Before They Are Hanged
Ratings648
Average rating4.3
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 TrilogyThe Blade ItselfBefore They Are HangedLast Argument of KingsFor more from Joe Abercrombie, check out:Novels in the First Law worldBest Served ColdThe HeroesRed Country
much better than the first. even though the violence was disturbingly graphic, the story was great and all that character set-up in the first on finally paid off.
If The Blade Itself was the setup, Before They Are Hanged is the payoff. Gone is the slow stage-setting—this time, Abercrombie throws us straight into the fire. The world remains brutal and unforgiving, but we see so much more of it. From the siege of Dagoska to the ruins of the Old Empire, every setting feels alive, dangerous, and steeped in history. While the magic and deeper lore still hold their secrets, we get tantalizing glimpses that promise more to come.
The real strength of this book lies in its characters and political intrigue. Glokta is at his absolute best, balancing survival and scheming in the doomed city of Dagoska. His razor-sharp wit and grim pragmatism make every chapter he’s in a joy to read. Logen and his reluctant companions trudge across the Old Empire, their journey fraught with tension and shifting dynamics. Meanwhile, West is thrown into the horrors of war, where his own darker instincts begin to surface.
Abercrombie doesn’t just develop his characters; he reshapes them. Jezal, once an insufferable noble, shed his arrogance and starts to see beyond his privilege as the harshness of the real world sets in. Logen, always trying to be a better man, can’t seem to outrun his bloody past. Glokta remains a cynic, but even he isn’t immune to small, surprising moments of humanity. Every choice they make feels consequential, and the lack of clear heroes or villains makes it all the more compelling.
The pacing is sharper, the stakes are higher, and the payoff for sticking with these characters is immense. Battles are chaotic and grim, victories feel hollow, and power shifts in ways that are as unpredictable as they are inevitable. Before They Are Hanged takes everything good about The Blade Itself and makes it better. It’s darker and more focused, with meaningful character arcs and political maneuvering that keeps you hooked.
With only one book left, I’m looking forward to a revealing and satisfying conclusion—one that answers the lingering questions while staying true to the grim, unpredictable world Abercrombie has crafted.
Po prostu świetna. To niesłychane jak bardzo postacie się rozwinęły w tak stosunkowo małej ilości stron. Nie jestem nawet w stanie wybrać ulubionej postaci bo wszystkie są super. Nie mam pojęcia co będzie się działo w następnej części po tym zakończeniu, ale moje oczekiwania są dość wysokie.
Contains spoilers
Like the first book, the characters are what bring this world to life and keep me reading as fast as I can. This seems like this is the book that gives the characters what they need even in often gruesome and horrifying ways. Such as, Logan being able to be a positive mentor without his previous life weighting him down or West experiencing a culture that accepts his faults and celebrates his competency. Of course there is a lot of character backsliding into their old habits as well. You get to see the beginning of what these characters could be and what would really make them happy beyond their stated goals or the mantra in their head. The character interactions in this book are just so much fun especially when multiple POV's are present to bounce off of one another and we get the contrasting internal monologues. Another favorite part of this book is everything to do with the Magi, they are just so petty to one another I love it.
If I had one critique on the characters, it would be the relationship drama between Logan and Ferro in the latter part of the book. I can somewhat believe they could have communication problems but it is just the most boring route to take that conflict. Logan getting offended because Ferro punched him in his sleep is just stupid, we've seen his band they do equally random violent things and he knows her backstory by this point as well.
The plot of the book is also improved from the first book and I feel this book while still very much a part of a trilogy stands up on its own much better. The highlights for me are the war in the north and the siege of Dagoska. The quest for the Seed is more of a stew for character interactions and purposefully not a driving factor in the overall story. There are enough fight scenes and lore that it keeps it interesting for the final anti-climax. The Dagoska story line was shorter then I remembered and left me wanting more, I felt Glokta's story slowed a lot once he was back to intriguing in Adua.
