First Law trilogy - SPOILERS!

[Boaz]

I loved The Heroes. It's the battle of Gettysburg fought by the Great Heathen Army and Gondor with Falstaff, Beowulf, Big Ajax, Little Ajax, Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang, Mordred, Lancelot, Dejah Thoris and Deadpool all running around with a dose of the Red Badge of Courage thrown in for good measure.

Yes, Dow and the Dogman.... powerful story.

 

[thaddeus6th]

I liked it quite a lot. Ending felt a bit long, from memory, but it's a good book. Oddly, everyone else seems to love Best Served Cold, whereas for me, though I still enjoyed it, it's my least favourite of the six Abercrombie books I've read.

I'd quite like to re-read them, but my to-read pile is already of comical proportions.

 

[The Big Peat]

I think the thing about The First Law is that I found all of the parts featuring Glokta to be awesome and most of the bits that don't not. They're alright, they have some very good bits, but they're basically travelogues through mostly not particularly interesting worlds with mostly not particularly interesting people. That's a hard sell.

@thaddeus6th - do you think you could put you finger on why you enjoyed Best Served Cold less?

 

[biodroid]

@Boaz Nope haven't read it yet, I am in a fantasy slump at the moment, I also have to read the 3rd book in The Shattered Sea trilogy , reading a Vince Flynn book called Transfer of Power and it's good so far.

 

[zmunkz]

Glokta was great, and I think he was the closest thing to a hero in the book, which was especially ironic since he was the only one convinced of his own wikedness.

I love how the story ends the same way as it began, with Logen jumping and running. Hammered home how nothing had changed at all.

 

[soulsinging]

I liked it quite a lot. Ending felt a bit long, from memory, but it's a good book. Oddly, everyone else seems to love Best Served Cold, whereas for me, though I still enjoyed it, it's my least favourite of the six Abercrombie books I've read.

I'd quite like to re-read them, but my to-read pile is already of comical proportions.

I felt the same... Best Served Cold kind of fizzled for me. I think reading it close on the heels of First Law maybe had me a bit weary of the cynicism. It wasn't bad, but I remember reading it thinking I should enjoy it more. Whereas when I picked up The Heroes, I was very hooked and it reminded me of everything I enjoyed about the trilogy.

I got an amazon gift card for my birthday in January and blew the whole thing buying all 6 of the First Law world books. Really looking forward to going through the trilogy again, seeing if my reactions to Best Served Cold and The Heroes hold up, and finally checking out Red Country.

 

[thaddeus6th]

Red Country's perhaps my favourite of the lot.

Yeah, the cynicism in Best Served Cold wasn't broken up enough (for me, anyway, and this is going by fuzzy memory) by levity or suchlike. Still enjoyed it, mind.

 

[BAYLOR]

I really hate Bayas.

 

[nixie]

Spoiler: Don't read if you haven't read the latest books.

Jezal wasn't strong enough to stop himself being Bayaz's puppet but maybe Orso is. A spoilt self centred playboy, he had started questioning things before he became king. He is clearly not happy with the closed/ open councils, not really having a say on how his kingdom is run. With the right advisors he might become his own man and get rid of Bayaz.

 

[Luiglin]

I do enjoy Abercrombie just for his characters. They are probably some of the best real world personalities set in a fantasy setting I've ever read. In addition, the fact that he pulls out minor characters from one to set them as main in the next adds weight to the world he's created.

My favourite has to be The Heroes, great mix of character and action.

 

[Glaysher]

Spoiler: Don't read if you haven't read the latest books.

Jezal wasn't strong enough to stop himself being Bayaz's puppet but maybe Orso is. A spoilt self centred playboy, he had started questioning things before he became king. He is clearly not happy with the closed/ open councils, not really having a say on how his kingdom is run. With the right advisors he might become his own man and get rid of Bayaz.

Spoiler: Also don't read if you haven't read the latest books.

However, given that the prophecy says that the Lamb will be eaten by the Owl, I'm not holding out much hope for Orso.

 

[therapist]

I just finished the first law original trilogy. Really enjoyed it. I loved some of the friendship arcs in it. The burgeoning friendship of Glokta and Ardee was very satisfying. And I loved during the 2nd book—when Bayaz and co went on their westward mission—how Logan made it his goal to try and befriend everybody. Thought that was well done. Jezal going from openly despising Logan to saying 'You're the best man I know.' And Ferro slowly devloping trust for him until finally saying 'want to f*ck?' And found it funny that their big epic quest ended with them arriving at the place and finding nothing there, then returning.

Other highlights were West's transformation into Furious, and Abercrombie's constant ability to make me laugh.

 

[BAYLOR]

I just finished the first law original trilogy. Really enjoyed it. I loved some of the friendship arcs in it. The burgeoning friendship of Glokta and Ardee was very satisfying. And I loved during the 2nd book—when Bayaz and co went on their westward mission—how Logan made it his goal to try and befriend everybody. Thought that was well done. Jezal going from openly despising Logan to saying 'You're the best man I know.' And Ferro slowly devloping trust for him until finally saying 'want to f*ck?' And found it funny that their big epic quest ended with them arriving at the place and finding nothing there, then returning.

Other highlights were West's transformation into Furious, and Abercrombie's constant ability to make me laugh.

Flawed and very interesting characters.