§Synopsis
01Bitter and merciless war is coming to the frozen north. It's bloody and dangerous and the Union army, split by politics and hamstrung by incompetence, is utterly unprepared for the slaughter that's coming. Lacking experience, training, and in some cases even weapons the army is scarcely equipped to repel Bethod's scouts, let alone the cream of his forces. In the heat-ravaged south the Gurkish are massing to assault the city of Dagoska, defended by Inquisitor Glokta. The city is braced for the inevitable defeat and massacre to come, preparations are made to make the Gurkish pay for every inch of land . . . but a plot is festering to hand the city to its beseigers without a fight, and the previous Inquisitor of Dagoska vanished without trace. Threatened from within and without the city, Glokta needs answers, and he needs them soon. And to the east a small band of malefactors travel to the edge of the world to reclaim a device from history - a Seed, hidden for generations - with tremendous destructive potential. A device which could put a end to war, to the army of Eaters in the South, to the invasion of Shanka from the North - but only if it can be found, and only if its power can be controlled . . .
§Our take
Glokta is the reason to read this one. A crippled inquisitor investigates a conspiracy in a city under siege, using blackmail and torture, with that sour inner voice running the whole time. Nearly every reader names the Dagoska chapters as the best part, and Strange Horizons agrees.
The other two strands don't land as cleanly. Colonel West prizes civilized behavior and watches it wear away on the northern front, which makes for a more interesting turn than the usual hero arc. The quest party heading west gets the harshest treatment: readers call it conventional, slow, and mostly there to deliver worldbuilding. Whether the whole book beats The Blade Itself is a live argument. Bloggers say yes because the story finally moves. Strange Horizons says it's less fresh. Both are right about something.
§Themes
- Honor under fire
- West holds to civilized values while savage warfare in the north strips them away.
- Siege and suspicion
- Glokta has to get answers fast in a city threatened from within and without.
- No clean morality
- Abercrombie said he wanted grit, humor and unpredictability, with no black-and-white sides.
- Plans that don't survive contact
- This is a book of setbacks, which sets up the finale.
§How it was received
Most bloggers think this is where the story finally gets moving, and Glokta, naturally, steals the show. Strange Horizons found it less polished and less fresh than the debut, though it still called the siege the best strand and thought the book handled the middle-installment trap reasonably well.
§Read it if
- You liked The Blade Itself and want the plot to start paying off
- You enjoy a morally compromised narrator with a bitter inner voice
- You like several storylines cutting between regions at a fast clip
§Skip it if
- You haven't read The Blade Itself. This continues directly from it and doesn't stand alone.
- You want well-drawn female characters. Readers say they're thin or defined mainly by the men.
§Before you start
- Reading experience
- It moves briskly between three regions and three storylines, and it's easy to see why one reader devoured it in a day.
- Reading order
- Book 2 of the First Law trilogy. Read The Blade Itself first and Last Argument of Kings after.
- Content notes
- Substantial profanity throughout; Violence and gritty content throughout, including war violence; Torture and interrogation scenes.
§Common questions
- Do you need to read The Blade Itself first?
- Yes. It picks up directly from book one and doesn't stand alone. One blogger skipped a reread beforehand and still enjoyed it.
- Is Before They Are Hanged better than the first book?
- Depends who you ask. Most bloggers say yes because there's more plot per chapter, while Strange Horizons found it less fresh.
- Is it very violent?
- Yes. Expect war violence, torture and interrogation scenes in Glokta's strand, and plenty of profanity throughout.
§If you liked this
- Powder Mage trilogy by Brian McClellan — One reviewer uses McClellan's grimdark as the yardstick for better-rounded female characters than this book offers.
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