Chainsaw Man Chapter 146, Chainsaw Man War Review: Crossing the Precipice.

In my review for Chapter 145 of Chainsaw Man, I theorized that we were crossing the precipice of normalcy for Part Two.
In the first part of Chainsaw Man, the story reached a specific point where it evolved into outright insanity and just got crazier as it went along.
After reading “Kumbaya” and seeing Barem sing that titular song to the ominous setting of the sun, along with Asa getting her arm cut off by Yoshida, I theorized that Part Two had crossed the same precipice from normalcy into insanity.
Well, this theory was absolutley correct because Chapter 146 “Chainsaw Man War” is the one where so much of what Tatsuki Fujimoto has been building up to in Part Two falls into place.
“Chainsaw Man War” begins from where the previous chapter left off, with Yoshida attacking Asa.
Yoshida apologises to Asa for attacking her after she followed his advice to stay away from Denji and then goes to strike her again, the scene ending before we can see if he lands the blow or if Asa is able to counter him.
Unfortunately, this is the last we see of Asa this chapter, but the rest of “Chainsaw Man War’s” events more than makes up for it.
Following his arrest, Barem explains to Denji and Fumiko the lie that Chainsaw Man Church members were making contracts with the Justice Devil.
He states that, while the name of the Devil was a lie, its power to transform people into what they desire the most was not.
This Devil is then revealed to be Fire and, at that very moment, Part Two of Chainsaw Man crosses the precipice into insanity, as multiple people start sprouting chainsaws from their heads and arms, and start massacering everyone around them, including each other.
We see a grandmother transforming in front of her grandchild (which probably did not end well for the kid), people transforming in the park, and people transforming in the streets.
We even see that all of the Chainsaw Man Church members the Hammer Fiend restrained have transformed.
Speaking of this Fiend, they and Katana Man watch the transformations, with the Fiend looking quite unbothered by it.
The transformations trigger Katana Man immensely, however, as he shouts Chainsaw Man’s name in anger when the Church members rush him.
As the massacre continues, Barem explains that the more contractors the Fire Devil has, the stronger those contracted will be.
So it seems that the Fire Devil’s power is more metaphorical than being based solely around fire.
The Fire Devil allows those who make a contract with it to transform into what they desire, which is similar to an inner fire.
Along with this, the strength of those who transform grows the more people are contracted, with the power spreading like a wild fire.
Back with Denji and Fumiko, The Fire Devil contracts have killed all of Barem’s arresting officers, and the Hybrid continues to explain the situation, stating that large mass scale weddings were held at the Chainsaw Man Church Chinese and Canadian Chapters.
Contracts with the Fire Devil were made along with these weddings, resulting in around 350,000 people who have now been transformed into Devils which look like Chainsaw Man.
Following this explanation, we see just how far the chaos is spreading, as Denji and Fumiko see a nearby building explode.
Barem then refers to the Nostradamus Prophecy, stating how he and Fami plan to kill the “Great King of Terror.”
Denji does not beleive this but Nayuta confirms his story, stating that she can tell it is the truth because both she and Fami can sense this threat coming.
This is because both Nayuta and Fami are sisters with the “Great King of Terror” herself, the Death Devil.
Nayuta then reveals Fami’s ultimate plan is to make Yoru and Denji strong enough to kill the Death Devil by starting this Chainsaw Man War to make people afraid of both war and Chainsaw Man.
And so Chainsaw Man Part Two crosses the precipice into insanity and the pieces fall into place.
The purpose of the Chainsaw Man Church is now known, along with Fami and Barem’s ultimate plan, along with the role of the Death Devil in the story.
Well, unless Fujimoto builds up the Death Devil to be the ultimate threat and then makes it something else, like he did with the Gun Devil in Part One.
No matter what Fujimoto’s intent with the Death Devil is, however, it is exciting to see it finally becoming a part of the story.
We got hints of its importance when Yoshida mentioned it for the first time all the way back in the Aquarium Arc, and now it is finally coming into play.
The Death Devil being the “Great King of Terror” from the Nostradamus Prophecy also makes a lot of sense because death is the ultimate fear every human has.
That being said, I am not so certain that Fami’s plan to kill the Death Devil will result in anything good if it succeeds.
I mean, death being removed would make everyone immortal and create more chaos with the world order.
There are clearly so many different directions Fujimoto could go with this Death Devil reveal and I am excited to see which one he chooses.
As for what will happen next, I expect the following chapters will only get crazier, like it did in Part One from the International Assassins Arc onwards.
How the Asa and Yoshida fight will go is anyone’s guess, and I am wondering if Denji, Fumiko and Nayuta will have to fight their way through Barem and the Chainsaw Man clones.
There is also the fate of some characters, which are still uncertain.
We know pretty much all of the Chainsaw Man Church members were transformed into Devils but what about Haruka and Nobana?
We did not see them transform and they seem like significant enough characters for Fujimoto to show their transformation.
This leads me to believe that they are still human at this point.
As for their friend, Seigi Akoku, he is not only still my leading candidate for the original fake Chainsaw Man but also the Fire Devil as well.
The guy bares a strong resemblence to Agni from Fire Punch so it would not surprise me if he turned out to be the Fire Devil who had been handing out contracts since the beginning of Part Two.
As for Chapter 146, “Chainsaw Man War”, it is a stellar chapter which answers many questions and officially crosses the precipice into insanity.

The Creator Review: A Familiar Sci-Fi Spectacle.

Gareth Edwards is a director who I was wondering what happened to for a while.
Growing up I was a big Godzilla fan, so I enjoyed his 2014 movie.
Edwards also directed Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which is probably my favourite Star Wars movie Disney has put out since they started making them.
However, after Rogue One, Edwards did not direct another film for a number of years.
So, when I was amazed by the spectacle of the trailer for The Creator, and saw that it was written and directed by Edwards, I knew I had to see it.
The Creator is a movie that is by no means original, but it still handles its familiar tropes well and with impressive effects.

The special effects of *The Creator* are quite impressive when you compare it to other big budget movies.

The film follows Joshua Taylor (John David Washington), a soldier who lost an arm and a leg during a nuclear attack on Los Angeles directed by AI.
After going undercover in New Asia to find and eliminate Nirmata, the one behind AI advancements, Taylor falls in love with and marries Maya (Gemma Chan), a pro-AI fighter, only to tragically lose both her and their unborn child when the mission ends.
Years later, Taylor is recruited by the army again upon learning that Maya is alive and that Nirmata is about to release their ultimate weapon, which is capable of winning the war for the AI.
And so Taylor goes back to New Asia with the goal of finding Maya and eliminating the weapon, only to find that said weapon is a young child, who he names Alphie (Madeleine Yuna Voyles).
Disobeying orders to destroy her, Taylor takes the girl with him to try and find Maya, with a growing bond quickly emerging between the two.

