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

by Joe Abercrombie

The one good thing about every step being an ordeal. You soon learn how to tread carefully.

Then he stopped, and turned back, firelight shifting over one side of his hard, angry face. “It ain’t ever as simple, is it, as a man is just good or bad? Not even you. Not even Bethod. Not anybody.” “No.” Logen sat and watched the flames moving. “No, it ain’t ever that simple. We all got our reasons. Good men and bad men. It’s all a matter of where you stand.”

More people should ask themselves this question more often.

Logen put a hand on his shoulder. “Jezal, wait. Wait. You know me.” “Of course. I like to think so.” “Alright. Tell me something, then. Am I…” He struggled to find the right words. “Am I… an evil man?” “You?” Jezal stared at him, confused. “You’re the best man I know.”

3 books in. This fucking paragraph punched me right in the chest. Like he started winding up this strike 2000 pages ago. Well done.