After a three day marathon reading session that included a lot of late nights (and dark circles under the eyes) I have finally finished Joe Abercrombie’s Trilogy “The First Law”.  Two separate blog readers, Paul and uber author Patrick Rothfuss sent me copies of the third book “Last Argument of Kings” because it is only available in pre-order from the states.  Thank you to both of you.  You may ask, why would I accept two copies, isn’t that piggish?  Because my brother “borrowed” one copy and, in fear of never getting it back again, I accepted the second out of self-protection.  I’m not shameful of it, because the stakes were high.  I needed to finish.

And boy did this series finish!   After reading the third book in the trilogy, I definitely have to say that this  is one of my top 10 favorite series of all time.   It’s that good.  The finale pays off all the genre-bending plot twists and crazy left turns that occurred in books one and two, and in a way that will leave you gasping.  I could not have looked up from the last 100 pages if you had paid me!

This series has a very “sword and sorcery” feel to it, but the author makes a conscious effort to reinvent the cliches of the genre, and the more cynical viewpoint makes the books feel modern and new.  I found myself rooting for the most unexpected characters, which I suppose was the whole point, to explore the “grey” areas in a very black and white genre.   Particularly I was struck by the immaculate plotting and character arcs for all three books.   Some of the “huh” moments of certain character choices in earlier books were totally explained as he wrapped up all the loose plot points (and there are a lot of them!)  I would definitely recommend this series to George RR Martin fans and other epic fantasy lovers.  And I can’t wait for the next one! (Yes, it SAYS it’s a trilogy…) 🙂