Taylor’s role in this story is a familiar one but still well-written and acted.

As I have said, the story of The Creator is nothing new.
Humanity fighting AI and that AI supposedly using our weapons against us has been a concept since The Terminator.
Along with this, a man protecting a little girl in a dystopian world, with a father-daughter bond slowly emerging between the two, has been a big trend in all kinds of media ever since The Last of Us.

Taylor’s bond with Alphie grows over the movie.

Despite The Creator’s familiarity, the story is still solid with a few twists on the trends to keep things interesting, like that the AI is supported by an entire country, which the United States is fighting against.
As for the growing bond between Taylor and Alphie, it is very well done with both Washington and Voyles giving great performances.
Where this movie truly shines, though, is in its visuals.
The Creator was made with only a budget of eighty million dollars and that is incredibly impressive when you compare it to many hundred million plus movies, which have much weaker effects.
While watching The Creator, there was only point where I consciously thought, yeah, that’s CGI.
Otherwise, ever single effect in this movie looked real to me, especially the AI’s.

The AI honestly reminded me of the motion capture for the *Planet of the Apes* trilogy because of how realistic they looked

These spectacular visuals alone make the film worth seeing, even if the storyline is nothing original.
Overall, The Creator is a solid film backed by spectacular sci-fi visuals.
I look forward to seeing what Gareth Edwards does next.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 145: Kumbaya Review: Asa Returns but at What Cost?

The latest chapters of Chainsaw Man have focused more on Denji’s life than Asa’s.
This is not suprising, considering he was the main character of Part One and the series is named after him, but I was wondering when we would see Asa again.
Well, Asa finally returned to the story in Chapter 145 “Kumbaya”, only for that return to be, as should have been expected, a far from happy one.
The chapter begins in the aftermath of Public Saftey’s raid on the Chainsaw Man Church.
A group of Public Saftey officers are discussing how to spin their raid to the media, and make plans to capture Asa, since she is the poster girl for the Church.
This is also where Fujimoto drops a bomb shell.
Public Saftey knows that Asa is being possessed by the War Devil.
Their knowledge of this all but confirms my prior theory that Yoshida knew about Asa’s possession right from the get-go.
He likely told Public Saftey of her identity.
Another interesting bit of information is the lead Public Saftey Officer saying that he hoped Asa would turn Chainsaw Man into a weapon.
If this was Public Saftey’s goal for a time then it would explain why Yoshida set Asa and Denji up in Chapter 104.
Although, if this is true then it also raises the question of why Yoshida later wanted Asa to stay away from Denji.
The scene ends with one of the Public Saftey officers asking the lead one what the Chainsaw Man Church hoped to achieve, and him responding, “To play at being Chainsaw Man, probably.”
Given the ominus nature of this chapter, I highly doubt this was the case, especially considering Fami’s fear of the Nostradamus Prophecy.
The next scene shows Barem, whose last name is revealed to be Bridge, being arrested by Public Saftey.
He is mentioned to be the Church’s second-in-command, which makes me wonder who the big leader is, Fami or the fake Chainsaw Man?
As he is being arrested, Fumiko offers him a place in Public Saftey, mentioning how Katana Man and Quanxi are also working for them now.
Reze not being mentioned confirms for me that she is not with Public Saftey.
I do think we will see her in the story again but it appears that Fujimoto is holding off on that for now.
Rather than respond to Fumiko’s offer, Barem instead asks to watch the sunset, before the scene again cuts to the lead Public Saftey Officer, who is being shown the corpse of the Devil the Falling Devil tried to feed Asa and Denji to.
It is revealed that this Devil is actually the Justice Devil, meaning that the Devil who has been giving powers to people right from the beginning of Part Two is another Devil entirey who has just been pretending to be Justice.
My money is on that Devil being Fami, at the moment.
Following this scene, we finally see Asa again, who is watching the Chainsaw Man Church being raided on the news.
Before she and Yoru can respond to it, there is a knock on the door demanding the War Devil’s surrender.
Asa instead decides to fight, planning on transforming her apartment into a weapon to fight, which Yoru compliments her on, saying she had become pretty wild since they met.
Before Asa can create a weapon, however, Yoshida uses his contract with the Octopus Devil to crash through the apartment and swing his sword at her.
While this is happening, so is Barem’s arrest.
In probably the most ominous moment of the entire chapter, he sings Kumbaya while being arrested, still watching the setting sun.
As Barem continues to sing, we see that Yoshida has cut off Asa’s arm when he attacked, bringing the chapter to an end.
I think things are going to get pretty crazy in the next chapter.
Barem’s song and focus on the sun seems to be implying that this sunset will be the last peaceful one the characters get for a while.
I am also highly interested in seeing the fight between Asa and Yoshia.
Will it be over quickly or something more drawn out?
I am also curious to see if Asa’s arm can regenerate like Denji’s.
We know Yoru revived Asa when she possessed her but we do not know if that was a one time thing or if Asa can regularly regenerate lost limbs now.
If not then Asa just lost her arm permamently.
Chapter 145 also sets up a lot of mysteries, like how much Yoshida knows about Asa and Yoru, what the Chainsaw Man Church’s true goal was, and what Devil was pretending to be the Justice Devil to make contracts?
Not only am I eager to find out the answers to these mysteries, but I also think we may have reached the precipice of normalcy in Part Two… well, as normal as Chainsaw Man gets anyway.
Back in Part One, the precipice was the Bomb Arc.
After that, the story went completley bonkers with the International Assassins Arc.
The events of “Kumbaya” makes me think we have just gone over the precipice for Part Two.
I am excited to read the next few chapters to see if I am right or not.

Wheel of Time Season Two Review: A Substantial Improvement.

I found the first season of Amazon Prime’s The Wheel of Time adaptation to be a bit of a mixed bag.
There were changes that I liked and changes that I did not.
The latter was especially apparent with the first and final episodes of the season, with a lot of the creative decisions in those two episodes being quite poor, in my opinion.
Despite this, I did like the season enough to be interested in seeing Season Two.
The fact that this season would be adapting my favourite book in the series, The Great Hunt, certainly helped.
Well, it pleases me to say that Season Two of The Wheel of Time is a substantial improvement from the first.
Yes, the show is still nowhere near the quality of the books but it is still a good show all on its own.

The second season was quite the improvement from the first.

