“All the great heroes of old, you know - the great kings, the great generals - they all faced adversity from time to time.” Jezal looked up. He had almost forgotten that Bayaz was there. “Suffering is what gives a man strength, my boy, just as the steel most hammered turns out the hardest.”

Snow, dirt, mist, freezing weather, desert sands, scorching heat, monstrous creatures that look as inhuman as they possibly could, other monstrous creatures who look as human as any other and deceive you with their looks, and humans who are capable of a less monstrous yet more brutal kind of treachery through deceit and cunning. All of this we get in abundance in the second installment of The First Law trilogy, Before They Are Hanged.

In the first book, we met a very diverse array of characters, all of whom are morally grey and complex. They came from different edges of the world and eventually gathered in one place, each having their own set of agendas. Here, these characters embark on different journeys, to vastly different places, and that in my opinion is one of the strengths of this book. Abercrombie manages to give each story line its own distinct flavour, with the locations being pretty different than one another.



“Strange, isn't it,' mused Glokta as he watched him struggle for air. 'Big men, small men, thin men, fat men, clever men, stupid men, they all respond the same to a fist in the guts. One minute you think you're the most powerful man in the world. The next you can't even breathe by yourself.”

Superior Glokta, our inquisitor, ventures to Dagoska, a border city to the South, the land of deserts and oriental cultures. The culture is a quite obvious remake of the Islamic civilizations of our world and it provides a very nice contrast to the more medieval European feel of the rest of the societies in the story. The Gurkish Empire, the expansionist nation led by Uthman-ul-Dosht and influenced by the prophet Khalul (who is a member of the Magi) seeks to conquer that city, and Glokta is tasked with the unenviable mission of preventing that. Here, we get a really decent view of how occupying forces (in this case, the Union, the side we are on) treat the natives of the lands they conquer with condescension and cruelty. The builders of the city and the founders of its culture became slaves in their own homes. This story line also has an element of mystery to it, since Glokta has to figure out what happened to his predecessor who disappeared without a trace. Glokta's wit and his cynical view of the world makes this character's POV a very interesting read. Glokta had earned his place as one of my favourite characters by the end of The Blade Itself and in this book, he lives up to that standard.



“Few indeed are those who get a choice. We do as we are told. We stand or fall beside those who were born near to us, who look as we do, who speak the same words, and all the while we know as little of the reasons why as does the dust we return to.”

Colonel West, a secondary character in The Blade Itself, takes on a primary role in this book and we see the battle for the northern province of Angland against Bethod through the eyes of the Union from his perspective. The setting here is a stark contrast to the one in Dagoska, and while the Dagoska story line focuses more on mystery and intrigue, with the battles being fought not being at the forefront of what we read about, this one takes us right to the middle of the battles being waged and we explore the world of strategic battle tactics. The group of Northmen led by Threetrees are also a part of this story line and we get to see the interesting dynamic between the ragged, hard edged yet admirably straightforward and "pure" approach of these "simple men" and the much more civilized, pampered and vain culture of The Union. These two team up to face the threat of Bethod and it's hard to feel any sympathy for The Union since they're insufferable and vain elitists. Reading about a group of narcissistic idiots led by a vain Prince fall from one mistake to another was amusing to read. I didn't really care for the characters here so what kept me wanting to read more was the direct action of battle.



“The skies make no special dispensation for Magi, boy, they piss on everyone the same.”

Our third point of view, and my favourite one, takes us through a classic fantasy quest through dangerous lands. Led by the wizard Bayaz (very classical fantasy), our characters here, Jezal, Logen, Ferro, Quai and Longfoot go through a perilous journey to reach "The Edge of the World". Abercrombie's twist on this classic fantasy trope is the fact that Bayaz isn't the bastion of goodness and has his own self serving motives, that he obviously justifies under the guise of the greater good. The characters here were all very fun to read, and I caught myself laughing several times at their mishaps, that Joe very expertly describes with disarming humour. Two favourite characters of mine, Logen and Ferro, being in one group together was another big positive for this POV. Jezal, the vain Ken doll who I enjoyed not caring about, had an amusing arc here, though I did find his character to be unnaturally watered down just for the sake of him "growing" and gaining more wisdom. This transition felt forced and not very authentic, but it was interesting to read nonetheless. One character that absolutely cracked me up was Brother Longfoot, the scout who led the way. Listening to him babble about his "most remarkable talents" while the rest of the group dragged themselves through rain and cold and discomfort was hilarious.

