History repeats itself. Brother fights brother. As Juvens fought Glustrod, as Kanedias fought Juvens, so Bayaz struggles with Khalul. Smaller men in a bigger world, but with no less hatred, and no more mercy. Will this sordid rivalry end even as well as the others? Or will it be worse? In this second book, Jezal goes from being a scared, naive young warrior who thinks winning a sword content in his hometown is enough to grow an understanding of what it really means to try and survive in the wild with the likes of Ninefingers and Collem West. 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? This set of novels is sometimes marketed under the name World of the First Law, [16] and has also been released as a combined, omnibus volume with the title The Great Leveller. I went into Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie with very high expectations after The Blade Itself, and I think this one might be even better! I love the continuation of the gritty tone and atmosphere, blending classic tropes with a modern fantasy style… all of it is just brilliant.

Carlot dan Eider, Magister of the Spicers aka "The Queen of Merchants", a beautiful, intelligent and skilled diplomat. At the end it is shown that the real master-planner of the failed rebellion is Savine's father, Glokta. He wanted to rid the Union of Bayaz's influence. And in the words of his daughter, he put half of the world at fire so he could rule the other half. Bayaz banks are no more, and with them goes his control of the Union.Each of the characters becomes even more likeable, and the dark comedy becomes even funnier as you learn more and the story develops. I thoroughly enjoyed this aspect, and I found I couldn’t turn the audio book off.

The First Law is a fantasy series written by British author Joe Abercrombie. The First Law is the title of the original trilogy in the series, but is also used to refer to the series as a whole. [1] The full series consists of a trilogy, three stand-alone novels, short stories, and a second trilogy, titled The Age of Madness, of which the third book was published in September 2021. [1]A reference to something a character in the book says, referring to the Near and Far Country and specifically encroaching civilization. "The world out there is a red country, without justice, without meaning." Let me explain. Sometimes in books, you’ll get one character that everybody loves because they’re the funny one or because they have a redemption story that makes you admire them. In other stories, you’ll have a group of great friends but there isn’t really much depth to them other than personalities that help progress the story plots (the bad one, the good one etc). The Blade Itself was a complete character study without a lot of plot, Before They Are Hanged has a little more plotting involved but for me it was still all about the characters. I travelled with them, I worried for them, I hoped for the best even in the midst of the worst and at the end I’m left wondering how they will ever get out of the complete mess they are all in.