Once again developed by Rafe Judkins, the show picks up from where the previous season left off, with everyone thinking Rand (Josha Stradowski) is dead.
The Dragon Reborn is trying to learn how to channel from Logain (Álvaro Morte), while forming a relationship with the mysterious Selene (Natasha O’Keeffe)
As for Rand’s friends, they are split up for most of the season.
Egwene (Madeleine Madden) and Nynaeve (Zoë Robins) go to the White Tower to train as Aes Sedai, Lan (Daniel Henney) is trying to help Moiraine (Rosamund Pike) after she was stilled, Perrin (Marcus Rutherfod) goes hunting for Padan Fayne (Johan Myers) who stole the Horn of Valere, and Mat is being held captive by Liandrin (Kate Fleetwood).
Speaking of Mat, I was interested to see how Dònal Finn would portray the character since Barney Harris left part-way through Season One for unknown reasons.
I loved Harris’ portrayal of Mat so Finn certainly certainly had big shoes to fill but by the light does he fill them.

Finn does a fantastic job as Mat and I am excited to see how he will continue to play him.

Mat is not the best character of the season for me though, no, that title goes to Egwene.
When I first read The Great Hunt, I was absolutely horrified by the Seanchan’s treatment of her.
This is the one area where I think Season Two matches the books in terms of quality because of just how horrifying Egwene’s experience is directed, along with the incredible performance from Madeleine Madden.
I was just as disgusted with what the Seanchan were doing as I was in the books.

Madden delivers the best performance in the entire show in Episode Six. It is gut-wrenching to watch and I mean that in the best way possible.

Almost as good were the interactions of the Foresaken.
I was constantly enjoying the mind games that Ishamael (Fares Fares) and Lanfear played, and the Forsaken teased at the end of the season has me excited for what is to come.
While the rest of the season does not quite match the dramatic highs of Egwene and the Forsakens’ scenes, it is still solid with there being only a few hiccups.

For one thing, the opening scene in Episode Seven has some pretty horrendous acting.
Then there is the Horn of Valere, which I do not think the show sold the importance of enough.
Yes, I found the scene with it in the final episode to be triumphant, however, that was mostly because of my experience as a book reader.
Had I been a show only watcher, then I would have lacked a lot of context.
Also, I think the show has not really sold Rand’s power as the Dragon Reborn yet.
Characters like Egwene already appear much stronger than him.
However, I understand that they are trying to do a gradual build up to Rand realising his full potential so hopefully that will come later.

Rand does not get to show off his strength to the extent he does in the book, unfortunately.

Probably my biggest criticism of the season though is Lan and Moiraine’s storyline.
The conflict between them was very predictable as to how it would end, a lot of Lan’s storyline dragged, and Moiraine never learned something important about her family so a plotline surrounding that felt like a waste.
Other than this and a few other issues, Season Two is solid and a substantial improvement from Season One.
It might not be as great as the book it is adapting, but The Wheel of Time adaptation finally feels like it is getting on the right track.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 144, Guns, Nails, Katana Review: An Expected Return.

Tatsuki Fujimoto is a writer who is incredibly difficult to predict.
I am usually thrown for a loop every single chapter of Chainsaw Man.
Chapter 144, “Guns, Nails, Katana”, was the exception because I actually guessed what would happen as soon as I started reading.
This is because the chapter’s very title spells out its events, which served to hype up what was about to happen.
“Guns, Nails, Katana” begins with the titular guns by having the Chainsaw Man Church members grab the weapons from the basement.
Back in the previous chapter, I thought the weapons that were being referred to were Devil Hybrids since they share the same name, but it turns out the weapons were just firearms.
Nobana is horrified by the amount of guns they have but this does not stop him and the other Church members from taking aim at the command of one of the Church’s apparent leading members.
All it takes is a mention of Chainsaw Man for the students to be ready to kill, showing just how much this Church has brainwashed them.
Outside the building, a Public Saftey Officer orders that two Special Division Agents be sent in, one at the front and one at the back.
The one who takes the front is the “Nails” part of the chapter.
They are a Fiend with their brain exposed and this detail made me think that they were a reincarnated Cosmo, since her brain was also exposed.
However, this Fiend’s reliance on hammers and nails makes me think they are Nail or Hammer Fiend.
Whichever they are, the Fiend easily disarms the students by nailing them to the walls through their clothes.
Given that the Fiend makes sure not to kill the students and that they shout out that children should be studying not using guns, it first appears that the Fiend wants to protect these students.
This makes it all the more darkly humorous when the Fiend smashes a student’s head in with a hammer when they don’t speak politley.
With the students taken care of, the unnamed man leading them then transforms into a Devil, having also clearly made a deal with the Justice Devil, just like Yuko did.
It is good to know that the Justice Devil is still in play and I am interested to see what its role is in all this.
Then, we get the moment I knew was coming ever since I read the chapter title, “Guns Nails, Katana.”
The unnamed man cries out that the Fiend will face the justice of the Chainsaw Man Church, only for Katana Man to make his return by eviscerating him from behind with his signature move.
This likely makes Katana Man the second Public Saftey Agent who was sent in the back.
As for why Katana Man would join Public Saftey after attacking them early in Part One, it makes sense when you look at who he is fighting.
Katana Man hates Chainsaw Man because Denji killed his grandfather so he would obviously be offended that a church worships him.
This can be seen when Katana Man shouts, “There is no such thing as justice with Chainsaw Man!”
So with Katana Man’s expected return that makes six out of seven Hybrids accounted for.
The only one missing is Reze so it will be interesting to see where she is.
Is she with Public Saftey or somewhere else?
Will she turn up next chapter or later in the story?
One thing I am certain of is that she will make her return at some point.
It would not make sense to have the rest of the Hybrids and not Reze.
As for Chapter 144, it was another solid chapter, which introduced the new Fiend well and ended on the great cliffhanger of Katana Man’s return.

Ascendance of a Bookworm Anime Review: A Bibliophile’s Isekai Story.

As an avid reader, I found the premise of Ascendance of a Bookworm to be quite interesting.
Based off the light novel by Miya Kazuki, the anime follows Urano Motosu, a lover of books who is ironically killed by falling books.
She is then isekaied into the body of a young girl named Myne (Yuka Iguchi), only to find she has been reincarnated into a bibliophile’s worst nightmare.
Myne is of the peasantry class in her new life and, given that most of the people in her town are illiterate, it makes finding a book next to impossible.
Refusing to be dissuaded, Myne sets out to make her own books, surprising her fellow townspeople with her creations brought from her previous life.

Myne’s inventions may be simple in her old life but in the medieval world she now lives in they are revoluntionary.

