Should You Read Joe Abercrombie’s The First Law Trilogy? Reviewing All Three Books

I decided that I wanted to give a new fantasy series a try. After some investigation and consideration, I settled on The First Law trilogy, written by Joe Abercrombie.

When I began the first book, The Blade Itself, I didn’t necessarily intend to read all three books back-to-back without reading anything else, but I was pretty wrapped up in the world, so that’s what I ended up doing. As you’ll see after reading through these reviews, my feelings on the series as a whole definitely changed drastically by the end of the third book. So much so that I’m not sure this is a trilogy I’d recommend to most readers despite my positive reviews of the first two novels.

I wrote these reviews without any major spoilers, so feel free to read this whole post before deciding if this is a series that interests you.

The Blade Itself (The First Law, #1)

Originally published in 2006, The Blade Itself is the first of the three books. Abercrombie has since also written several standalone titles that take place in the same universe as The First Law trilogy, something I viewed as a positive because it would give me lots of reading material if I liked The First Law.

Well, after reading The Blade Itself, I can definitely say that, overall, I really enjoyed it. Abercrombie is a talented writer, and I would describe The Blade Itself as a relatively easy read. It’s not quite a summer, beach read in the same way some of the thrillers I read are, but it’s definitely not overly complicated in the way it’s written. Abercrombie has a particular talent for writing fun, fast-paced action sequences.

The clear strength of the book is its characters. The Blade Itself concentrates largely on three men: A brutal (yet easy to root for) barbarian, a pompous nobleman, and a grotesque torturer. The torturer, in particular, is one of the most interesting characters I’ve encountered since starting What Jeff Read. He’s definitely memorable, and I particularly enjoyed the chapters focusing on him. 

The Blade Itself is less concerned with having a super engaging plot (and more interested in just introducing us to the players in the series). This very much feels like the first part of the story, and it doesn’t really stand on its own at all as a story. I’m definitely looking forward to reading the rest of this series to see what happens to the band of characters Abercrombie has assembled.

Grade: 8.5/10

Before They Are Hanged (The First Law, #2)

Before They Are Hanged picks up right where we left off after The Blade Itself. It delivers as a worthwhile middle installment in The First Law trilogy and was pretty much on par with the first book in terms of my enjoyment reading it and its overall quality.

I mentioned that the strength of the first novel was its characters, and that continues in Before They Are Hanged. While that first book informed us of the base personalities and characteristics of our characters, now we get to see how they develop and change over the course of their journeys. 

Plot-wise, there’s definitively more going on than in the first novel. Our main band of heroes are undertaking a journey to the end of the world that’s pretty reminiscent of the one undertaken by the fellowship in the first Lord of the Rings book. While I still enjoyed much of this journey, particularly seeing the relationship between Logen and Ferro develop, and also the changes undergone by Luthar, this was my least favorite of the three main storylines.

The other two main goings on focus on wars, one in the north and one in the south. In the cold north, Colonel West and Logen’s old comrades battle brutal foes. We’re introduced to some new characters in these chapters as well, and, as a whole, these chapters feature some great characters in some high-stakes circumstances. I really enjoyed the cast West found himself with and their time in the war.

The battle in the south involves an army attempting to siege a city under the command of ex-torturer, Glokta. Glokta remains my favorite character in the series – he’s just not the sort of person we’re usually following in these sorts of books. Chapters centering on him, or the war in the north too, I was always excited to read.

Overall, Before They Are Hanged is a satisfying step two in The First Law. My expectations probably weren’t exceeded, but they were definitely met.

Grade: 8/10

Last Argument of Kings (The First Law, #3)

Well, that was something. After finishing the trilogy, if I had to sum up my feelings on its concluding novel in one word, that word would be: Disappointment.

*Minor Spoilers for Last Argument of Kings below*

My main issue with Last Argument of Kings is how Abercrombie decides to end the story. After reading roughly 1,600 pages, you’re definitely hoping for a good payoff, and to say that the ending of The First Law trilogy is bleak would be a bit of an understatement. Not every story needs a happy ending, but I was hoping for at least somewhat of a positive conclusion for at least some of our characters. I’d argue that none of them gets the sort of resolution you’re rooting for.

The endings Abercrombie chooses for certain characters (like Logen and Ferro) are, at best, open ended. For others (like Jezal and West), they’re downright depressing. Some readers would allege these types of endings are more realistic, but I’d argue against that point. Sure, sometimes things don’t work out perfectly, but sometimes they work out at least somewhat.

I just don’t subscribe to what I interpret as Abercrombie’s nihilistic world view, which includes the idea that nothing really changes for the better and that “good guys” don’t ever really win. I also don’t think this sort of ending works with the rest of our story. Sure, the world of The First Law can be bleak and dark at times, but it’s not always that way. The trilogy still reads like a page-turning fantasy adventure. I think that an ending where things worked out for a couple of characters, but not for others, would’ve been more in step with the rest of the books.

Reflecting back on the series as a whole, I still think that Abercrombie is a good writer. He’s great at coming up with creative characters and he writes battle scenes really well. (Though he definitely has a few too many fight scenes in this last book.) The world he’s created is largely fine – it’s your pretty standard fantasy world.

As far as my grade for Last Argument of Kings, I can’t get past my negative feelings about how everything was wrapped up. It’s also because of its conclusion that this isn’t a series I’d likely recommend.

Grade: 4/10

Overall Trilogy Grade (taking all three books into consideration): 6/10