# Do you recommend the First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie? (no spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 26, 2017, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-recommend-the-first-law-trilogy-by-joe-abercrombie-no-spoilers/802820 "2017-11-26T23:54:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2019, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-recommend-the-first-law-trilogy-by-joe-abercrombie-no-spoilers/802820/22 "2019-04-08T01:50:46Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > That’s _The Prince of Thorns_ and sequels, right? Yup. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2019, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-recommend-the-first-law-trilogy-by-joe-abercrombie-no-spoilers/802820/23 "2019-04-10T00:03:36Z")
Love the trilogy but it does take a while to find it’s groove IIRC, gets better as it proceeds. Find the dialog and characters to be absolutely top drawer - not to be parochial but I love the Anglicisation of that Glen Cook / Steve Erikson style of fighting talk. Ballachingly funny at times. The world-building is a bit thin though - mentioned upthread. Maybe it’s not that precisely, as there are some really strong settings, but the world did feel a bit small to me. I’ve seen some criticism of GRRM with his SoIF world-building being quite basic and falling apart when he leaves that comfortable medieval European setting of Westeros, but no one could deny he brings the scale. It feels pretty epic. The First Law could have done with a bit more in that direction IMHO - this is hard to craft, though, and I think these were Abercrombie’s first books. The next one ‘Best served cold’ is already a lot better in this respect. Heroes takes a much more focussed story and is really exceptional IMO. To the point where I was too Abercombied out to read Red Country - must pick that up at some point. ---
**Author:** ![magnusblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@magnusblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magnusblitz)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2019, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-recommend-the-first-law-trilogy-by-joe-abercrombie-no-spoilers/802820/24 "2019-04-10T00:34:41Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > My advice? Read Mark Lawrence’s _The Broken Empire_ trilogy instead. It’s darker than anything Abercrombie ever wrote - brutal, at times - but there a real thoughtfulness to it, even something of a moral center. It’s better written, too. While I love Abercrombie’s stuff, I really had a lot of issues with Mark Lawrence’s stuff. I managed to slog through the Broken Empire trilogy and read the first couple books in the second trilogy (Red Queen’s War) before giving up. For one thing, I found it really confusing to follow, as if the author was purposely trying to be as vague as possible in his writing (to be honest, I sorta got the impression at times he was trying to show off how much smarter he was than the reader). It also at times felt dark-for-the-sake-of-being-dark… the first book starts off with the main character committing a rape, for example, and he’s the _protagonist_ (and not a villain protagonist, all the other characters are just even worse). The second trilogy is better in this regard, thankfully, where the main character is just a lazy entitled princeling who gets sucked into a quest when he’d rather be at home living the high life, instead of a teenage psychopathic rapist. It certainly has some interesting ideas, and well-written prose, almost poetic (very atmospheric!) but I found it hard reading a book with no one to root for, and also feeling like the author was constantly trying to show off how much smarter he is than I. The second trilogy fixes the first problem but I still felt no desire to finish it because I just kept having trouble following it. ---
**Author:** ![Caldris\_bal\_Comar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@Caldris\_bal\_Comar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caldris_bal_Comar)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2019, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-recommend-the-first-law-trilogy-by-joe-abercrombie-no-spoilers/802820/25 "2019-04-10T18:40:15Z")
I love the series. The worldbuilding is a little thin, but he writes some of the best characters and dialogue I’ve ever read. I think the standalone books after the first trilogy are even better; they play to Abercrombie’s strengths as a writer more. The first book in the new trilogy is coming out later this year and it’s definitely the book I’m most looking forward to reading. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2019, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-recommend-the-first-law-trilogy-by-joe-abercrombie-no-spoilers/802820/26 "2019-04-10T19:17:41Z")