This premise was such a good one that, after I heard it, I immediately sat down to watch it and was met with a charming anime that has a lot of heart.
Myne’s struggles to find a way to read again are relatable, and the cast around her are just as endearing.
This is especially the case with Myne’s new family, as her father Gunther (Tsuyoshi Koyama) would probably be high up on a list of great anime dads.

Myne’s friend Lutz (Mutsumi Tamura) also serves as her constant supporter, while also slowly growing suspicious that Myne is now more than she seems.
Other interesting characters like Benno (Takehito Koyasu) and Ferdinand (Shou Hiyami) are also encountered by Myne as her prominence grows in the world.
Speaking of that world, it seems to be a simple medieval one at first, yet it slowly expands into a more fantastical one as Myne’s knowledge and desperation to read books lead to her encountering the nobility.
This leads to further world building accompanied by solid animation.
Granted this animation is nothing spectacular but it never needed to be, as a simple confrontation scene in the Season One finale is quite intense on its own.

Myne’s actions in this episode were surprisingly chilling for what had previously been such a wholesome show.

Along with occasional moments of intensity, Ascendance of a Bookworm is capable of bringing out emotional gut punches when it wants to.
This is especially apparent in the Season Three finale where a bittersweet moment between Myne and her family actually had me tearing up.

Season Three’s bittersweet conclusion makes me interested to see where Season Four will pick up.

Myne’s journey across the three seasons we have got so far have been endearing, humorous and emotional.
It makes me excited for what will come next in the story, both in terms of Myne and the other characters’ development and in terms of the world building.
I hope we get a Season Four soon.
I would highly recommend Ascendance of a Bookworm, especially if you are an avid reader like me, as Myne’s struggles will be all the more sympathetic.
The anime has a lot of heart.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 143, Rawr Review: A Dramatic Return.

For the past few chapters, Tatsuki Fujimoto has been building up to a terrorist attack committed by the Devil Hybrids in order to bring Chainsaw Man out of retirement.
As a result, going into Chapter 143, “Rawr”, we were all expecting to see this attack take place.
So, of course, Fujimoto played with our expectations by instead having the terrorists stopped before their attack can even begin, with them being taken out by a fan favourite character who makes their long awaited return in dramatic fashion.
Fujimoto remains as unpredictable of a writer as ever.
“Rawr” begins with the Weapons, consisting of Sugo, and the Spear and Whip Hybrids, prepring to begin their attack.
The Spear Hybrid seems to be in charge of the three, and my earlier impression of him being reluctant to take part in this attack is proved immediately wrong, as he horrifyingly suggests to target women and children.
Whip is just as messed up as, at 82 years old, she is eternally young and believes she was chosen by god, which she and the Spear Hybrid use this justify their oncoming atrocity.
Sugo is the only one of the three who is hesitant, which can be seen when a child falls over in front of him and begins to cry.
Sugo looks horrified at the thought of killing the kid but pushes his hesitancy aside, talking himself into believing this is a message from god.
Yeah, Sugo is still clearly brainwashed, yet his hesitancy still makes me believe their is some redemption for him.
As the clock strikes five, the three Hybrids reach to activate their transformations when, to the shock of probably all the readers, Quanxi dashes in from out of nowhere and cuts down the Whip and Spear Devil.
Sugo takes a little longer to take down, but only by a few seconds, as Quanxi executes him with pure casualness.
The little boy who Sugo was scared of killing earlier then looks up at Quanxi and the bloody carnaged she has unleashed.
“Rawr” Quanxi says to him, and the little boy runs off screaming, in complete fear of the chapter title!
Joking aside, I was not expecting Quanxi’s return at all and screamed out her name in surprise when she showed up.
It is good to see her again and the casual way she took down the Weapons was fun.
She is also revealed to be working with Public Saftey so I wonder how that occured, seeing as she was against them in the International Assassins Arc.
I have to imagine there was some hesitancy, considering that Makima was a part of Public Saftey and she killed Quanxi’s girlfriends.
Still, it will be cool to see Quanxi interact with her old buddy Kishibe, if Fujimoto decides to write that.
Following Quanxi’s return, it is revealed that Public Saftey covered up the planned Hybrid attack, instead portraying it as an attack by gunmen from the Chainsaw Man Church.
The Church is about to be raided by Public Saftey, and one of its members says that, “If they find the Weapons in the basement, we could be charged with treason.”
So, this suggests the Chainsaw Man Church has more Weapons at their disposal or held captive.
Maybe they have Reze and Katana Man, who are the last of the Weapons who remain unnaccounted for now that Quanxi has returned.
The chapter then ends with Haruka and Nobana being shocked to learn that the Church has Weapons, only for the random man who commented this to tell Haruka that he never heard a thing about Weapons, attempting to keep him quiet.
So, yeah, Haruka and Nobana are clearly out of their depth, although this was always apparent.
What is less apparent is just what Denji was thinking while all of this was taking place.
I mean, Barem just shows up, tells him the Weapons are going to attack and that Denji should transform into Chainsaw Man to help them, only for nothing to happen at all.
I have to imagine Barem was quite embarassed about that, which is funny to think about.
Barem is still out though and he is crazy enough to be danger.
As for the captured Weapons, I wonder if this will be the last we see of the Whip and Spear Hybrids?
I am pretty certain that we will see Sugo again, though, because Fujimoto seems to be giving him an arc, what with his clearly growing doubts.
Overall, I found “Rawr” to be a fantastic Chainsaw Man chapter.
Yes, it was brief, but it had the return of a fan favourite character and, with it, a classic Fujimoto subversion of expectations.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 142, Denji Fan Club Review: A Different Side.

