. Can’t wait for the 11th book!
oh you need to try the main series alone on audio book just for Glokta, Pacey does a fantastic job.
I would be interested to see how your rankings would change if you did a full on Steven Pacey audio book re-read. :)
I’m still not over the wisdom of crowds ending, but i agree age of madness is goat tear. The orginal triogly and all the standalone are great but the age of madness is another level
Red Country is my #4. Loved that book. Loved how it advanced the worldbuilding.
While I agree with most of your middle rankings, our first and last few are completely flipped. I adored Best Served Cold because even though it was a revenge plot it shared many plot beats with a heist story. The middle lulled a little, but other than that I was on the edge of my seat. It was his funniest book imo, and it felt more like an adventure than his other books.
Age of Madness, conversely, I felt betrayed by. A Little Hatred was excellent. In particular there is a relationship that I knew was bad and gross, but I kind of felt myself rooting for anyway? It just proved to me how well written it was. But the next two books have some characters making complete personality flips that I don't agree had enough support. One in particular I view on the same level as the final season of GoT--there was foreshadowing, but not nearly enough work to convince me.
I didn’t care much for the majority of short stories in Sharp Ends. That said, Glokta’s chapter was great and especially Logen’s. Logen’s chapter completely changes how you view him. The reader goes from understanding he had a very violent past to having that violent past shoved in their face-I was just as taken aback as Bethod was lol. Still love the Bloody Nine tho
Any book with The Bloody Nine I loved. I wish he stuck to his initial idea with the character. You can see he had a plan that character, then changed it through the series.
I can understand your not liking Best Served Cold as much. Personally, it is my favorite, but I think that is because I came into it with different expectations than you had. I think it's a great representation of the cost of revenge, and then (spoilers here folks) how it can absolutely destroy a person. Shivers' decent from a truly good person (or someone who was trying to be) to someone who was utterly not was very well written. It was heart breaking.
I read the first trilogy in 2020 and unfortunately wasn't a fan due to the slowness of the books/plot. I'm trying to get some motivation to read his next books with this video, which I guess is working since you put his most recent trilogy at the top xb
I much preferred the original trilogy over Age of Madness. The biggest reason for me is that the characters from the new trilogy-while still well written-paled compared to those of First Law. I couldn't even name any of the new characters off the top of my head. I did like the Dogman's daughter and Prince/King whatshisname, but they don't hold a candle to Glokta and Logen. Those two really are among the best fantasy characters of all time.
I also found the abrupt change from late medieval to industrial technology completely unbelievable. Sure, it's possible for fictional societies to advance faster than we did in history, but four or five centuries-worth of development in two decades strains credulity to the breaking point.
I think i should have taken a break like you after Best Served Cold. I liked it more than you but i think jumping straight into the heroes kind of hurt the book for me
Its a lota book and not in the sense that it is super long but it has the scale of an Oda One Piece battle but since one piece is a manga Oda can draw establishing maps to show where everyone is. In this i began losing track of characters and placement without visuals. There was just SO many characters and none of them had enough time to leave an impression before we were wisked off to the next one. I think since i was travelling whilst reading so i could only use the audiobook and that probably hurt it as well
It wasnt until Day 3 that i realised that Brock was the same kid from the farm because i had completely forgot his name
It had some amazing moments but currently sits last until i give it some time and a proper read through
The only problem I have with Ardee in the first trilogy is that she's not a main character. That might be part of what Abercrombie means when he says he shortchanged her; he wishes he'd given her more to do. Though the original First Law trilogy is great, I wouldn't recommend it to people looking specifically for strong, active heroines.
But that brings me to The Heroes, which I was warned was perhaps the most aggressively male book in the series but gave me a very pleasant surprise in the form of Finree. Finree is the main character Ardee should have been, and the real step forward when it comes to women in Abercrombie.
My #1 is probably A Little Hatred, because that's the book which introduced me to Rikke, (grown-up) Isern, Orso, Victarine (my favorite), Hildy, and Savine.
Abercrombie really said with age of madness “here are all the heroines that have been missing”. He killed it. The female characters are all soooo good in age of madness
I am reading chronologically and I still miss the Age of Madness and Sharp Ends. That being said, my ranking is quite the same as yours except that my number 1 is The Blade Itself and 2 The Heroes. The think is, I know that The Blade Itself should not be that high, however, it was my introduction to Abercrombie and it blew my mind from the very begining. For the other books I knew what I was expecting so my bar was already high... And the Heroes, the same than you, I don't really enjoy action scenes, the book is a three day battle and I enjoyed almost every page, in that moment Joe Abercrombie became one of my favourite authors. If he can make me like a battle and not just endure it I am here for anything he puts out, no need to know what's about.
