Series: The First Law by Joe Abercrombie BR

[Olga]

Buddy read for


The Blade Itself discussion - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

We are now embarking on the second and third books of the series.

Please use spoiler tags and tell us which chapter, page, part or % it's about.

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[Ryan, Your favourite moderators favourite moderator]

The spoilered discussion of book one, The Blade Itself, can be found here.

[Sarah]

I’m on Part 2 and this quote sums up what all the male characters seem to be struggling with. It could apply to any of the MC’s since they’re all the same kind of guy - might be fun to guess who says it though!

(view spoiler)[“he still didn’t have half an idea of how to behave around her. There was a hell of a gap between them in the daylight. A yawning great gap of race and age and language that he wasn’t sure could ever be bridged. Strange how the gap dwindled down to nothing at night. They understood eachother well enough in the dark. Maybe they’d work it out in time or maybe they wouldn’t and that would be that. Still, he was glad she was there - made him feel like a proper human man again instead of just an animal slinking in the woods trying to scratch his way from one mess to another.” (hide spoiler)]

[Olga]

Ninefingers?

I'm at 33%, about 200 pages in and it's a bit of a slumber so far. Even more slumberish than the first part was. The only thing that keeps me going is curiosity about the characters. And all the endorsements that I need to take all three books as if it's one.

I don't know what it tells about me, but I'm not bothered by masculinity. I don't even notice it... even though I already saw your comments before going into the book.
Could you please tell me a bit more about what exactly bugs you (in pm, if you want)? I'd like to explore this a bit.

[Sarah]

Nope! Guess again 😄

[Olga]

West?

I edited my previous answer, but suppose you didn't see it, please read above.

[Sarah]

Not West! 😆 let me know if you’re tired of guessing and I can add a spoiler with the name!

[Sarah]

Not so much bothered by the macho world as much as I find it boring/frustrating when the characters struggle with the same issues. They all see women as ‘humanizers’ and there’s so much hardship for the men. I love the story telling but it’s a bit blunt when all six MC’s are the same in that way. If that makes sense…let me know!

[CBRetriever]

Sarah wrote: "Not so much bothered by the macho world as much as I find it boring/frustrating when the characters struggle with the same issues. They all see women as ‘humanizers’ and there’s so much hardship fo..."

move onto, in the same world, these books that are female centric

Red Country with both a female and a male main character (her father to start with)
and
Best Served Cold with a female main character

[Sarah]

WOW. THAT ENDING. really really good.

[Silvana]

I am rereading its sequel trilogy (The Age of Madness) and reading this thread I might be tempted to reread from the start....

[Silvana]

CBRetriever wrote: "Sarah wrote: "Not so much bothered by the macho world as much as I find it boring/frustrating when the characters struggle with the same issues. They all see women as ‘humanizers’ and there’s so mu..."

Best Served Cold's Monza is super cool.
The Heroes has a female POV (Finree) that's really good too.
and then the sequel trilogy has Rikke and Savine, which are *chef's kiss*

[Olga]

Sarah wrote: "Not West! 😆 let me know if you’re tired of guessing and I can add a spoiler with the name!"

I'll have one more try after I read a few more chapters. Maybe I haven't got to this particular couple (age gap and language barrier don't ring a bell) yet.

[Olga]

Sarah wrote: "WOW. THAT ENDING. really really good."

Wow, you're done already?!?
I switched to The Stone Sky for a few days, will get back to it tomorrow.
How's your hold for the second book doing? Do I have some time to catch up?

[Alecsandra]

Logen Ninefingers

[Sarah]

Alecsandra wrote: "Logen Ninefingers"

Nope! :D I'll put it here for anyone as a spoiler:

(view spoiler)[The Dogman (hide spoiler)]

[Sarah]

Olga wrote: "Sarah wrote: "WOW. THAT ENDING. really really good."

Wow, you're done already?!?
I switched to The Stone Sky for a few days, will get back to it tomorrow.
How's your hold for the second book doin..."

It says i'm 9 weeks out from getting book 3 in the hold line - so take your time! Book 2 really picks up after about 70% and I liked what he did with the ending. Let me know what you think!

[Olga]

Sarah wrote: "Alecsandra wrote: "Logen Ninefingers"

Nope! :D I'll put it here for anyone as a spoiler:

[spoilers removed]"

I thought about that, but he’s one of the two in the group who speaks Union and in the quote was mentioned that they didn’t speak each other’s languages. For a moment there I thought about Dow, but he’s not a POV character.

I’m at 54% now, enjoying Ladisla’s dire circumstances and wondering if this would do him any good. But most likely his skull is way too thick.

I also wonder if everything that’s happening with Jezal is priming him with another match with the savage guy he beat on the tournament, but without Bayaz’s help this time.

[Alecsandra]

Bremer dan Gorst appears again in Heroes, he is just a stepping stone for Jezal's future. I'm not going to spoile it for you, the way the trilogy ends for him will be a surprise. Bayaz knows exactly why he helped him win that fight.
P.S. Gorst is a great and misunderstood character.

[Sarah]

I didn't like what Abercrombie did with Ladisla in book 2. It felt too easy and more of that 'fridging' trope that we see throughout, especially with West's character.