Despite the ominous ending to the previous chapter, Chapter 142 of Chainsaw Man, “Denji Fan Club”, has one of the most wholesome openings of the entire story.
Denji has taken Nayuta to an amusement park and we get a panel of her enjoying herself on a ride.
Sadly, this wholesome image is not enough to make even Denji feel better because he still looks incredibly depressed while watching her from the bench he is sitting on.
Fumiko is still guarding him and Denji assures her he is not going to turn into Chainsaw Man again.
Fumiko says this is disappointing but Denji points out that his time as Chainsaw Man was not all good, and Fumiko agrees, revealing that Public Saftey has even been keeping watch on Denji in the bathroom.
Denji rightfully points out how screwed up this all is, calling Fumiko a stalker which, after all of the creepy stuff she has done, is totally justified.
Fumiko, however, demands that Denji call her his fan, but Denji says that every woman who comes onto him ends up hating his guts.
With Denji’s interactions with Makima, Reze, and many others, it is hard to exactly fault him for thinking this.
Fumiko, on the other hand, admits that she does hate Chainsaw Man a little bit because he did not save her parents.
We then see a different side to Fumiko than the creepy stalker, as she reveals that she was there when Denji fought Aki who had been turned into the Gun Fiend.
Denji then asks Fumiko if her parents survived, which is pretty stupid of him, considering that she just said Chainsaw Man did not save them.
I am not sure if that is Fujimoto just showing Denji having a dumb moment, a writing issue, or a translation issue.
In any case, Fumiko reveals that she also saw Denji transform back into a human and cry over Aki death.
She states, “When I saw it, I realized for the first time… that the one who’s been fighting all this time, while Devils kill him over and over again… was just a kid.”
A kid who she touched inappropriately… yeah, Fumiko’s a creep.
Fumiko concludes her speech by saying she swore to save Denji after she saw who he was, making her, not a Chainsaw Man fan, but a Denji fan.
This is a very well written speech and it does make Fumiko sympathetic but, again, it is complicated by her prior actions.
She says she knew Denji was young yet she still pretty much assaulted him in the theatre.
Fumiko’s statement does seem to break through Denji’s depression, at least, because he is still considering what she said when Barem approaches, contrasting Fumiko as a Denji fan by saying that he is a Chainsaw Man fan.
Barem says it was not easy to sneak over to Denji without getting spotted by Public Saftey, indicating that they are looking for him.
Barem then shows his Chainsaw Man lighter to prove that he is a fan before asking Denji to grant his “fan request.”
What follows is a moment that feels like Fujimoto is speaking directly to the reader.
“Personally, I want to see Chainsaw Man fighting. I want to see him carving up Devils with his chainsaws… getting covered in gore… suffering and struggling and getting killed… and despite it all, returning to life and getting back up again.”
It feels like Fujimoto is just repeating what he has heard some fans say about Part Two, which has been much slower paced than Part One.
I am not complaining, though, since I have personally quite enjoyed the direction Part Two has taken but it does appear that Fujimoto is aware that there are some readers who do not.
It will be interesting to see which direction Fujimoto decides to take this.
Will he decide to give into some fan pressure and make the story more violent, or will he stick with the more character focused approach he has been taking?
It looks like we will get an answer next chapter because Barem reveals that the Weapons are about to attack, and we see Sugo, the Whip Hybrid, and the Spear Hybrid standing in a store ready to begin, as the chapter ends.
Of the three, I would say that the Whip Hybrid is the only one who looks comfortable with what she is about to do.
Sugo and the Spear Hybrid look much more uncomfortable.
I have said before that I think Sugo will probably end up betraying the Weapons to help Denji and I still believe this to be true but I am interested to see if my impression of the Spear Devil’s reluctance is correct or not.
Will Denji fight the Weapons when their attack begins or will he back down and let the attack happen to live a normal life?
I could see this going either way but, if he does fight the Hybrids, it will certainly not go as well as when Pochita fought them at the end of Part One.
Chapter 142 is a solid Chainsaw Man chapter, which promised an imminent attack from the Weapons while showing a new side to Fumiko.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 141, Normal Life Plus Review: An Ominous End.

Chapter 141 of Chainsaw Man, “Normal Life Plus”, feels like the shortest chapter we have had in a while, not that it’s a bad thing.
The chapter begins by showing that, despite Denji trying to live a normal life, he will never be able to escape reminders of Chainsaw Man.
We see this in the Chainsaw Man Curry Buns he buys while shopping with Nayuta, and even with the Asa posters they pass while walking home.
Also on their way home, they encounter a Devil, which Denji and Nayuta look pretty happy about.
Denji is about to transform but hesitates and, in that moment, a bunch of Chainsaw Man Church members show up and kill the Devil for him.
As Denji and Nayuta depart, a store named after Fujimoto can be seen behind them.
This doesn’t have anything to do with Denji’s predicament, I just find it a fun easter egg, like when Fujimoto named the karaoke place Denji and Fumiko visited after himself.
Fujimoto then presents us with more panels of Denji living his depressing normal life with Nayuta, until the two eventually go to bed with their dogs and Meowy.
Denji, however, cannot sleep and when he wonders if he will eventually get happy in this normal life, Nayuta attempts to console him by saying she will stay with him forever.
This does seem to comofort him, somewhat, as Denji goes to sleep hugging his little sister.
However, this is Chainsaw Man so trouble is innevitably on the horizon, as we see the Weapons of the Chainsaw Man Church meeting up at Family Burger to discuss their plans.
Barem is leading the discussion, with Sugo and the Whip and Spear Hybrids also in attendance.
Just like many of us thought, Barem is up to no good, as he plans to launch an attack with the other Weapons.
Since tomorrow is the Chainsaw Man Church’s day of worship, the Church’s followers will not stop any Devil attacks.
This will cause the Public Saftey Devil Hunters to emerge, who the Weapons then plan to kill to draw Chainsaw Man out.
Out of all the Weapons, Sugo seems to be the only one reluctant about enacting this plan, as he demands to know why they are going so far to make Denji transform into Chainsaw Man again.
It would seem that Sugo is being kept out of the loop.
In response to his demands, the Whip Hybrid tells him that they will be Weapons tomorrow, so he should remove all of his thoughts.
This, again, causes Sugo to reassert his humanity, telling her to let him think for himself.
Sugo really is similar to Denji in a lot of ways and this only reinforces my belief that he will eventually betray the Weapons to help him.
As for Barem, he does agree with Sugo that they are human, but also acknowledges that they are weapons, asking the group what they have in common.
The Whip Hybrid guesses that they are hard to spell.
It would seem that she is not the sharpest weapon in the shed.
With a creepy face, Barem states that the thing humans and weapons have in common is that they are both born to kill, so god will forgive them, no matter how many people they kill.
On this ominous note, the chapter concludes, promising that Denji’s normal life is about to come to a violent end.
Why the Weapons want to draw Denji out, I could not say at this point, but I do think there is one thing they have not accounted for: Asa.
Just like Denji, I doubt she is going to be able to stay out of the fray, which will probably lead to a second team up between her and Chainsaw Man, against the Weapons this time.
“Normal Life Plus” is a solid Chainsaw Man chapter, which I think signifies the end of Denji’s attempt at a normal life.

Top 10 First Law Characters.