Continuing from the first book many POV's don't have a lot of agency in their story lines. Jezal, Logan and Ferro are just following Bayaz and only have agency during the fight scenes. Glokta once back in Adua is back to following Sult's and now V&B's orders and West has to follow orders in the beginning of the book. It's probably not a coincidence that my favorite plots to follow are when these really interesting characters get to do things themselves.
I didn't think to much about it during my read but in reflection the way torture is used in this series is starting to get to me a bit. In all but one of the on page torture scenes is torture or the threat of torture used to get information that is completely true, actionable and or gets the victim to do what is desired. Even in the case where the practical was shown to have erred it is later undercut with the fact he actually did have the right person, she was just a magic cannibal and could resist. It also annoyed me that even though the Inquisition is notorious in this world and known to use torture extensively there is no counter espionage at all. This is especially true of the Gurkish (and to a lesser extent the merchants) who are described as liking cunning plots. Two Gurkish envoys are tortured and killed and it seems like they did not even consider it an option or make contingencies. Why aren't they plotting behind false faces and fake names? Why send in an envoy that actually knows the true information and not with multiple conflicting stories? I know the answer is that the plot needs to move forward and Glokta can usually just tell when it is the truth anyway it just leaves the world a little more flat if the antagonists aren't doing some of the more obvious counter moves. While I'm not expecting completely true to life experiences, I having more nuanced results would have made the use of torture in this book more palatable.
I've noticed in my reviews that I tend to focus more on my critiques and what didn't work for me then what I enjoyed. If anybody ever reads this then I'm sorry I working on that, haha. I just want to reiterate that I really enjoyed this book!
Still just okay for me. The plot feels pretty barebones for a fantasy series, but the character development is nice.
Before They are Hanged is an outstanding second book in the First Law Trilogy. I absolutely adored the Blade Itself and this book certainly didn't disappoint when it came to the followup of the story. For my review of this book I'm going to try using the CAWPILE system to give it as fair of a rating as possible while also trying out a new critical reading rating system.
Characters - 8.5
The characters in this book were absolutely the shining stars of the whole story, I was also incredibly impressed with how each of the characters developed over the course of this book Specifically Luthar, Glouchter, and West I think both of these characters went through pretty outstanding changes through the course of this book based on the challenges they faced and came out the other side a little wiser and a little more broken. As for the characters who didn't really change much in this book I.e. Logan, Biaz, Fero I still very much enjoyed the sections where they were given chances to shine. I won't say much about Kwai, the navigator and other supporting characters because honestly they were pretty boring and got wildly overshadowed by the far more interesting main characters.
Atmosphere/Setting - 9The setting of this book expands the pretty narrow settings of the last book and shows a vast swath of the world that builds it's history and it's Intrigue (Which I feel was the whole point of the book / the journey of 9-fingers and the rest of the gang). The Atmosphere of the North was abysmal and horrid, showing the logistics of a long drawn out conflict while Gurkle was it's opposite but not out of oppressiveness since it was brutal and fantastic as Joe Abercrombie usually is!
Writing Style - 7I very much enjoyed the writing style of Joe Abercrombie, he has a tendency to change his style based on the character perspective he's writing from which I deeply enjoyed. That being said the style and general narrativeness of the book is nothing revolutionary but kept me wrapped up the whole time.
Plot - 9The plot of this book is yet another standout. Each section of the story (Travel Crew, The North, Gurkle) are all fantastic leading into what I assume to be the lead up to the final book of the trilogy with the death of the remaining crowned prince the plot had me on my toes the whole time and generated quite a bit of tension for each of the characters as they had to deal with shitty situation after shitty situation.
Intrigue - 6I'd say that the intrigue of this book is really quite good though not incredible! This book was the lead up to book three (I'll call it the main intrigue book). A lot of the mystery involved in Gurkle especially was explained away very quickly by Biaz in other chapters so I was never quite set to ruminate on what was happening. This being said I'm very curious about the Bank situation with Glouchter and the “who done it” murder mystery of the other crowned prince.