My Fiance has audible she shares with me. She basically forced me at gunpoint to listen to the novels. I just finished The Heroes this morning.
Pacey is a phenomenal narrator. He truly brings the characters to life. If the Character has hints of deception, you can hear it in his voice. If they in doubt, you can hear it. Its just such a joy.
My favorite part was when yoke was swinging the sword over the wall "attacking" blindly with a "YAH! YAH!" and then "Yah?".
I’ve only read the first law trilogy, I’ll have to branch out and read the rest!
I actually came up with a ranking of the main entries after I finished age of madness, and I ended up with the following-
1. LAOK
2. Heroes
3. BTAH
4. TTWP
5. TBI
6. RC
7. ALH
8. TWOC
9. BSC
I had the same complaints you did with BSC, just not connecting with Monza as a character and pacing issues. I do think it had some of the best side characters in the series, and I appreciate what Joe did in gradually revealing how much of a monster Benna was, but it was still my least favorite. I like Shivers’ development more in hindsight, but at the time it felt like a copy paste of Logen’s initial journey of trying to escape violence in the North.
I’m also a huge Heroes fan! It’s probably my favorite overall standalone fantasy story. As someone who grew up in a repressive culture and has struggled with depression, I relate to Gorst to an almost frightening degree. In short, I feel like he is the worst version of me, and Joe’s insistence that his toxic behavior lead to horrible consequences is so hilariously cathartic 😂. The book captures the bleak pointlessness of war, militaristic capitalism, and toxic masculinity in a way I find hauntingly beautiful. Whirrun, Tunny, and Red Beck were also top tier side characters. I came so close to ranking it #1, but had to respect that the conclusion to the first trilogy really just hit on all cylinders for me.
I still loved age of madness overall, but the ending fell flat for me, specifically poor pacing and Broad’s arc becoming repetitive to the point of actual boredom, led to TWOC ranking so low. That being said, the completion of Leo’s villain arc is an absolute master class of character development. I really liked Savine and Orso, but I thought they were still a notch below the original trilogy cast as far as execution and growth (or lack thereof, lol). And I 100% agree that TTWP is brilliant from start to finish, my 1-4 are all really close. I consider them insanely good all timers, 5-7 I would consider excellent, with 8 and 9 being “merely” very good compared to other fantasy books I‘ve read.
Obviously I could talk about first law all day, thanks for the interesting discussion!
"I didn't dislike any Abercrombie." Nice disclaimer so Liene doesn't kill you in your sleep
Nah she dislikes Sanderson and I dislike the Witcher we accept this about our friendship 🤣
I specifically loved the 3 standalone books more than any individual book in either trilogy. Best Served Cold probably my favorite of the group. Red Country close 2.
The first time I read through red country, it was my least favorite. My second read through of red country made it my top first law book. The depth of character is amazing and it’s like you said with the heroes where it made you “get it.” My second time through red country really hit me with how incredible of a story it was and how deep the character of Lamb is. It’s definitely a slow burn but once you read through it once and know what’s coming, you can really let the story envelop you cuz you aren’t wondering if it’s going to pick up.
Girl, same. The Heros is where it clicked. BSC was meh...agreed that there were too many people to kill. Also agree that it's the best choice for an adaptation though.
I loved Red Country more than most. I also liked Best Served Cold less than most. Overall I agree with your list!
I came here to see Best Served Cold in the top three. I've never been more upset.
I'd probably say that the Heroes is my favorite, but only because his mainline trilogies feel sort of incomplete. Like there's an overall story that still needs to be wrapped up.
Lol I’m sorry 😭🤣 I know it’s unpopular and in fairness I totally get why people like it so much
My rankings are a little all over the place, lol. I liked the OG trilogy and the stand alones better than AoM overall but none of them were below a 4 star book to me and only two of them that low.