When I ranked the ten books in The First Law series, I kept bringing up how the author, Joe Abercrombie, excelled at writing his characters.
Not only do these characters have some of the most distinct voices in fiction, they are also mostly terrible people.
If they existed in real life, I know that I would hate many of them, and yet Abercrombie is able to make us like and care about them, despite all they have done.
With so many complicated yet stellar characters, I decided to rank my top ten.
However, even narrowing the series’ expansive cast down to ten was extremely difficult because of how good so many of them are.
So honourable mentions go to Temple, Ferro Maljinn, Collem West, the Dogman, Bremer dan Gorst, Whirrun of Bligh, Calder, Black Dow, and Leo dan Brock.
Yes, that is a lot of honourable mentions, but that should show how amazing the cast of The First Law is, since I considered placing all of these characters in the top ten.
In the end, though, I had to keep the list at ten, so now let’s get into the list of who I think are the best characters in The First Law, starting with…

10. Jezal dan Luthar.

Jezal had a pretty funny starting point, regarding my perception of him.
When I first read The Blade Itself, Jezal was my least favourite of the main characters, due to his over-the-top narcissism.
The reason this is funny is because the rest of the cast consists of mostly mass murderering torturors, yet Jezal is somehow more hateable than them.
Again, this shows off just how good Abercrombie is at getting us to like terrible people.
As for Jezal, his unlikeability does lead to some humorous moments.
I know I burst out laughing when Jezal started admiring his reflection in the mirror, with his inner monologue gushing about how handsome he was.
It was so over-the-top, I just could not help but laugh.
Jezal does not stay this way, though, because he has some of the most significant character development in all of Before They Are Hanged.
The moment he decides to be a better person, while recovering from an injury, is one of my favourite moments in that book, and it builds well into Last Argument of Kings, where Bayaz manipulates the Union into accepting Jezal as the new king.
Jezal could have actually been a pretty good king too.
He seemed to have plenty of good ideas, and his growth made him a much more caring person.
Unfortunately, it is at this point that Bayaz reveals himself to be the master manipulator, pulling all of the strings behind the scenes, including Jezal’s.
The chapter where he threatens Jezal into submission is one of my favourites of the series.
And so, Jezal ends the first trilogy as a pawn of Bayza, in constant fear of his life.
He has a few brief appearances later on in the story, before dying of mysterious causes at the end of A Little Hatred, the first book in the sequel trilogy.
Jezal ultimately lived a tragic life.
He became a better person, only to become a puppet king, one mistake away from being killed, unable to implement change, and married to a woman who could never love him.
Jezal’s journey from insufferable narcissist to tragic figure was one that I enjoyed reading.

9. Savine dan Glokta.

My first thought following Savine’s introduction was, “Yep, she’s Glokta’s daughter, alright.”
Born of the affair between Ardee and Jezal, Savine was raised under the belief that she was Glokta’s biological daughter.
Even though this is not true, she is still his daughter in every other way that counts.
Unfortunately, that results in a lot of suffering because Savine is almost as ruthless as Glokta is.
Right from the beginning, it is clear she is not a good person, as we quickly learn about the harsh conditions in her factories.
But then, much like Jezal, Savine is given an opportunity to change.
She gets caught up in the first uprising of the Breakers and the Burners, resulting in her seeing and experiencing the suffering she has caused.
This makes her resolve to be a better person… until she gets rescued that is because then she completely doubles down, in the worst of ways.
She becomes more ruthless, eventually resulting in her manipulating her husband Leo into rebelling against Orso in the hopes of becoming queen.
It is only upon seeing the devastation her actions cause, along with the birth of her children, that Savine changes for the better, if only slightly.
She is still as manipulative as ever, writing a letter to Gunnar where she pretends to be his wife to get him to save her.
However, she does attempt to do some good, like freeing Orso, even though that unfortunately does not pan out.
I do think Orso is right, in the end, though, as Savine is definitely a smart person to have in charge, considering that she has the power to reign in Leo’s destructive tendancies.
She will at least be able to keep the Union afloat with Glokta’s help, even if it does result in more abuse of the peasantry while Savine is painted as a saint.
Savine does admit to being the “villain” by the end but she remains charismatic throughout her time in the story.

8. Rikke

The Dogman’s daughter, Rikke immediately makes a strong impression with her first appearance.
Gifted or cursed with the power of the Long Eye, Rikke has obscure visions of the future, which causes seizures, and this is made clear from the moment she sees Stour Nightfall’s invasion before it happens, at the beginning of A Little Hatred.
Reading her flight from his forces was thrilling, and it is not long after Rikke is rescued that we get one of my favourite moments from her, when she tells the battle hardened Caul Shivers that he is still in there.
For Rikke to say this to such a hardened character and seeing the effect it had on him was especially moving.
Rikke also has some of the most creative chapters in the entire series.
There is the moment she uses her Long Eye to help Leo win his fight against Stour Nightfall at the end of A Little Hatred.
The depictions of her ability in The Trouble with Peace only get crazier, as Rikke has a vision of the events of a chapter before they happen, and, in another chapter, she witnesses events backwards.
Joe Abercrombie really went wild with her ability and it was a joy to read.
Just as joyous was seeing Rikke outsmart Savine and Stour Nightfall, by attacking while they were off rebelling against Orso.
Unfortunately, I found her storyline in The Wisdom of Crowds to be the weakest of the bunch, although that was mostly because of how obvious the twist of her tricking Calder was.
As for the twist of her betraying Orso, I also quickly saw it coming, but it still made for a crushingly tragic moment.
I can’t even blame Rikke for handing Orso over.
She needed a way to protect the North from Leo’s newfound bloodlust and handing Orso over was the only way.
Despite this sacrifice, the peace Rikke has created will definitley end at some point, with her final vision showing revenge coming from both Hildi and Calder’s hidden son.
Rikke keeps this vision to herself and this will almost certainly backfire whenever we get a follow up.
When we eventually do, I will be anticipating reading more chapters from Rikke’s POV again.

7. Monza Murcatto.

The main character of the best stand alone in the series, Best Served Cold, I was instantly on board with Monza’s revenge quest after reading the first chapter in a preview at the end of Last Argument of Kings.
Starting her story as a Styrian mercenary working for Grand Duke Orso, Monza and her brother Benna are betrayed by him because he fears they mean to replace him.
Benna is killed and Monza is thrown off a cliff but she survives, vowing to kill the seven men who hurt her and killed her brother.
This ultimately results in her dragging all of Styria even further into bloody conflict.
The main thing that I like about Monza so much is that we as the readers experience the issues with her revenge and the intent behind it, just as Monza does.
We see the cost of her vengeance, as multiple innocent people are killed in the poisoning assassination, along with Mauthis.
There is also Monza’s slow realization about how cruel Benna truly was, leading to her realising that he actually was intending to overthrow Duke Orso and put her in charge.
Some of these realisations come from other characters as well, with Shivers learning that Monza and Benna were actually lovers, yet another reveal showcasing just how toxic Monza’s relationship with her brother was, and how she was blind to his many faults.
These realizations lead to Monza actually softening somewhat across the story, as she tries to save Faithful Carpi, decides to spare Foscar (before Shivers kills him anyway), and kills Orso with decidely little fanfair.
In the end, Benna gets what he wanted posthumously, as Monza essentially becomes the ruler of Styria in all but name, before crowning her son Jappo as king after fighting off Union invasions.
Going into the Age of Madness trilogy, I was excited to see what Monza would be up to but, unfortunately, we did not get to see her.
We were introduced to Jappo, though, and his scene with Leo and Orso was excellent, but I do hope to see Monza again because there is a lot of potential for interactions with other characters, most notably Shivers.
Flawed, yet sympathetic, Monza is my favourite female character in the series and I hope the upcoming adaptation of Best Served Cold does her justice.