Logic/Relationships - 4The relationships between characters in the book are not “weak” by any means however I think where this book really makes strides is in the solitude of its characters. For example the relationship between 9-fingers and Ferro is one that I really never had any kind of stake in even when she was “thinking” about going with him (honestly that was a super boring thing to add at the end of the book) however I much preferred West / Glouchter's stories as they trialed with adversity, the weight of the world on their shoulders effectively on their own.
Enjoyment - 8Much like the first book I very much enjoyed this book! I can tell that Joe is not afraid to kill off any of his characters which adds a level of tension that I very much enjoy. No-one feels safe and I love it. Also the dark nature and subject matter of the book, especially getting into the details of war was extremely interesting and engaging. Very excited to read the last book in the series but I also thoroughly enjoyed this addition.
Despite it being masterfully written, despite it having colorful and fleshed out characters who evolve during the course of the story, despite it having cinematic action scenes, despite it having some pivotal moments, this is still just one portion of the story. Can't wait to read the third book and finally see where all this is going.
Good:
The plot lines are overall more engaging in the followup to the Blade Itself owing in good part to the further development of the Northmen characters (Dogman, Tul Duru, Three Trees etc.). Bayaz's quest to the edge of the world also consistently engages and entertains. Character development and world-building takes large strides here and overall creates a much more immersive reading experience.
Bad:
The Glokta viewpoint never seems to maintain interest and comes off as more of a diversion/throwaway plotline (especially considering the overall implications to the overarching plot). This also suffers from the middle book issue of having an awful cliffhanger ending that leaves no satisfaction for the reader.
Ugly:
N/A
TITLE Before They Are Hanged
AUTHOR Joe Abercrombie
Genre Fantasy
Subgenre Grimdark
—
Emotional Impact 7
Characters 9
Plot 7
Worldbuilding / Magic System 7
Dialogue / Prose 9
Official Rating 7.70
Date Started 5/20/2024
Date Finished 5/30/2024
—
Honestly a lot more enjoyable than the previous entry, which is understandable since the first book was basically all setup. The character voice is so unique and individual that it makes each pov switch a joy. I enjoyed but didn't love the plotting or action scenes personally. Glokta and Jezal made me want to keep reading!
TITLE Before They Are Hanged
AUTHOR Joe Abercrombie
Genre Fantasy
Subgenre Grimdark
—
Emotional Impact 7
Characters 9
Plot 7
Worldbuilding / Magic System 7
Dialogue / Prose 9
Official Rating 7.70
Date Started 5/20/2024
Date Finished 5/30/2024
—
Honestly a lot more enjoyable than the previous entry, which is understandable since the first book was basically all setup. The character voice is so unique and individual that it makes each pov switch a joy. I enjoyed but didn't love the plotting or action scenes personally. Glokta and Jezal made me want to keep reading!
"You'd have to be a bold man to bet your life on what I'd dare. How bold are you?"
Now we're talking.
Despite having some issues with the first book being slow, the cast feeling a bit huge, and having no real idea where things were headed until the last third of the book, I still came away from it mostly enjoying the experience. I went into book two with some cautious optimism as a result, and I have to say this exceeded my expectations nicely.
Things pick up where the first book left off, with all the same character POVs, plot lines, and motivations intact. Because the first book spent so much time setting up the world, this is all flash and no filler. We have city sieges, an epic world-spanning journey, personal journeys of self discovery and realization, a budding romance(?), and more character defining moments than you can shake a Shanka at. I love that the author manages to make this book simultaneously dark and humorous, without it becoming too forced. Everything has a point and a purpose, and it took until book two for me to see that.
Just an excellent second book overall. I've already started on the third.
We Weg van Angst is een uitstekend vervolg op het eerste deel. Waar het in het eerste deel soms nog ontbrak aan een sterk plot, heeft juist het tweede deel drie duidelijke verhaallijnen en krijgen de karakters meer kleur en diepgang.
De serie blijft op zijn eigen manier grauw en grimmig en werkt het boek steeds meer toe naar een groter climax. Ik ben onwijs benieuwd hoe deze zich gaat ontvouwen in het derde deel.