[Olga]

So, I finished it today.
Was waiting for the WOW part Sarah mentioned till the last line :)
Though I understand what might have had the wow-effect for you, I didn't quite have that reaction.

I was very touched by (view spoiler)[Cathil and Threetrees dying, almost cried during the scenes of the battle and burial. But also agree with the Dogman being chosen as a leader and happy for him.
(hide spoiler)]
By the way, can anyone explain why he's 'Dogman' on one line and 'the Dogman' three lines down. I tried to find some system in it, but it fells so random to me...

As for the happy-go-lucky group in the West, (view spoiler)[ I was baffled by how easily they gave up. When Bayaz first said 'it's not the Seed", I was like, of course it's not, it's too easy, now you'll need to do something to convince the ghost to give you the real one. And I was kinda anticipating this exchange. But he just yelled at everyone and left. And everyone reacted as if it was Bayaz's fault. How could he know, for god's sake? This whole part was very weird and anticlimactic.
(hide spoiler)]

Overall, this part feels way more satisfying than the first one. Even though there still are lots of questions, at least there's a feeling that we're getting somewhere, that there has actually been some development made, even if not always the way we hoped.

[Olga]

Sarah wrote: "It says i'm 9 weeks out from getting book 3 in the hold line."

Please let me know if there's any progress on your hold. I'm hooked to know how it ends now :)

[Sarah]

Olga wrote: "Please let me know if there's any progress on your hold. I'm hooked to know how it ends now :)"

Me too! Feel free to go ahead and read number 3 - don't let me hold you up! I'm still about 7 weeks out.

[Sarah]

Olga wrote: "I was very touched by ...."
I kinda couldn't believe it had happened! they all seem invincible.

Olga wrote: "As for the happy-go-lucky group in the West...."
I completely agree!! I was fully expecting it to happen the way you thought it would!!

I think I just liked that it ended differently than I expected - if that makes sense - and all the characters changed a little bit.

[Olga]

Reading Chapter 8 Ghosts and so much looking forward to (view spoiler)[Logen meeting the rest of the gang (hide spoiler)].

[Olga]

So, I finished the series yesterday and it's difficult to put to words what I feel about it. The ending has its merits, but for me it feels a bit of a flop.

More thoughts from my review
(view spoiler)[Overall I feel a bit underwhelmed by the series. I can't put my finger on particular flaws, I just don't feel the usual satisfaction that comes at the end of a series. No one is truly better of compared to the beginning of the book (I count the series as one book, because it feels that way) and too many are dead in vain. Not only the named characters, but also countless others - Ladisla's army, all those that have been in the way when Bayaz destroyed the Eaters.

Bayaz is definitely a far cry from Gandalf, even though in the beginning he pretends that he gives a shit about others. On its own it's a nice move - revealing in the end that he's basically the villain (well, one of them) in this world. But I'd like to also have at least some glimmer of hope for someone. As it is, everyone in Adua are left his pawns.

Ferro might be the one well off. She got what she wanted. But something tells me it will also find a way to bite her in the ass.

The ending is kind of good. Full circle and the reader can at least hope that Logan lives and is set free in a way.

I liked a lot of things in the book, but somehow I can't say I love it. In some places it definitely wasn't a satisfying read, I had to suffer through them (and not in a good way).

(hide spoiler)]

[Sarah]

My time is about up on this one and i’m just 13% thru … this might be a DNF for me.

[Cheryl L]

I have this series on my TBR, but it may get moved way down after the discussion above since I often like many of the same books Olga and Sarah do.

[CBRetriever]

I really enjoyed it though

[Cheryl L]

CBRetriever wrote: "I really enjoyed it though"

Well, I will definitely attempt the first book!

[Richard]

I read the trilogy consecutively as after the first instalment it was obvious it was going to be just one book split into three.
It was a fun read, but felt unnecessarily long and the trilogy format led to a feeling of rather a lot of repetition. I agree with Olga that (view spoiler)[things seem to go full circle and no one seems to be any better off. (hide spoiler)]

[CBRetriever]

Richard wrote: "I read the trilogy consecutively as after the first instalment it was obvious it was going to be just one book split into three.
It was a fun read, but felt unnecessarily long and the trilogy forma..."

but your spoiler is the way life is and one of the greatest writers, James Joyce, circled from the end to the beginning of Finnegan's Wake

[Richard]

CBRetriever wrote: "Richard wrote: "I read the trilogy consecutively as after the first instalment it was obvious it was going to be just one book split into three.
It was a fun read, but felt unnecessarily long and t..."

I’m afraid I’ve never had the mental fortitude to read Joyce, but I do love Pink Floyd’s double album The Wall, with the start and the very end running into each other.

[Michelle]

That was a great album.

[Richard]

Michelle wrote: "That was a great album."

It is isn’t it, but you do need the time and patience to sit and listen to it all together.

So I feel with this trilogy; all of it or a very diminished experience (though in this case I still think it could have been a bit more condensed).

Personally it was the interesting characters and varied points of view that made it an enjoyable, and at times emotional, journey for me.