6. Nicomo Cosca.

Nicomo Cosca is a character who was first introduced in Before They Are Hanged, serving as the eccentric mercenary hired by Glokta.
Despite playing a pivotal role in the defence of Dagoska, and in the arrest of Arch Lector Sult, Cosca was still a character I was not particularly attached to.
I certainly did not think he was a bad character but he was far from being anywhere on this list.
Then, Best Served Cold happened and everything changed.
Cosca is one of the best characters in this novel, practically stealing every scene from the moment he is introduced, often managing to be hilarious, awesome, and pathetic all at the same time.
We even see him go on a parallel revenge quest to Monza, with him killing each of his traitorous companions in increasingly funny ways.
His unexpected friendship with Friendly is also one of the highlights of the book, with the two of them having many morbidly hilarious moments.
Unfortunately, their last scene serves as an indicator of what is to come.
Cosca tells Friendly that, “Sometimes men change for the worse. And often, very often, given time and opportunity… They change back.”
Well, Cosca certainly changes back and for the worse.
He started Best Served Cold as a drunken mercenary has-been, and he starts Red Country as a drunken pillager, terrorizing the countryside, having lost his way again.
Though, he is still hilarious, thankfully.
Cosca’s darkness is much more apparent, as his story ends when the author he hired to write heroic tales of him is so disgusted by his actions that he stabs him from behind with his own sword (ironically enough, this same author would also go on to be a terrible person in The Age of Madness trilogy).
I have heard many criticisms about Cosca’s depiction in Red Country, describing it as character assassination.
While I certainly understand this criticism, personally, I feel this character regression was well set-up and executed.
Cosca got his chance to change and yet, like so many characters in this series, he changed back for the worse and it all led to tragedy for him.

5. Orso dan Luthar.

If you were to ask me which character in the series has the most tragically poetic story, I would instantly say Orso dan Luthar.
The son of Jezal, Orso grew up extremely privileged, having everything handed to him, and had little to no ambition.
Orso is no Ladisla, however, as he is aware of his own flaws, shown through him knowing he could stop a hanging at the beginning of his story, yet doing nothing to stop it.
Orso eventually gains the backbone to try and stop more death, however, as he peacefully negotiates with the Breakers.
However, both Glokta and Pike are working against him, and cement his image to the public as a villain by executing many of the Breakers without Orso’s knowledge.
This negative depiction of Orso to the public continues in The Trouble with Peace, eventually leading to the bloody battle with Leo.
It is here that Orso is finally given the reigns to be a king and, much like his father, proves that he has the chance to be a very good one, outsmarting Leo and winning the day.
Unfortunately, he lacks the ruthlessness that one needs in the world of The First Law, and spares Leo, which comes back to bite him hard in Wisdom of Crowds when Leo betrays him again to take power.
He even gets betrayed by Rikke, leading to his poetically tragic last visit to the gallows.
His story began with him watching a hanging, and his story ends with him being hung.
At least he gets some of the best last words in fiction: “How’s the leg?”
I hope Leo was feeling the sting of that last barb for quite a while afterwards.
Despite Orso’s tragic death, his legacy lives on in characters like Hildi.
Sadly, this will only lead to more tragedy as, despite Orso’s wishes for Hildi to live her life, she has teamed up with Bayaz to get revenge for the brother who essentially adopted her.
Still, even if her negative turn is tragic, I will still enjoy whatever kind of suffering she brings to Leo.
With the poetic tragedy of his story, Orso is easily the best character in The Age of Madness trilogy.

4. Bayaz.

Right from the moment of his introduction in The Blade Itself, Joe Abercrombie makes it clear that Bayaz is not going to be a typical fantasy wizard.
Logen certainly seems to think so, as he approaches a wise looking man, only to learn that Bayaz is the man who he first thought was a butcher.
This impression of Bayaz as a butcher is aptly fitting, given what is later revealed about him.
The first two books spend a lot of time setting up this reveal, and I can distinctly remember thinking that there were too many horrible events helping Bayaz’s plans out, like Prince Raynault’s death, for it to be a coinicidence.
Sure enough, Joe Abercrombie finally pulls the curtain back in Last Argument of Kings to reveal Bayaz as the master manipulator, pulling the strings behind the scenes to give himself all of the power, without most of the population even knowing.
He killed his old lover Tolomei for power, likely killed Juvens, and sacrificed thousands of innocents using the Seed.
His subsequent interactions with the four main characters of Logen, Glokta, Jezal and Ferro are all chilling in their portrayal of him.
His conversation with Glokta finally reveals him to be the man behind Valint and Balk, while also setting up the means of his eventual downfall by appointing Glokta as Arch Lector.
As for his conversation with Jezal, as I have said this is probably my favourite scene in all of The First Law.
Bayaz is absolutley terrifying as he beats and terrifies Jezal into submission without even touching him.
I was excited to see what Bayaz would be up to in The Age of Madness trilogy but unfortunately he did not have much to do here.
The ending of A Little Hatred seems to hint that he had something to do with Jezal’s death but this is never confirmed, and Bayaz has the Union ripped away from him at the end, due to Glokta’s conniving.
Bayaz is certainly not going to take this sitting down though, as he has already recruited Hildi and Calder’s son, probably planning to set them up as big players in the next part of the story to take back the country he created.
Bayaz is a terrifying subversion of the wizard trope and I think we can expect him to do darker things whenever the story continues.