Less than ideal aspects (according to me):

This book is way more action-packed than the first one and that was a relief. However, I was still expecting a bit more and some aspects of the plot felt a bit anticlimactic to me. For example,

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we've heard so much about The Eaters and got a glimpse of how dangerous they can be in the first installment, we barely get to see that here, except for that one encounter Glokta had with an Eater who had murdered the previous inquisitor. I was expecting some devastating event to take place, something terrifying regarding them, but no such event came to pass

. Joe has a clear preference for putting the more supernaturally intense aspects of fantasy at the back-end of his story and focus on more realistic human interactions, something that works for many people, but leaves others craving more epic action, since there definitely is a build up for that but not much delivery.

Another aspect I found a bit off is certain character growth elements that felt a bit unnatural. Joe is brilliant with his character work, but it seems like he sacrificed some character authenticity in this book in favour of plot progression. Like I mentioned earlier, Jezal's character development felt a bit choppy, in my opinion.

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He started off as very self-obsessed, vain and downright cruel and careless towards everyone, but after he was injured during a fight, he suddenly transformed into a positive man who sees the light side of everything and smiles very often. I would personally think that it should take way more than that to have a character change so drastically, perhaps a few years of suffering or sudden losses of loved ones, etc... Not saying your face being deformed isn't traumatic, but that singular event drastically changing a negative and self-obsessed man who was incapable of a shred of empathy before except for his sudden infatuation with a girl didn't strike me as realistic.

However, it seemed necessary for the sake of plot progression, since the books aren't that long and this is a trilogy. Another event tied to this that I wasn't so fond of was the blossoming of a sudden romance between two characters that also felt forced and unnatural.

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Logen and Ferro developing a sexual/romantic bond felt like a story element that was shoved onto the reader's face as opposed to being gradually introduced through a natural development. The two of them began forcing their bond at the end of the previous book, and we get to see a nice friendship develop between the two, but I really didn't see any romantic chemistry developing at all. No romantic heart to hearts, no explorations of deeper sentiments, no subtle hints. However, we suddenly get hit with a sex scene that felt to me like it came out of nowhere, and all of a sudden, the entire dynamic between the two transformed into an awkward romance that just felt weird.

Of course, this is only an opinion, and you might find yourself thinking differently.

An aspect I disliked in the beginning but ended up enjoying was the

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unexpected ending of the quest Bayaz had set in motion. When the group finally get to their destination, the Seed that they were looking for ended up having been replaced by a worthless rock, so their entire quest ended up being for nothing.

At first, I felt cheated at that very anticlimactic conclusion, however, after having slept on it, I realized how it was something I wasn't expecting at all, and sometimes, life throws moments like that at you, where so much effort and hard work amounts to nothing, and that realism is something I appreciate.

Final thoughts:

This book was quite enjoyable, and for fantasy fans, it has something for everyone, from court intrigues and murder mysteries, to immersively bloody and brutal battles, and exciting journeys to faraway lands full of adventure and group bonding. Like the last book, in order to truly enjoy this story, you need to have an attachment to the characters, since they are the main driving force of the story. The plot is much more exciting than the first one and we have more action packed scenes, but the characterization is still the main focus, so if you're lukewarm about the characters, you might not appreciate it as much. I personally really like these characters and grew attached to them and want to read more of them, and that is the true magic behind these books.

Highly recommended book, and I'm really looking forward to reading the final installment of this trilogy, but I must admit, I am somewhat sad that I only have one left.

Give them 4 stars, before they are hanged!