A review by rcollins1701
The Collected Joe Abercrombie: The Blade Itself/Before they are Hanged/Last Argument of Kings/Best Served Cold/The Heroes/Red Country by Joe Abercrombie

5.0

It's hard to classify The First Law as fantasy fiction. Sure, there are wizards and monsters and lots of swords and battles and such, but it's the characters that drive everything here and that sets it apart from the majority of the genre's offerings. For better and worse, the people that populate Abercrombie's pages are all too human, and you'll be both proud and horrified to see some part of yourself in each one of them. There are some honorable folks, some folks just trying to get by and some despicable bastards, but there aren't good guys and bad guys and any archetype you might find will turn out to be a fraud. Yes, there are quests and prophecies, but none of them turn out to be what you'd expect. The only thing you can count on is that everyone will work very hard to get exactly what they want only to find in the end they may not want it after all. Well, that, and that you'll love every word of it.