Book details

Other books

Other people who viewed this bought | Other books in this series
Showing items 1 to 10 of 10

 

Full description | Reviews | Bibliographic data
Showing 1 to 2 of 2 results

Reviews for Before They are Hanged

Write a review

  • a big step up from The Blade Itself5

    matt cunningham So, the difficult second album, the tricky sequel, the awkward follow up - how does Abercrombie do with the second book in The First Law trilogy?

    In a word? Magnificently. Hanged is a huge improvement on Blade (which is in no way anything other than excellent) - the scope is much bigger and the writing so much more confident.

    Hanged follows all of the character's (and some new ones) that were introduced in Blade - Glokta steals the show, Luthar becomes much more sympathetic and Logen is fleshed out impressively, Bayaz becomes much more complex - one of Abercrombies biggest achievements here is that he forces the reader to reassess their opinion of established characters - this is certainly true of the First of the Magi. Characters like Dogman and Threetrees also get interesting storylines.

    The battle scenes are given impressive scale and very well done.

    Negatives? To be picky - very picky - I would say that the last 100 pages don't quite hold up to what comes before, there's a subplot with quite a bit of sex and it didn't quite sit right with me, and Glokta does seem to hog quite a lot of the attention (not really a problem as he is the most memorable character). Minor gripes though, overall this fully deserves 5 stars. by matt cunningham

  • Top review

    Brilliant second book of an exciting contemporary fantasy series5

    Oskars ˇerbis Fantasy is a much maligned genre , yet it has given us a slew of hugely gifted writers. George RR Martin, Robin Hobb, Steven Erikson, Clive Barker, China Mieville to name some of the top of my shiny bonce. There is a new name to add to that list. Joe Abercrombie is a freelance film editor but on the evidence of The Blade Itself, the first of The First law trilogy , of which Before They are Hanged is the second, he has a new career as a writer . Like the first book this is terrific stuff.
    There are three threads to the story featuring more of the wonderful array of characters , introduced to us in the first book . Some of these are developed further as you would expect ,but one or two even undergo unexpected character arcs that are importantly wholly believable. Plus there are several new characters introduced and Abercrombie is even confident enough to kill one of these off after developing an enthralling sub -plot around them.
    The barbarian Logen Ninefingers, first of the Magi Byaz , his apprentice Quai and navigator Longfoot are joined by the perma-scowling misanthropic Ferro and arrogant aristocrat Jezal Dan Luther pining for the lady he left behind on a long journey to the island on the "Edge of the world" where Byaz is seeking "The Seed"- a magical weapon that could end all the conflict.
    Union armies meanwhile are preparing to face the massed hordes of barbarians led by Bethod. Colonel West has reservations about his superiors and with good reason , finding to his surprise that the barbarian troop led by Threetrees are far greater fighters than his Union soldiers and he will need all their guile and ferocity to survive.
    Meanwhile Inquisitor Glotka and his Practical's are despatched by Arch Lector Sult to the southern city of Dagoska where his predecessor has disappeared and the Gurkish army is amassing ready to reclaim the city from the Union. He suspects there are traitors within the city council and he's right but who are they and how can he engineer the ragtag band of defenders to repel the massive forces advancing on Dagoska ?
    Like The Blade Itself this book this book is a cracking and exciting read. Happily and most entertainingly Abercrombie is the type of writer who can really make dialogue fizz ,He also has a highly modernistic irreverent approach to fantasy with lots of profanity , which no doubt will alienate fans of classic fantasy , and plenty of gory action sequences, including a couple of epic battles.
    At the books conclusion it's all set up splendidly for the final instalment and I am salivating at the prospect of finding where that takes us. While The Blade Itself doesn't have the deep political intrigue of works by Robin Hobb or George RR Martin and indeed doesn't conjure up it's world quite as vividly, for which the lack of a map is a surprising oversight, it's still well written and about as compelling as fiction gets...fantasy or otherwise. by Oskars ˇerbis

Write a review
Showing 1 to 2 of 2 results