Last Argument of Kings - Joe Abercrombie

⭐ 8.5/10

(Originally written by Tim)

The conclusion of The First Law trilogy, these books continued to get better as the series went on, and this one was the best of them. Incredibly vivid battles and unexpected character turns had me burning through this book, eager to see how it would all end. The finale is pretty spectacular, and the send-offs for all the characters seemed fitting for each arc.

Speaking of the send-offs, many books claim to be dark and gritty, but these walk the walk. Every character ends up in a worse situation than where they were to start the trilogy. These conclusions feel right, and almost realistic, since so many evil actions by all our characters do not go unpunished. Everyone is a puppet in someone else's scheme, and the person holding the strings at the end is revealed to have also just been power hungry the whole time. I appreciate the commitment to the world, and it follows through on its consistent theme of corruption, but that just wasn't the vibe I wanted to start my Tuesday morning with.

Another complaint would be the magic system in this universe. There is just kind of... magic. No explanation for what it can do, or why certain people can use it, or where it comes from. I don't think this hurt the world too much, since it wasn't used as a crutch to save the day, but I have a lot of questions about the mythical sides of this world that aren't explained. I'm sure the author was fine with that - it adds mystery to a bunch of the characters and places the focus more on who people are instead of what they can do. I just wanted more structure.

I am a bit torn with where to go from here. He has written three other stand alone books in this world, with many of the characters from the trilogy appearing. I have also heard that since they were written later his writing has improved and they are even better than the trilogy. I am lacking closure a bit, but I enjoyed the trilogy and am ready to move on. Will add them to the list.