All Things Joe Abercrombie

Hatorade

Hatorade

A nice asshole.
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Fucking love this guys work, favorite author for sure.

"Has it ever occured to you, Master Ninefingers, that a sword is different from other weapons? Axes and maces and so forth are lethal enough, but they hang on the belt like dumb brutes. But a sword...a sword has a voice.
Sheathed it has little to say, to be sure, but you need only put your hand on the hilt and it begins to whisper in your enemy's ear. A gentle word. A word of caution. Do you hear it?
Now, compare it to the sword half drawn. It speaks louder, does it not? It hisses a dire threat. It makes a deadly promise. Do you hear it?
Now compare it to the sword full drawn. It shouts now, does it not? It screams defiance! It bellows a challenge! Do you hear it?
 
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Wolfen_sl

shitlord
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Close to finishing Red Country. I'm listening to the audiobook, so maybe I missed it while paying attention to traffic, but who is the mayor? Cosca recognized her but I don't think it was ever said exactly who she is.
 
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Chrisd_sl

shitlord
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Haven't finished the book yet so I dunno if it's explicitly said but I assume it's the hot blonde classy whore who I've forgotten the name (dutch sounding, like Elda van something but not quite) of from the series and BSC.
 
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Tortfeasor

Molten Core Raider
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A week or so ago a buddy of mine gave me a copy of 'The Blade Itself' to read. I have never read any of Ambercrombie's stuff before but I like it so far (about 75% finished. Jezal just won the fencing tournament via hax). I think its the first in a trilogy, but are there other books with the same world/characters? What are some of his other stuff that you guys recommend?
 
Lightning Lord Rule

Il_Duce Lightning Lord Rule

Lightning Fast
<Charitable Administrator>
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I finished the "First Law" trilogy a few weeks back. The middle book seemed to go by the slowest, but the 3rd book made up for it. Once the ending rolls around and everything gets tied together it really leaves a sense of shock to your system about how deep the rabbit-hole goes. It's so different than Sanderson, which is what I was reading before that. I feel like I'm running down on the fantasy reading though, might be time to switch to some scifi or mainstream type stuff for a while.
 
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Wolfen_sl

shitlord
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Finished Red Country. Loved it. Lamb was, of course, awesome sauce. Looks like he's heading west, so hopefully we'll get a book where he meets up with Sweet and does more badass things.

Poor Cosca. "I won't be disappointed again!"
 
Nebuchadnezzar

Nebuchadnezzar

Golden Squire
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Tortfeasor_sl said:
A week or so ago a buddy of mine gave me a copy of 'The Blade Itself' to read. I have never read any of Ambercrombie's stuff before but I like it so far (about 75% finished. Jezal just won the fencing tournament via hax). I think its the first in a trilogy, but are there other books with the same world/characters? What are some of his other stuff that you guys recommend?
Click to expand...
Starts with a trilogy
THE BLADE ITSELF
BEFORE THEY ARE HANGED
LAST ARGUMENT OF KINGS

Then it breaks up into stand-alones set in the same world with some of the same characters popping up.
BEST SERVED COLD
THE HEROES
RED COUNTRY

Next up is another trilogy...hopefully soon, because more Abercrombie is a good thing...


Edit: the Mayor was Carlot dan Eider, I'm pretty sure.
 
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Chrisd_sl

shitlord
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I thought Shivers was with the mayor at the end, but then the final scene makes no sense because it would have gone down in Crease.

Anyway hopefully the trilogy has lots of Gorst battlefield domination.
 
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groovy_and_sl

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So Red Country was just released in the US, and I snagged a copy only to finish it on the first day. Some thoughts

TL
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R Didn't feel it as much as the past books, even the ones without Logen in them.

It might have been the expectation going in, and knowing Logen was in this book, but it just fell flat for me. I'd like to say that I read the book because I have enjoyed all the other books in the universe (which is true), but all I really wanted was bloody nine scenes. I still find myself going back and reading those chapters in the First Law trilogy, especially his first appearance in the blade itself.

