Hi, I am on a driving trip and downloaded a recommended books, “Best Served Cold” and then the reviews say read the original trilogy first. After several hours of “The Blade Itself” there is no sense of a plot or where the characters are going, they are just meeting up.
I understand that this is a common criticism of his early works. Should I finish the Blade Itself or go on to the sequel standalone novel? I got a bit of the sense of the world.
Incidentally, I loved “Project Hail Mary” and started “Three Body Problem”, but the pronunciation of the chinese names turned me off, so I’ll read the book instead.
'The blade itself incites to deeds of violence."
“Conquest is the last argument of kings”
Basically, the whole trilogy is a meandering shitshow of people who have risen to the level of their incompetence. It came off, to me, as “See? Power bad. If your have power, you abuse it. Everybody feels crappy but nobody talks about it and that’s the way it is.”
There is some degree of… …not realism, but… …grit? There are some good, earthy moments. But plot… …not really, other than that power is bad.
I read the entire first trilogy and didn’t enjoy it. There kind of becomes a plot, but I wouldn’t say there’s really a grander purpose to it, mostly just a series of events that develop which allow the characters to be displayed. If you like the characters and want to see more of them then keep going. But if you want a strong plot to develop then you might want a different series.
I know people love Abercrombie, but I was completely turned off by this first trilogy so I don’t know if you can start with his later stuff.
The most disappointing part of the first trilogy for me was that the story makes references to a series of epic events which happened in the past. If that story would have been written into it’s own series I think it would have been much more interesting than what we got.
As for Andy Weir, the Martian was also good. There’s enough content that the movie couldn’t cover to make it still enjoyable if you’ve already seen it.
I would have loved this had I read it 10, 15 years ago, but I was already sick and tired of grimdark when I read it, and ended up just being unsatisfied and depressed by the end. Truly awful people won, and the one redemption story arc ends in horror. Joy. If I want a story that uplifting, I’ll just watch footage from Gaza.
I think The Blade Itself pays off. In an attempt to not spoil things, the first book is mainly “getting the gang together.” The second is “the gang goes into action,” and the third is “the giant climax.”
Of the three standalone novels, “Best Served Cold” is probably the best and an entertaining read. However, without having read the original trilogy, you’ll likely be a bit thrown off by many of the names and events referenced and have a couple of plot points of the trilogy spoiled for you.
I am currently very high on the First Law series, but I will admit I first read The Blade Itself almost six years ago and did not like it. But I think if you take book one as table setting and let yourself get into book 2, the merry crew of Glokta, Logen, Byaz, Jezal, Ferro, Collem, and all the rest will give you an unforgettable story.
i dont remember where but i saw the first law recommended as a series that you could read in its entirety right now, as opposed to asoiaf. i read the original trilogy plus best served cold last year, and after the first book my wife asked me how it was and my comment was something about how thing finally started happening at the end. i also did not really enjoy the jezal chapters in the first book, and didnt mind them at best through the other two. still, overall id recommend them.
There is something to be said about Abercombie’s release of nine full books in the series in the past 18 years, plus a short story collection. I have a soft spot for Jezal—at first, because I didn’t understand what type of story I was reading, and then later, because of how he reacts to his journey.