1. The Heroes (5 out of 5 Stars)
2. The Last Argument of Kings (5)
3. Red Country (5)
4. Before They Are Hanged (5)
5. The Blade Itself (4.5)
6. The Wisdom of Crowds (4.5)
7. Sharp Ends (4.5)
8. The Trouble With Peace (4.5)
9. Best Served Cold (4)
10. A Little Hatred (4)
still liked the first three the most and if you like stevn pacey - watch Blake's 7 where he playes Tarrant
1. Trouble with peace
2. Wisdom of crowds
3. Heroes
4. Best served cold
5. Before they are hanged
6. Last argument of kings
7. Sharp ends
8. The blade itself
9. A little hatred
10. Red country
And the lowest is still a 3.5/5. My favourite series ever
Last Argument of Kings and Best Served Cold are hands down my favorite! I love Age of Madness but the OG trilogy is still unmatched.
Ok, quick before I hear Bookborn's rankings. I've read the first six so far. Worst to best:
The Last Argument of Kings
The Blade Itself
Before They Are Hanged
Red Country
Best Served Cold
The Heroes
General Takeaways: Very compelling how you get distinct permutations of characters through subsequent appearances, such as Cosca, Shivers, and Logen.
The writing in the standalones is immaculate.
Best Served Cold is where Abercrombie really found his form. The Heroes is truly something special, a masterclass of interlocking POV, while Red Country is still great but labours under some awkward narrative structure and uneven character arcs.
You can preemptively put The Great change as #11 if you want 🤪
Lmaooo I almost said it had gotten less then stellar reviews from you but decided to not 🤣
Totally agree with Trouble With Peace being the best overall. I'm not a big battle scene person either, but that last battle was just so hectic and emotional.
Best Served Cold is second for me though 🤣Any story with Nicomo Cosca is elevated to a higher tier. That's why I like Red Country more than most. But let's be honest, they are all great
Cosca is an amazing character, I loved his little story in Sharp Ends lol
I too feel Best Served Cold was not as good as everyone says!
1) LAoK
2) BTAH
3) TBI
4) The heroes
5) The Wisdom of Crowds
The Heroes is my favorite book. And I generally don't like fights in books. But the Heroes was just that good. I hung onto every word and action. And I have never hated and loved a character as much as I love/hate Ghorst. He's so miserable and pathetic and yet I can't help but smile every time he pops on the page.
Actually agree, Best Served Cold is my least favorite. There were moments where it was easy for me to put it down, walk away, and come back a few days later. It wasn't always on my mind like many of his other books.
Finally jumped into this world after years of being told I would love it. Currently almost done before they are hanged and… it’s pretty good. Idk am I missing something? The world feels a little like a home brew D&D setting and the characters at least to this point are super static. Like he has 5-6 really good character starting points that feel like they arent going anywhere. Also… Lord Grimdark isn’t particularly grim or dark so far. Is this all an elaborate conspiracy to screw with me? lol
Idk, I probably had unfair inner circle of favorite (for me) fantasy series (RotE, ASOIAF, WoT, Stormlight) type expectations and I am finding it just kinda, Mistborn era 1 good?
Tbf I didn’t really “get it” (the hype) until I read the heroes. I thought it was good enough to keep reading but did not blow me away. Now that doesn’t mean you have to keep investing time lol but I will say if you’re generally enjoying it you might end up like me
@@Bookborn might as well get to the heroes and see how I feel then!
Wow someone I 1000000% agree with. Trouble With Peace is definitely the best. and Best Served Cold is definitely the worst. I thought it was just me.
Hmm...personally,I would put Best served cold and red country higher,absolutely loved them ! :D
While overall I think The Trouble with peace is better than Wisdom of crowds,last 200 pages of Wisdom of Crowds are just too good,flawless and it is considered by the fandom best first law book. :D
Best Served Cold is my least favorite too. It just gets a little "boring" or repetitive. I really enjoyed Red Country! I love Logan though, so more of him is always good to me. And all the dragon people stuff was neat; any glimpse at the "magic" of the world is great. (And yes! Steven Pacey is SO damn good at every book)
Red Country is my favourite. Is it the best book, probably not, but it's my favourite anyway
Ok I have to give abercombie another chance in 2024. I dnf'ed the blade itself 3x over the past decade.
Agree with your opinion on Best Served Cold. I stopped reading Joe's books after it.
Red Country is my least favourite by A LOT. Its Abercrombie so its still inherently awesome but of the novels it took me the longest to read.
I really need to read the new trilogy again. My first time through, I loved the first two (especially TTWP), but was really disappointed with The Wisdom of Crowds. Felt like a total rehash of the end of the original trilogy. I need to read it again with more realistic (thanks, Logen) expectations and I imagine I would enjoy it a lot more.