But it never happened. I can appreciate the idea of showing the bloody nine from a non-logen perspective, but it even failed to live up in that regard as well. The bit with Glama golden was the bit where I thought I might get the payoff I was hoping for, but again, it just didn't happen.

Not to criticize the writing in general, but I read these books for the 'holy fuck' moments that seemed so plentiful in the trilogy, as well as in the previous two stand alones. I'm going to read it again, a bit slower, maybe I just powered through so fast I missed the forest for the trees.

Edit: The mayor is the woman who was the traitor in Dagoska, then showed up in Adua after the gimp spared her life

Merged with the OG thread - Grimm

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ColourofSpace_sl

shitlord
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groovy_and_sl said:
So Red Country was just released in the US, and I snagged a copy only to finish it on the first day. Some thoughts

TL
biggrin.png
R Didn't feel it as much as the past books, even the ones without Logen in them.

It might have been the expectation going in, and knowing Logen was in this book, but it just fell flat for me. I'd like to say that I read the book because I have enjoyed all the other books in the universe (which is true), but all I really wanted was bloody nine scenes. I still find myself going back and reading those chapters in the First Law trilogy, especially his first appearance in the blade itself.

But it never happened. I can appreciate the idea of showing the bloody nine from a non-logen perspective, but it even failed to live up in that regard as well. The bit with Glama golden was the bit where I thought I might get the payoff I was hoping for, but again, it just didn't happen.

Not to criticize the writing in general, but I read these books for the 'holy fuck' moments that seemed so plentiful in the trilogy, as well as in the previous two stand alones. I'm going to read it again, a bit slower, maybe I just powered through so fast I missed the forest for the trees.

Edit: The mayor is the woman who was the traitor in Dagoska, then showed up in Adua after the gimp spared her life

Merged with the OG thread - Grimm
Click to expand...
I agree with you. I enjoyed the book but everything fell in place too neatly and felt rushed. I'll credit this to him trying to set up new paths for characters to be further explored in his coming books.

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cambones_sl

shitlord
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I'm a big Abercrombie fan, I finished Red Country a little while ago.

First off, I liked it. Maybe not as much as First Law or the other stand alones, but I liked it. Sometimes I felt as if he was playing into the Logen niche's too much. I've heard this argument before, but it really stood out for me this time. Logen's regrets, his past, his age, I felt like all this was touched on too much. While it does make his character interesting, I felt like I could expect what all of his scenes would entail.

Also I didn't like how Savian was insta-gibbed while Logen crept away "outside" of POV. Some writers take the easy "he's a badass so it works" method but I enjoyed Abercrombie much more because of his realistic stories.
 
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Parker Lewis_sl

shitlord
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Wolfen_sl said:
Close to finishing Red Country. I'm listening to the audiobook, so maybe I missed it while paying attention to traffic, but who is the mayor? Cosca recognized her but I don't think it was ever said exactly who she is.
Click to expand...
The mayor is
Carlot dan Eider, the woman that Glotka permitted to escape from Dagoska
 
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Merkins4Brazil_sl

shitlord
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Loved the hell out of The Blade Itself, book 2 didn't hook me in out of the gate, put it down, but will certainly come back to it down the road.
 
Grimmlokk

Grimmlokk

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Most people seem to feel the 2nd book didn't read as well as the 1st and 3rd.

I loved Red Country. Not as much as The Heroes, but not too far behind it. Right up there with the 3rd First Law book.

Trilogy was traditional Fantasy through Abercrombie's eyes.
BSC was a classic revenge story
Heroes was a war story
Red Country was a Western

Next trilogy is supposed to go back to Fantasy a bit more I guess. And be set ~8 years after Red Country.
 
Hatorade

Hatorade

A nice asshole.
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Finaly read Red Country and loved it, was awesome knowing Logen's thoughts then watching his actions through the eyes of others.
 
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Weaponsfree_sl

shitlord
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To be totally honest I thought the First Law was good but not great.

The brilliance emerged in his standalones The Heroes and Best Served Cold, and without the backdrop of the First Law Trilogy it wouldn't have been nearly as good.
 
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