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.

Top 10 First Law Books.

Whenever people rank their favourite fantasy series, I usually see Joe Abercrombie’s First Law books taking the top spot or at the very least near it.
After seeing so much praise for the novels, I finally gave in and read them.
Once again, the praise was warranted because this is now also among my favourite fantasy series.
Abercrombie has created a riveting world with some of the most compelling characters in the fantasy genre.
So, since there are ten books in the series at the moment, I decided to do a top ten list, ranking them from weakest to best.
Although, I should note before I begin the list that weakest does not mean bad.
I truly do not think there is a bad book in this incredible series, with even the tenth book on the list being very enjoyable, which is…

10. Sharp Ends.

I think that Sharp Ends would rank at the bottom of every First Law ranking list.
This is because Sharp Ends is not technically a novel but a collection of short stories from the world of the First Law.
That being said, these are some damn good stories.
“A Beautiful Bastard” gives us a look at what Glokta was like before he was captured and tortured by the Gurkish.
“Hell” provides Temple’s POV of the fall of Dagoska and the death of Kahdia.
“Wrong Place, Wront Time,” tells the untold stories of those who suffer because of Monza’s quest for vengance.
And, best of all, “Made a Monster” shows exactly what kind of monster Logen used to be while he was the Bloody Nine working under Bethod.
All four of these stories are fantastic and my favourites of the book.
Almost as good are the tales told about Shev and her friend Javre.
These two are the continuous thread in Sharp Ends, with five of the thirteen short stories being about their journeys.
The two make for a great comedic duo throughout, and the slow realization Shev has, that Carcolf is more of a snake than a love interest is great… until this is undone with their final story “Tough Times All Over” where it felt like all of the character development in “Three’s A Crowd” was undone.
It is for that reason that “Tough Times All Over” is my least favourite of the short stories but it is more than made up for by the other fantastic ones.
All in all, Sharp Ends is definitley the weakest of the books, due to it not really being a novel, but is has plenty to love with its collection of unseen stories.
There is bound to be one that you like.

9. The Blade Itself.

The first book in the First Law series, The Blade Itself is a compelling start to Joe Abercrombie’s epic series.
What puts The Blade Itself in the lower half of the list is that it is mostly a set-up novel for the adventure Abercombie is about to set his characters on.
This first book is devoted to establishing these characters and their arcs going forward.
There is Logen Ninefingers, a Northen warrior trying to escape his past as a mass murderer known as the Bloody Nine.
Sand dan Glokta is a former soldier who was tortured to the point of being crippled and in constant pain, and now inflicts this pain on others as a torturor for the Inquisition.
Ferro Maljinn is an escaped slave who is focused on her vengance, wanting to kill any Gurkish she can get her hands on.
Finally, there is Jezal dan Luthar, a nobleman half-heartedly preparing for a jousting contest.
Of all these characters Jezal is definitely the most unlikeable, given how narcissistic he is.
This is surprising since the rest of the main cast consist of mass murderers and torturers but this highlights one of Abercrombie’s greatest strengths as an author.
He is able to create characters who are absolutley terrible people and then, unbelievably, make us like them.
This is most evident with Glokta who is torturing people more often than not in this first book, and he is easily the most entertaining character with his sympathetic backstory and hilarious dark humor.
All of these characters fall under the thrall of Bayaz, the First of the Magi, who begins to subtly manipulate them in his grand plans, not that the characters or even us as the readers are aware of it at this point.
This makes The Blade Itself great for second read throughs after finishing the first trilogy because, although there does not seem to be much of a story yet, Joe Abercrombie is planting the seeds for the big pay-off which will come by the third book.
After reading The Blade Itself for the first time, I had no idea where the series was going but I definitely wanted to know.