> [@Busy\_Scissors](#): > > To the point where I was too Abercombied out to read Red Country - must pick that up at some point. You must, it is IMO the best one of the bunch. The Broken Empire trilogy was pretty good, the main character specially, but honestly I wouldn’t say it comes anywhere close to being as good as any Abercrombie book. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2019, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-recommend-the-first-law-trilogy-by-joe-abercrombie-no-spoilers/802820/27 "2019-04-21T16:12:48Z")
I finished the second book. It was OK. I would say about each storyline: 1. Baez, Jazel, Logan, etc. - best storyline of the book. I was always refreshed and happy when they cut back to these folks traveling to the edge of the world. 2. Glokta - My favorite character, but his storyline was only OK. I’m disappointed how his storylines don’t live up to how much I like the character. 3. Dogman and his group - OK. I mean, just OK. 4. West - snoooooze. I will be continuing to the final book, but I had a lot higher hopes up to this point. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-recommend-the-first-law-trilogy-by-joe-abercrombie-no-spoilers/802820/28 "2019-04-30T21:47:38Z")
OK, I am done and really found the whole series to be OK, but I leave it disappointed. I had hoped it would be quite a bit better than it was. Honestly, characterization was really good, but the actual plot was not. He created great characters, but they did not really get to do much I found all that interesting. I am interested in the novels that came later. Are they stand-alones? ---
**Author:** ![magnusblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@magnusblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magnusblitz)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-recommend-the-first-law-trilogy-by-joe-abercrombie-no-spoilers/802820/29 "2019-05-01T01:08:20Z")
Yeah, they’re stand-alone books in the same universe. Characters from the other books show up again but the focus tends to be on either new characters or minor ones from the trilogy. I can’t remember if events happen sequentially but I’d probably suggest reading them in release order just in case. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-recommend-the-first-law-trilogy-by-joe-abercrombie-no-spoilers/802820/30 "2019-05-01T01:10:33Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I am interested in the novels that came later. Are they stand-alones? Yes, each one is set a few years after the previous ones and they all are self contained stories featuring mostly new casts with some familiar faces thrown in. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-recommend-the-first-law-trilogy-by-joe-abercrombie-no-spoilers/802820/31 "2019-05-01T01:40:13Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Yes, each one is set a few years after the previous ones and they all are self contained stories featuring mostly new casts with some familiar faces thrown in. I may prefer that. I liked the characters, but I did not find enough story to really stretch out to three full length books. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-recommend-the-first-law-trilogy-by-joe-abercrombie-no-spoilers/802820/32 "2019-05-01T01:46:09Z")
I can understand that, i think its one issue with trying to deconstruct fantasy tropes: you end up with less of a story. Like the entire second book was a long quest for the mcguffin and at the end the thing is not even there. The story doesn’t really end, there is no big bad to defeat when everyone is an asshole. Might be why most people prefer the stand alone books. ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-recommend-the-first-law-trilogy-by-joe-abercrombie-no-spoilers/802820/33 "2019-05-02T15:22:31Z")
Didn’t enjoy this series at all. Read them all and at the end, what amounted to nothing actually happened. Also strained credulity pretty badly from time to time. Felt like I had wasted my time by the end. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2019, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-recommend-the-first-law-trilogy-by-joe-abercrombie-no-spoilers/802820/34 "2019-09-29T20:05:50Z")
Anyone read Abercrombie’s new one - _A little hatred_? I finished it over the weekend and thought it was great fun, love that Abercrombie voice, but felt it was a bit of a re-tread with a lot of the same storylines and characterisations we’ve read before. Not that I’m complaining exactly - I love this style and wasn’t expecting some radical change in direction, but it was a bit like modern cinema - this works, so let’s just make the same film again. Also, without spoiling anything, the last quarter or so felt a bit static and didn’t really set up great tension for the next one IMHO. If you like JA this will probably be right up your street. If you’re more on the fence (like some posters above) then this is not a book to change that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-recommend-the-first-law-trilogy-by-joe-abercrombie-no-spoilers/802820.md?page=1)