A review by syinhui
Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie

adventurous funny tense medium-paced

3.5

A little more entertaining than the first book. The character dynamics are also a little more compelling. Humor is alright, chuckled a few times. Then there are parts that simply failed to interest me. The writing is easy enough, which is just what I need after reading a book with heavy prose. However, Abecrombie seemed to like using the same string of words over and over again. The repetitiveness irked me off and it’s become a tedious thing to read. 

The lore and history, which we only get to know through Bayaz’s ramblings and bitter reminiscences of the past, also failed to captivate me. It’s all kind of vague and what’s introduced so far - like the reasons why things turned out the way it did, the tale of Euz and his sons - seem puerile and petty. Envy, jealousy, greed and ambition are great themes but I felt they could’ve been handled better. Again, it lacks the depth and mystery I was looking for. There also wasn’t much improvement in the treatment of the few female characters. The resolution of Bayaz and crew’s journey is probably intentionally anticlimatic but for me, the ending was simply unsatisfying. 

I will still continue on to book 3 since the first 2 books proved to be adequately entertaining.