3. Logen Ninefingers.

The main POV character of The First Law trilogy, Logen starts the story as a man on the run from his violent past, hoping to be better.
This brings him into the company of Bayaz which has the opposite effect, as Logen’s horrifying alternate persona of the Bloody Nine begins to emerge more and more.
Still, there is hope for Logen to be a better person, as shown by his relationship with Ferro in Before They Are Hanged.
Like most First Law characters, Logen does change, only not forwards.
No, instead, he changes back to his worse self, travelling back to the North to fight Bethod.
Here we truly see how monstrous Logen can be, as he not only kills a close friend, Tul Duru Thunderhead, while in a state of bloodlust, but it is also revealed that he was the one responsible for making Bethod king.
Bethod only wanted peace but Logen keep disobeying his orders, murdering and butchering as he pleased, forcing Bethod to name himself King of the North.
This is backed up by the short story, “Made a Monster”, where we see Logen brutally murder a prisoner, throwing away any chance at peace Bethod had.
Logen may want to deny this but Bethod will not let him forget it, even when he defeats Fenris the Feared in the Circle, which is one of the best fights in the series, and then kills Bethod.
This causes Logen to take Bethod’s place as King of the Northmen and, of course, he immediately uses his newfound power to lead the North to war against the Gurkish to help the Union, resulting in more deaths for the Northmen.
Logen has one more chance at positive change, as he goes to talk with Ferro, only for her to be too affected from using the Seed’s power to notice him, making Logen think she is not interested in him anymore.
Upon realising Bayaz’s manipulations, Logen refuses his help and goes back to the North, only to be betrayed by Black Dow and flee, ending the trilogy as he began it, a man on the run from his violent past.
This is not the end for Logen, however, as, much to my surprise, he turns up again in the stand alone Red Country, having taken the name Lamb.
The book sees him go on a journey with his step-daughter Shy to rescue her kidnapped siblings, providing Logen with the excuse he needs to let the Bloody Nine loose once more, which almost ends disastrously when he nearly kills Shy and her sister.
Red Country has some of the creepiest Bloody Nine moments, so it is fitting that Logen realizes he is too dangerous to be around his adopted family after his confrontation with Shivers.
And so Logen rides off into the sunset to an unknown future.
If we will see him again in the story is unknown at this point but, if we do, I do not expect to see a happy ending for him.
We have to be realistic.

2. Caul Shivers.

Much like Nicomo Cosca, Caul Shivers was a character who I did not think much of in The First Law trilogy.
He approaches the Dogman to help fight against Bethod, only to be greatly displeased when he finds himself fighting alongside the Bloody Nine, who murdered his brother.
In the end, Shivers decides revenge is not worth it and leaves the North.
We see him again in Best Served Cold and, also just like Cosca, this is the book where he becomes one of the best characters in the entire series.
I would go as far to say that he is my favourite character in this book.
Watching his optimism slowly get beaten down while he accompanies Monza on her revenge mission, only to lose an eye and much of his dignity in the process was tragic to watch.
By the third act, he is just like Monza at the beginning, hungry for revenge.
He would have killed Monza had it not been for Friendly and Shenkt.
The book even ends with his POV, as he is allowed to live by Monza and decides to go back to the north, with the sky being the colour of “bad blood” signalling Shivers’ bloody future.
He goes on to become Black Dow’s right hand man in The Heroes, doing all of his dirty, bloody work and yet receiving none of the recognition.
This goes well for Calder, as Shivers betrays Black Dow for his mistreatment, killing him and taking the sword he stole from Logen.
In Red Country, Shivers is then sent on a mission to find out if rumors about Logen being alive are true.
He finally tracks him down at the end of the book but, after seeing the family he has found, decides to let go of revenge once more.
Although, to be honest, if Shivers had actually tried to kill Logen, I doubt this would have gone very well for him.
Shivers’ decision does create a positive change, however, as he switches sides to the Dogman, serving a surprisingly parental role to the chief’s daughter, Rikke.
This bond is touching in The Age of Madness trilogy, as Rikke tells Shivers she can still see his softer side inside his brutal exterior.
Speaking of that exterior, Shivers remains ruthless despite his bond with Rikke, as he even goes on to kill Calder for her later, which is fitting since he saved him at the end of The Heroes.
As for his future in the story, I hope Abercrombie decides to reunite him with Monza at some point.
It would be interesting to see how he would now perceive her, and how she would react to a changed Shivers.
He could also meet his son Jappo, which would be interesting.
Overall, Shivers is the character in The First Law series with the most appearances, and it is easy to see why with how excellent of a character he is, only being beaten from the number one spot by…

1. Sand dan Glokta.

Honestly, was it going to be anyone else?
It seems like most people rank Sand dan Glokta as their favourite character in the series, and for damn good reason.
He is the character who most epitomizes Joe Abercrombie’s skill at making us like terrible people.
Glokta started out as a confident, womanizing noble, who was a great fighter.
This can be seen in the “A Beautiful Bastard” short story, where he resembles Jezal quite a bit.
At the end of this short story, Glokta leads a charge against the Gurkish.
This results in his capture and torture, leaving him a crippled and broken man, in constant pain and often even unable to control his own bowels.
So, what does a man who lost everything he learned to torture do?
Use his newfound knowledge of torture from the horrors he experienced to inflict those horrors on others.
Glokta joins the Inquisition and tortures accused traitors for information.
It goes without saying that many of these people are not guilty of the crimes they are accused.
Despite this, Abercrombie is somehow able to make Glokta both charismatic and sympathetic, with his inner thoughts presenting some of the best cases of dark humor in the series.
His search for the truth across the trilogy is riveting, all building up to his confrontation with Bayaz, where everything is revealed and the first of the Magi leaves him in charge of the Union as his puppet.
Even Glokta’s relationships allow us to feel sympathy for him.
I was surprised to find myself happy for him when he reforged his friendship with West, after learning of the misunderstanding that separated them.
His relationship with Ardee is probably also the healthiest in the series, which leads into my point about Glokta being somehow likeable while also being an absolutely terrible person.
I remember reading the chapter in Last Argument of Kings where Ardee is looking after Glokta and feeling glad for him, only to be completely horrified in his next scene, where he threatens Queen Terez’s lover if she does not have children with King Jezal.
Glokta even finally admits to himself at the end of the trilogy that torturing people amuses him, and yet he is still somehow likeable.
Well, at least he is preferable to Bayaz, which is why his overthrowing of him in The Age of Madness trilogy feels so victorious.
After decades of working as his puppet, Glokta has done what no one else could for centuries: Get the better of Bayaz.
Although, as Savine points out, this essentially makes him the next Bayaz, rather than a representative of positive change and, even then, Bayaz is certainly not going to take this sitting down.
It will be interesting to see what role Glokta has to play in the future of the story, if he is still alive during the next book, given how old he is.
Regardless, Glokta is undoubtedly The First Law’s best character.
He is a person who I would absolutely despise in real life but because of Joe Abercrombie’s fantastic writing he is the most interesting of the bunch.