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The First Law Series

This epic fantasy saga delves into the dark corners of human nature, blending politics, war, and personal ambition. Follow the fates of unforgettable characters navigating the line between heroism and betrayal. Brutal conflicts and morally ambiguous situations test the limits of what it means to be human. The series is renowned for its gritty depiction of violence and cynical wit.

Red Country
The Heroes
Best Served Cold
The First Law Trilogy - 3: Last Argument of Kings
The First Law Trilogy - 2: Before They Are Hanged
The Blade Itself

Recommended Reading Order

  1. The Blade Itself

    • 544 pages
    • 20 hours of reading

    Inquisitor Glokta, a crippled and increasingly bitter relic of the last war, former fencing champion turned torturer extraordinaire, is trapped in a twisted and broken body - not that he allows it to distract him from his daily routine of torturing smugglers. Nobleman, dashing officer and would-be fencing champion Captain Jezal dan Luthar is living a life of ease by cheating his friends at cards. Vain, shallow, selfish and self-obsessed, the biggest blot on his horizon is having to get out of bed in the morning to train with obsessive and boring old men. And Logen Ninefingers, an infamous warrior with a bloody past, is about to wake up in a hole in the snow with plans to settle a blood feud with Bethod, the new King of the Northmen, once and for all - ideally by running away from it. But as he's discovering, old habits die really, really hard indeed . . . . . . especially when Bayaz gets involved. A bald old man with a terrible temper and a pathetic assistant, he could be the First of the Magi, he could be a spectacular fraud, but whatever he is, he's about to make the lives of Glotka, Jezal and Logen a whole lot more difficult . . .

    The Blade Itself1
    4.2

  2. The First Law Trilogy - 2: Before They Are Hanged

    • 560 pages
    • 20 hours of reading

    The second novel in the wildly popular First Law Trilogy from New York Times bestseller Joe Abercrombie. Superior Glokta has a problem. How do you defend a city surrounded by enemies and riddled with traitors, when your allies can by no means be trusted, and your predecessor vanished without a trace? It's enough to make a torturer want to run -- if he could even walk without a stick. Northmen have spilled over the border of Angland and are spreading fire and death across the frozen country. Crown Prince Ladisla is poised to drive them back and win undying glory. There is only one problem -- he commands the worst-armed, worst-trained, worst-led army in the world. And Bayaz, the First of the Magi, is leading a party of bold adventurers on a perilous mission through the ruins of the past. The most hated woman in the South, the most feared man in the North, and the most selfish boy in the Union make a strange alliance, but a deadly one. They might even stand a chance of saving mankind from the Eaters -- if they didn't hate each other quite so much. Ancient secrets will be uncovered. Bloody battles will be won and lost. Bitter enemies will be forgiven -- but not before they are hanged. First Law Trilogy The Blade Itself Before They Are Hanged Last Argument of Kings For more from Joe Abercrombie, check out: Novels in the First Law world Best Served Cold The Heroes Red Country

    The First Law Trilogy - 2: Before They Are Hanged2
    4.4

  3. The First Law Trilogy - 3: Last Argument of Kings

    • 656 pages
    • 23 hours of reading

    The final novel in the First Law Trilogy by New York Times bestseller Joe Abercrombie. Logen Ninefingers might only have one more fight in him -- but it's going to be a big one. Battle rages across the North, the king of the Northmen still stands firm, and there's only one man who can stop him. His oldest friend, and his oldest enemy: it's time for the Bloody-Nine to come home. With too many masters and too little time, Superior Glokta is fighting a different kind of war. A secret struggle in which no one is safe, and no one can be trusted. As his days with a sword are far behind him, it's fortunate that he's deadly with his remaining weapons: blackmail, threats, and torture. Jezal dan Luthar has decided that winning glory is too painful an undertaking and turned his back on soldiering for a simple life with the woman he loves. But love can be painful too -- and glory has a nasty habit of creeping up on a man when he least expects it. The king of the Union lies on his deathbed, the peasants revolt, and the nobles scramble to steal his crown. No one believes that the shadow of war is about to fall across the heart of the Union. Only the First of the Magi can save the world, but there are risks. There is no risk more terrible, than to break the First Law. . .

    The First Law Trilogy - 3: Last Argument of Kings3
    4.4

  4. Best Served Cold

    • 560 pages
    • 20 hours of reading

    Monza wants revenge, and she's going to do everything she can to get it. Her brother is dead and now she plans to kill each of the seven men who murdered him. But she needs some help - Shivers, the Northman, Cosca, the mercenary, Friendly, the former inmate of a vicious prison - all hard men to do hard, bloody deeds.--Publisher.

    Best Served Cold4
    4.2

  5. The Heroes

    • 560 pages
    • 20 hours of reading

    They say Black Dow's killed more men than winter, and clawed his way to the throne of the North up a hill of skulls. The King of the Union, ever a jealous neighbor, is not about to stand smiling by while he claws his way any higher. The orders have been given and the armies are toiling through the northern mud. Thousands of men are converging on a forgotten ring of stones, on a worthless hill, in an unimportant valley, and they've brought a lot of sharpened metal with them.THE HEROESFor glory, for victory, for staying alive.

    The Heroes5
    4.4

  6. Red Country

    • 624 pages
    • 22 hours of reading

    Shy South comes home to her farm to find a blackened shell, her brother and sister stolen, and knows she'll have to go back to bad old ways if she's ever to see them again. She sets off in pursuit with only her cowardly old step-father Lamb for company. But it turns out he's hiding a bloody past of his own. None bloodier. Their journey will take them across the lawless plains, to a frontier town gripped by gold fever, through feuds, duels, and massacres, high into unmapped mountains to a reckoning with ancient enemies, and force them into alliance with Nicomo Cosca, infamous soldier of fortune, a man no one should ever have to trust . . .

    Red Country6
    4.3

Related books

  • The First Law Trilogy Boxed Set

    • 1822 pages
    • 64 hours of reading

    A beautiful box set containing SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Joe Abercrombie's epic fantasy trilogy: THE BLADE ITSELF, BEFORE THEY ARE HANGED and LAST ARGUMENT OF KINGS.

    The First Law Trilogy Boxed Set
    4.7