If I had to assign a fault to this second volume of the trilogy, it is that the flow of time is not well managed. One gets the impression that days pass when weeks pass, if not more. The result is that everything seems to take place at the same time.
Otherwise, excellent worldbuilding, good concatenation of events, skillful use of the supernatural-an important but not preponderant element.
An episode as hard and raw as the previous one, in which the most honorable of the characters is a sadistic torturer and the most loyal a murderous psychopath.... But it fits. It's a hard, tough world, where going soft means dying or worse.
Never expect a happy ending, here!
Me ha gustado muchísimo el desarrollo de los personajes. Las batallas son brutales también.
me gusta la historia tan cruda que tiene y como amplia el mundo y el sistema de magia.
Me ha gustado muchísimo el desarrollo de los personajes. Las batallas son brutales también.
me gusta la historia tan cruda que tiene y como amplia el mundo y el sistema de magia.
Don't you love it when a sequel comes out swinging for the fences? No middle book syndrome, not a single weak chapter, paragraph, or sentence in the whole thing. Before They Are Hanged is everything that I loved from The Blade Itself taken to the next level.
Before They Are Hanged picks up just after the events of Book 1 and wastes no time in catching us up with our protagonists starting with Glokta. Where the last book had many scattered perspectives as our cast was assembled, Before They Are Hanged settles on bouncing between three parties; Glokta in the South, West and Threetree's gang in the North, and our main party of Logen, Ferro, Jezal, and Bayaz in the west.
I don't want to get too specific on plot; each party is accomplishing a unique task and their stories are largely independent. Logen has joined Bayaz on his quest into the Old Empire seeking a forbidden power. West is fighting the Union's war in the North against King Bethod. Most interesting of all, Glokta is now the superior of Dagoska and tasked with rooting out corruption while organizing the city's defenses in advance of a war with the Gurkish. All your favorites from the last book are finally in a position to begin their adventures and boy is it entertaining. As I mentioned with the last book, there isn't anything exceedingly unique as far as the premise goes, what The Fist Law series is really about is injecting nuance and cynicism into traditional tropes. So despite the trite premise, the plot proves to be exceedingly engaging.
As far as the theme goes this book is consistent with The Blade Itself, we've got a focus on the harsh realities of war and violence right at the forefront of it all. There is a persistent thread concerning the settling of scores, of reaping what you've sown, those concepts being echoed between the different storylines in both their narratives and in the prose itself. I think it's needless to say that Joe Abercrombie is a master of character writing and dialogue, but I will say that as a consequence of reading this series a lot of the recall I associate with traditional fantasy has been overwritten with old logan ninefingers and his motley crew. There are catchphrases, I totally forgot to mention that last review; personally I liked them, They fit in great and these books tend to be hilarious when appropriate.
More than anything I think I love the vibe of this series the most. It really benefits from the classic setting and story; it's dark and atmospheric and not always but now and again the story slips into a nostalgic almost a tabletop campaign-y vibe. I think I can safely say that I am hooked and I'll probably read the next series in this larger world/universe. I also can't believe that there hasn't been an adaptation of this yet!? The dialogue is so good that it sometimes feels like I am reading a screenplay for an hour of premier television. We've all wanted more Game of Throne-ish content, here's something that's arguably better!
I seem to have hit a “Sophomore Slump” with the First Law. I still think the characterizations and development of relationships were good but I'm not sure that any plot needs to move this slowly, especially over three books that are each 500 pages long.
Maybe I'm just impatient.
As for the characters, I would have appreciated it if the one woman who got a POV in the book was not so boring. All she does is think about how she hates everything, distrusts everyone, and how stupid and slow her traveling companions are. A little of this goes a long way. Was Abercrombie afraid we were going to think she'd “softened” if he didn't repeat her constant bitter inner monologue?
I still like Glotka's combo of inner turmoil and outer cool. One thing that kept me going was curiosity about what he'd do next and how he would deal with what was thrown at him.