I went into reading Best Served Cold knowing that i am not a fan of revenge tales. My expectations were therefore at its lowest compared to the other books. And it was indeed my least favorite of all. Still, a very good book imo. I love Shivers and Cosca especially int the book.
Favorites : Wisdom of Crowds, A little Hatred, The Heroes
I recently finished the first trilogy. I had heard so much about this series that maybe my expectations were too high. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed but it wasn’t some transitive experience for me. And I was extremely disappointed at the end of book three where hardly anything was resolved and characters were left hanging. And the. I find out the next book, a stand alone novel, doesn’t even cover the main characters except by a few random mentions. Maybe I misunderstood this. But I haven’t been real motivated to push on to the next books right now.
It's like real life, where things really are also rarely resolved.
I also felt like The Blade Itself and Best Served Cold were mid to low-tier for Abercrombie! 😅
I still need to read Sharp Ends, so I can do my own ranking. We have some differences, but I think we’d agree that all his books are worth reading. I would love to get and read a copy of The Great Change!
My rankings up to Heroes:
Best Served Cold - Perfection
Last Argument of Kings - His most exciting and climactic book. Doesn’t answer many lore questions from previous books and character stories not properly concluded letting the series down.
Heroes - Characters are a step down from previous books and the first third is boring but the rest of the book is Joe’s best writing.
Before they are Hanged - Great characters but story arch and the ending for most of the characters was pointless and anticlimactic. I get why Joe did it, but I still think it’s rubbish.
Blade Itself - Introduces some of the best characters in fiction and probably the best. Story is quite small in scope and not that interesting.
I'm going to be in the minority here, but, Wisdom of Crowds is bottom of the list for me. Which I guess is odd because The Trouble with Peace is my #1. Crowds feels like a middle book to me. Too many loose ends and leaving too many characters in unsatisfying circumstances. Just feels unfinished to me. Until Abercrombie continues the world, first law ends at Trouble with Peace for me.
Just to add my two pence. I've read every book now up to Red Country. The first 4 books including Best Served Cold where absolutely excellent! However The Heroes and Red Country I am not enjoying at all. Very poor compared to the previous 4 books which is a big shame. I was expecting The Heroes to be my favourite as I love the Northmen stuff but unfortunately it just did not deliver like the first trilogy did. I hope the age of madness trilogy delivers as much as The first law trilogy did.
And possibly as a sum of its parts the best book so far I have read in this series is Best Served Cold.
I'm feeling that way reading Best Served Cold right now. I don't find it very interesting and find myself putting it down after a chapter or two and not wanting to come back to it. People said I will like The Heroes more given what I've liked in the past but I simply don't like standalones as much as series. And like you, I don't enjoy battles that much but it does seem more interesting than BSC for me. Revenge stories don't work for me if I don't care about the character wanting revenge. In this case I have no interest in Monza whatsoever so I don't really care if she gets her revenge. She's probably a terrible person and deserved it anyway is what I'm thinking throughout the story and it just doesn't click for me. I want to skip to the sequels but I know that's a mistake because it won't hit as hard if I don't have the knowledge of the standalones and that will drive me crazy. I hate skipping books in a series.
Spoilers:
I have such mixed feelings about Before They Are Hanged. On one hand, I think it has the best action and character development in the series. On the other, the whole point is how pointless their quest is. That just feels like an unsatisfying trick, though I know it’s done on purpose and actually really contributes to the themes of the first trilogy. It is either first or last to me, no in between.
I’m super unpopular in that I never have a problem with a quest failing. It feels refreshing. My issues initially were just where it overall was going; which is why retroactively I liked it more. But it’s a very common sentiment that people don’t like failed quests!
I'm one who didn't like AOM as much as, well, nearly all the others. Which isn't to say I DIDN'T like it, just that it would be the bottom half of my split hairs (still above BSC, which fell after a second reading). And it's mostly due to Wisdom of Crowds, which I didn't think was *bad*, I just wasn't a fan of where the plot went, nor a certain character's misdirection. The latter, especially compared to The Trouble With Peace, felt a little clumsily executed - either it's exactly the misdirection it turns out to be, or the character has suddenly become drastically less likeable, neither of which made for a fun read.
The way you felt about TWP is how I felt about The Heroes - complete perfection, my easy #1. And my hot take? Before They Are Hanged is the runner-up.
Also, if you think you love Shev and Javre now, just wait til you hear them through Steven Pacey's mind.
Heroes as your number one is soooo valid and so right, I’m glad you put that book where it deserves