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Before They Are Hanged (The First Law: Book Two)

Description

Superior Glokta has a problem. How do you defend a city surrounded by enemies and riddled with traitors, when your allies can by no means be trusted, and your predecessor vanished without a trace? It s enough to make a torturer want to run if he could even walk without a stick.

Northmen have spilled over the border of Angland and are spreading fire and death across the frozen country. Crown Prince Ladisla is poised to drive them back and win undying glory. There is only one problem he commands the worst-armed, worst-trained, worst-led army in the world.

And Bayaz, the First of the Magi, is leading a party of bold adventurers on a perilous mission through the ruins of the past. The most hated woman in the South, the most feared man in the North, and the most selfish boy in the Union make a strange alliance, but a deadly one. They might even stand a chance of saving mankind from the Eaters if they didn t hate each other quite so much.

Ancient secrets will be uncovered. Bloody battles will be won and lost. Bitter enemies will be forgiven but not before they are hanged.

Reviews

Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-08-01
Summary: "great book"

This, the second book in the trilogy, is an excellent continuation of the story. The characters keep developing into this book. A great read, I steamed right through it!

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Rating: 4 / 5
Date: 2010-07-09
Summary: "Not Dead Yet"

Iconoclasm is fun at first, but it's got a shelf life shorter than a Japanese pop band. Once the glitter rubs off, what once seemed glam feels about as hip as Jefferson Airplane.

"Before They are Hanged" doesn't fall quite so far, but the biting satire is beginning to dull. I confess, I had a whale of a time with Joe Abercrombie's first book in the series, "The Blade Itself". Here, Mr Abercrombie cheerfully vivisected some of the ropiest fantasy clichés, from savage barbarians to kindly old wizards. Logen Ninefingers, the barbarian, spent more time screaming in pain than anger. The old wizard proved as kindly as Vlad the Impaler, and the nicest bloke in the whole book turned out to the torturer.

Mr Abercrombie returns to the bonfire of the inanities in the second book, this time stoking the flames with the concept of heroic journeys and quests, heroes who get through battles without a crease in their woolens, traitors and sieges, heroic romance and famous last words. Nothing is sacred. Again.

The action quickly picks up where "The Blade Itself" left off, with the ramshackle kingdom called the Union facing threats on multiple fronts. The armies of the prophet Khalul, led by a coterie of invincible, cannibalistic Eaters are bearing down on the Union city of Dagoska from the south, while those of the barbarian King Bethod threaten the province of Angland to the north.

Inquisitor Glokta arrives in Dagoska to shore up the defenses and unravel the mysterious disappearance of his predecessor. Bayaz, the First of the Magi and former brother-in-arms to Khalul, journeys in search of a weapon that can stop Khalul's unnatural underlings. He is joined by a mismatched band of five would-be heroes: Logen, Bayaz's apprentice, a talkative guide, a dashing swordsman and a feral escaped slave. A third story arc follows another band of misfits with colorful names like Dogman, as they accompany a Union army heading north, under the dubious leadership of the Union's vain and cretinous Crown Prince.

We've already been introduced to this identity parade of characters, which leaves Mr Abercrombie more time to expand and enrich his world. We get a little further under the unwashed, flea-bitten skin of Logen and Dogman in particular, and these fatalistic, straightforward yet blackly humorous heroes are easily Mr Abercrombie's best inventions. The backstory to the adventure also contains intriguing hints that all this has gone before--hints that Mr Abercrombie has something to say other than "high fantasy sucks!"

All the same, there's still plenty of fun to be had in "Before They are Hanged", watching a string of stale genre staples receive a well-deserved comeuppance. Sword fights become interesting again once you realize Mr Abercrombie is unlikely to let his heroes escape unscathed. Their mask of invulnerability gets its face quite messily mashed in, knocking one hero out but waking the reader up to the possibilities inherent in a story that doesn't handle its characters with kid gloves. The sex is almost as messy as the fighting, uncomfortably believable, mildly embarrassing and--because hey, it's not you--sniggeringly funny.

However, all this relentless stereotype-bashing is starting to wear a little thin. There's now something almost predictable about the character's inability to dig themselves into anything except more trouble. Some of the catch lines too, such as "Say one thing for Logen Ninefingers, say...", have outstayed their welcome. Some of Mr Abercrombie's deconstructions have themselves become stereotypes--the hapless Crown Prince being a classic example. If Mr Abercrombie really wanted to surprise, he'd have the foppish Prince suddenly turn out to be a military genius. Surprise--nepotism works!

It's always easier to destroy than make something new, and I hope that before the end Mr Abercrombie builds something on the smoking rubble of fantasy conventions he's created. In any event, after two books in the series I wonder if he's run out of targets to obliterate. I kind of hope so, otherwise he might be heading back to the remainder bin with all the other glitter boys.

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-05-22
Summary: "Lots of action and battles, with a magical journey too."