Yeah, I'm gonna finish the series. The completist in me needs to see how it turned out.
Even better than the first one. The story gives you more details on the characters of which I love more and more and there is a significant amount of violence.
My absolute favorite about Abercrombie is his ability to make you feel for the characters. You truly feel Glokta's pain and what it must be like to be in agony every day of your life.
You feel like you're right there in battle with people getting split in half, appendages being chopped off, blood everywhere, the sheer chaos of warfare. It's outstanding
9/10
Loved it! Would have liked some more umph from last couple chapters to hype me up for the next book.
This book starts on a high and just keeps ramping it up!
So, after the great first book, which now looking back, was more of a prologue book setting up and introducing us to the main characters, comes the sequel that takes the best elements from the previous entry and dials them up a notch.
Also, the ending is very poignant. I wasn't expecting a certain character's death to hit me as hard as it did.
Waar The Blade Itself meer een inleiding was tot de personages en de opzet van het plot, begon Before They Are Hanged echt met de actie en verhoogde de inzet, terwijl onze personages zich verder ontwikkelen van kennissen tot bijna-vrienden.
Ik hield echt van de drie verhaallijnen die we volgden, zeer interessante connecties en nogal onverwachte onthullingen. Ik blijf verbijsterd over het feit dat ik echt van deze personages hou, ook al is geen enkel echt een sympathiek persoon. Wel zijn ze echter allemaal heel opmerkelijk menselijk en hebben allemaal iets waardoor je voor ze supportert.
Deze trilogie voelt echt aan als gewoon één lang boek, waarbij boek één naadloos overging in het tweede boek. Daarom eindigt het wel een beetje onbevredigend, maar dat betekent ook dat ik niet kan wachten om in boek 3 te beginnen, en dat ga ik dus ook gewoon doen. Ik twijfel er niet aan dat het alles zal zijn waar ik op hoop of meer.
“I have no doubt, that there will be an orgy of blackmail, bribery, corruption and betrayal. A carnival of deal making, alliance breaking, intrigue and murder. A merry dance of fixing, of rigging, of threats, and of promises.”
Disappointed, yet I love this series.
I've been waiting for the real grimdark part of this series for two books now. So far the darkest thing was chopping off of fingers during torture in The Blade Itself. A disembowelment here, chopped off limb there... Sure, it is grimdark but on the low end. Where the hell does the “Lord Grimdark” nickname for Abercrombie come from? I thought this would be brutal. Exhausting. Disgusting in places. Erikson, Cook, Kristoff have more ‘grimdark' stuff in one chapter than Abercrombie has in two books.
Instead it's incredibly entertaining and often funny. Some characters die, but I do feel that most of them have plot armor. I expected to be drained like after finishing a Malazan book. Instead I feel like I read bloodier Sanderson book.
I'd have to re-read ASOIAF but I think Abercrombie does the best character work in fantasy. Along with great prose and writing style full of (often sarcastic) inner monologues it's what elevates these books above the most. He gets into the heads of characters really well. You can easily see why they behave as they do.
I knew this would be 5 star book after three pages. I find his style incredible. It's not something amazing and rarely seen. It's actually the way most writers write, it's just done on whole another level. Glokta, Jezal and Ninefingers grew on me. Especially Glokta's sarcastic comments. Not to mention the character growth some of these went through. Spectacular.
But where's the plot? I already heard that this trilogy is sort of one book split into three but I wasn't expecting to feel it this heavily after two thirds done. There's barely anything happening! And yet it speaks so much more about Abercrombie's writing talent as I'm giving it 5/5 and want to continue. I will take a small break to accommodate other series I'm in the middle of first, though.
The ending was disappointing, I can't believe he wrote it like this. Reminded me of Luke in The Last Jedi when he tosses the lightsaber... nooooot a good thing. Subverting of expectations like this was the worst thing he could've done to end the book on.
But I'm really curious where it goes next... and I shouldn't say ‘it'. Rather they. The characters. The main plot really isn't that much interesting.