The First Law: Where should I go next?

[Hart]

Hi everyone! So, I have a confession to make. I read the entire First Law trilogy in under five days. Phew. It wasn't healthy, but clearly, I must have liked it.

My question is... Where should I go next? I've heard the spin-offs are even better, and more contained (which is a plus in my opinion). I'd like some other recommendations for authors though, and it doesn't necessarily have to be fantasy. I could see sci-fi as well... I really enjoyed the POVs in FL and the addictive way one POV led into the next. Any suggestions? Thanks!

[Paul]

Nothing springs to mind with a similar POV switch (although I may go away and kick myself later) but these are some great fantasy books I'd recommend.



K.J. Parker is very good - intricately plotted with great characters and action. He's usually lacked the humour of Abercrombie (for a long time, while people were aware it was a pseudonym, it was secretly that of Tom Holt and I think he was avoiding any hint of similarity with his other work), although his recent books such as Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City are funny as well as grimdark.



His earlier trilogies - the Scavenger books beginning with Shadow and the Engineer series starting with Devices and Desires are really superb.



Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan's on-going Black Iron Legacy books are very good. A really interesting mix of steampunk and god-magic.



Speaking of on-going, Tamsyn Muir's Gideon the Ninth is possibly the most fun I've had reading a book in recent years. I adored it, and think I'm only holding off reading the sequel to so I have something wonderful to look forward to. I've seen it shelved as scifi because there is (brief) space travel, but it reads like fantasy.



I've just picked up two of my old favourites cheap on kindle - Rats and Gargoyles and Ash: A Secret History by Mary Gentle. Both hefty tomes (Ash is 1100 pages and I think was originally published in four volumes in the US), they are two of the finest, most original fantasy books I've ever read - although Ash is mostly an alternative history rather than fantasy.

[CBRetriever]

Django Wexler writes similar types of books like his Shadow Campaigns series starting with The Thousand Names and it has multiple POV

[Sarah]

Well. I’ll be honest and say I didn’t particularly love The Blade Itself, though I do think A Little Hatred was much better.

I’ve also read John Gwynne and I think he’s comparable, and the books I immediately thought of were The Grey Bastards by Johnathan French (though no POV switches in TGB).

I haven’t read his most popular stuff but I think Anthony Ryan has a similar feel and I enjoyed his writing a little more than the others. I’m not sure if some of his other books contain POV changes, the one I read was a singular POV.

If you are just looking for more grimdark you can’t go wrong with Mark Lawrence (who I love).

If you like the action I really enjoyed Sebastien de Castell’s Greatcoats series. De Castell is a fencer himself so he’s really great about the action sequences, though I’ve seen some reviews that felt it was too much.

And since you said it doesn’t have to be fantasy, I’m going to drop a nod in here to Bernard Cornwell’s Last Kingdom series which remains one of my absolute favorite series of all times.

These last three authors/series do not have POV switches though. (Sorry I couldn’t be more help there.)

[Hart]

Thanks for all the suggestions; most of these names are new to me, which is exactly what I was looking for! The addictive rhythm of the POV switches appear to be hard to come by, but that makes sense, it's more of a narrative feature than it is The Writing Itself.

[Hart]

Sarah wrote: "Well. I’ll be honest and say I didn’t particularly love The Blade Itself, though I do think A Little Hatred was much better.

I’ve also read John Gwynne and I think he’s comparable, and the books I..."

Funnily enough, I have very conflicting feelings about the trilogy as well. Lots of good character work, but an iffy plot, to be sure. Boy, was it addictive though. Even when I had problems with it, it just wouldn't let me put it down.

[Hart]

Paul wrote: "Nothing springs to mind with a similar POV switch (although I may go away and kick myself later) but these are some great fantasy books I'd recommend.



K.J. Parker is very good - ..."

It looks like a couple of the suggestions you made were steampunk... Huge thanks, there. I've always wanted good steampunk, and can't say I've ever found it outside of China Mieville, which I enjoyed, but in a kind of morbidly fascinated kind of way.

[Palash]

Next 3 standalones in First Law series are considered even better than original trilogy. Than, there is new trilogy Age of Madness by Abercombie starting with A Little Hatred.

Other than Abercobie, you can try Kings of the Wyld.

[G.R.]

Since you like Abercrombie, have you read "Best Served Cold"? It is a standalone novel.

And a great read is Scott Lynch's "The Lies of Locke Lamora."

[Hans]

Yeah, like everybody said, the best way to read something like Abercrombie is to just read more Abercrombie. The three standalones are all awesome and quite unique in their own way, then there is a great short story collection set in the same world and the second trilogy is also at book two now with book three somewhere on the horizon. And guess what, it's also awesome!

But if I had to suggest something other than Abercrombie, Kings of the Wyld takes a more humorous approach on the whole grimdark theme. And Blackwing might also be up your alley.

[Don]

Lonesome Dove... Definitely Lonesome Dove.

[Gary]

The Black Company series by Glen Cook is a classic epic fantasy grimdark series starting with the novel named The Black Company. The series follows Croaker, the chronicler of the Black Company. The Black Company is a mercenary company hired by the Lady, a powerful wizard, and the ruler of the Northern Empire. There are 11 titles in the series so far with the latest being Port of Shadows published in 2018. There are rumors of a twelfth book titled A Pitiless Rain.

[Andres]

I didn't care for first law so I never moved past the first book.
However, if your looking for a POV master look no further than

A Song of Fire and Ice by George RR Martin
or
The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson

[Dennis]

Hi Hart and everyone,
I also love Joe Abercrombie. I agree completely with the other suggested names KJ Parker, Jonathan French, Nicholas Eames, Mark Lawrence ... all great. I can also throw in “the black hawks” by David Wragg. The sequel will arrive this summer. And thanks for this thread and Gary for reminding me to start reading Glen Cook. I’ve been wondering about this series whether it would be to my liking and now I think it will be! And I never heard of Lonesome Dove? Is it because I am in Europe?