Before They Are Hanged picks up right where The Blade Itself left off. Bayaz - the First Mage, Quai his apprentice, the Navigator, Logen or Bloody Nine as he's known, Ferro, and Jezel are all on their journey to the edge of the world to get the seed to save everyone. Glokta and his practicals are in the Southern city Dagoskan, to save a doomed city from the Gurkish. Colonel West is up North fighting with, or for, the Prince against the savage Northmen. It all sounds simple where the characters are and what they are doing. But, the journey with these characters always seems to go by quickly for me with the wonderous things, good and bad, that happen.

I enjoyed The Blade Itself, but I think I enjoyed Before They Are Hanged even more. Joe Abercrombie has a wonderful way of telling the story full of action and wonder. I enjoyed reading of all the happenings with these characters in the different ends of the world, to see there is a great deal going on around the world and needing help in fixing.

I don't know which set of characters I enjoy reading about more. They are all have different happenings and characteristics that pull me into their stories. Glokta is always a pleasure to read with his suspicious negative thoughts are always interesting in how he comes to his conclusions of people and happenings. And he is usually right in his suspicions. Bayaz and the crew have the magic with them and the great journey. Magic and wonder always interest me. Colonel West has the Northern Men coming to him and the crazy chaos.

The characters have all gone through great hardships of their own kind. They are all grew greatly by the end of this book. The Blade Itself defined who they where at the start, and now they are changing. I got to learn more about the Eaters in the south and Shanka (or Flatheads) in the north. Also, some history leading up to the reason Khaluh is doing what he is doing.

You start to see the inside workings of the history to why they are where they are and the world as it is. I love how the history ties everyone together. Even why Bayaz picked the crew, and yet wonder the purpose of a few of them.

There was one thing I would have liked to have, a map. BUT I really liked how Joe Abercrombie drew a map of the world with his worlds and I didn't need a physical map to help visualize the world.

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Rating: 4 / 5
Date: 2010-04-09
Summary: "Slow but solid"

I bought this book on a recommendation from a friend, who was dead-on when he said "the first book starts out kind of slow, but books 2 and 3 are amazing". If you like a lot of action and war sequences, you don't get to much of that until books 2 and 3. Book 1 is primarily character development. The easiest comparison is to imagine the first lord of the rings book ending right before the fellowship sets off from Rivendale. The book does carry a bit of action, as you are introduced to some of the major characters, but the action is simply a backdrop to get to know some of the characters.

I found book 1 a bit of a slow read, but I could not put books 2 or 3 down once I started.

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-03-31
Summary: "Awesome"

Before They Are Hanged is the second book in The First Law trilogy. Picking up on the heels of The Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged is a fast-paced adventure taking place all across the Circle of the World. The book is split into three different factions: Bayaz, Logen, Ferro, Jezal, Longfoot, and Quai are journeying to the Edge of the World to obtain a dangerous relic; Gokta is dispatched south to investigate the disappearance of a Superior in a city filled with folks of questionable loyalties; West is deployed to the North, to fight and engage with Bethod's men; and Dogman, Threetrees, Grim, Dow, and Tul, the North's most bloody men (save, maybe, Ninefingers), are looking for ways to upset Bethod.

Yes, there are a lot of characters, but Abercrombie writes in such a way that you can feel each one's personality leaping off the page. You can feel West's regrets, his confusion. You can understand the animosity behind Ferro, the cock-sure noble attitude inside Jezal, and the compassionate ruthlessness that belongs to Logen.

Other than the breathtaking action scenes, the permeating mystery hanging on every page, and the magnitude of the quest, one of the best parts about Before They Are Hanged is the character development. As the rag-tag group with Bayaz makes their way Westward, Logen sets it in his mind to get everyone on the same side, namely instilling respect in Jezal and trust in Ferro. This process was immensely enjoyable and satisfying.

Like with The Blade Itself, by the end of the book I was left scratching my head, much like Glokta. The answers we get from Before They Are Hanged only lead to more questions. I have no idea where The Last Argument of Kings will take me. I feel like there are loose ends, like there are wrongs that need to be righted, like there is truth that needs to be revealed, but I don't have the slightest idea of how it's going to happen. That's part of the fun of this series. Abercrombie can throw a wrench in his characters, having them do something completely unexpected, and leaving the reader scratching his head from not seeing it coming.

Before They Are Hanged is filled with battles, bloodshed, treachery, and magic, with more than enough mystery to keep you reading well into the night. Hopefully with the end of the series more will be revealed and loyalties will be shown.

I can highly recommend this series if you want to read something with realistic characters that have realistic expectations, set in a world where there is more than a hint of supernatural activity and intrigue. Of course you wouldn't want to start with this book, as it is Book Two. Overall, Before They Are Hanged was a great and fun read, leaving me eager to see where things are headed and how it's all going to end with the characters that I've grown quite fond of.

And now, two of my favorite quotes from the book. (Don't worry, they're not revealing.)

"What? You got a crowd of friends back in the Badlands, all asking after you? Where did Ferro get to? The laughs all dried up since she went away."--Logen, to Ferro

"No one enjoys an elbow in the face while they sleep."