8. A Little Hatred.

We go from the first book in the First Law trilogy to the first book in The Age of Madness trilogy.
Abercrombie decided to follow up the first trilogy and three stand alone novels by focusing on the kids of the previous generation.
This could have easily backfired but I think all of the characters he chooses to focus on are fantastic.
Orso, Savine, Leo, Vic, Clover, and Gunnar all make great first impressions but, to me, Rikke of the Long Eye is the best of A Little Hatred.
The Dogman’s Daughter, Rikke is either cursed or blessed with the Long Eye, which gives her visions into the future, and the way she gains control of this power during Leo’s fight in the circle with Stour Nightfall was a joy to read.
Her telling Caul Shivers that he is still in there was also incredibly touching.
Coming close behind her in likeability is Orso, a spoiled prince who struggles to do right in a world that is actively conspiring against him, although this would not become apparent until The Wisdom of Crowds.
The rest of the cast is just as compelling, with A Little Hatred being much clearer than what the story is than The Blade Itself.
Both the stories of Stour Nightfall’s invasion of Uffrith and the beginning of the Union’s own French Revolution were very compelling.
Another interesting thing about A Little Hatred is that it has a couple swap.
In the first act of the novel, Rikke is with Leo, and Savine is with Orso, but in the end Rikke gets together with Orso, and Savine with Leo.
The reason I mention this is that, in any other book, I would be criticizing this as contrived and for the sake of drama.
So imagine my surprise when I was reading this and found that Abercrombie had convinced me on the realism of this whole situation.
The book ends ominously, with the death of King Jezal, which I definitley think either Bayaz or Glokta had to have some kind of hand in, although such is never confirmed.
A Little Hatred was a great start to The Age of Madness trilogy but it is its focus on the story which put it above The Blade Itself for me.

7. The Heroes.

When I see people rank the First Law series, I usually see The Heroes in the top five, if not top three.
As for why I have ranked it lower, it is through no fault of this novel.
The Heroes is great and it just comes down to me liking the other books more.
The novel follows the three-day battle at the titular Heroes, where the forces of the Union face off against Black Dow’s Northmen.
One thing I like about The Heroes is how it turned Calder and Brenner dan Gorst into complex characters.
In the first trilogy, Calder came across as a one-note villain, yet here he is one of the best POV characters, as Abercrombie focuses on his guilt, love and ambition very well.
Then there is Gorst who seems like a hero on the outside, yet his inner thoughts reveal him to be a depressed, suicidal, murderous incel who is simultaneously sympathetic and detestible.
His “August Fuck-Hole” letter is one of the most hilarious moment in the entire series, for me.
This old cast is not alone in greatness, however, for the new characters are also fantastic, with Finree and especially Whirrun of Bligh being highlights.
The only character POV I did not really care for was Tunny’s but I did like his role in The Age of Madness trilogy so this served as a good introduction for him.
The Heroes also has the privilege of being the first book in the series to have a chapter where Abercombie goes over the perspectives of all the normal people in a battle.
This begins with the “Casualties” chapter, which is one of the best in the entire series, and followed up by the “The Little People” chapters in The Age of Madness Trilogy.
The ending of the book also builds perfectly into that trilogy, with Calder becoming the new leader of the North being key to understanding the contextual politics.
This makes The Heroes the most important of the stand alones to read, even if its my least favourite of them.

6. Before They Are Hanged.

The second book in the First Law trilogy, Before They Are Hanged is a great follow up to The Blade Itself, which continues to lay the seeds the first novel started.
Before They Are Hanged follows three main storylines.
First, we have Bayaz journeying with Logen, Ferro, Jezal, Quai and Brother Longfoot to the edge of the world to locate the Seed, a weapon Bayaz needs.
All three of our POV characters in this storyline experience growth, with a relationship forming between Logen and Ferro.
The character who grows the most is undoubtedly Jezal, as an injury he recieves causes him to reevaluate his life and narcissistic attitude, allowing himself to form a friendship with Logen.
This growth is my favourite of any character in this book and made the narcissistic rants from him we had to endure in The Blade Itself more than worth it.
This storyline ends in an anti-climax, where Bayaz and the others realize that the Seed is not there, making their journey mostly pointless, an interesting twist on the usual fantasy adventure but one that is pure Joe Abercrombie.
The second storyline follows Glokta, who has been tasked by Arch Lector Salt with defending Dagoska from Gurkish invasion.
Golkta’s POV is, as always, darkly humorous, and also horrifying during his first encounter with an Eater, the cannibalistic wizards of First Law.
Upon Glokta’s return from Dagoska, we also get a hint of the character dynamic between him and Ardee, which will be an unusually endearing part of the third novel.
The final main storyline of Before They Are Hanged is the combined one of Collem West and the Northerners rebelling against Bethod, among them Dogman, Threetrees, Black Dow, Tul Duru Thunderhead, and Grim.
There are many highlights to this storyline, such as the first encounter between West and the Northmen, West getting the name “Furious” from them and then throwing Prince Ladisla off a cliff for attempting to rape Cathil.
And then, of course, there is the first fight with Fenris the Feared, ending with Threetrees’ death and the Dogman becoming the new chief, a job he would retain for the rest of his life.
All three of the storylines in Before They Are Hanged combine to create a great novel filled with plenty of surprise for the big pay off in the final book of the trilogy, which I will get to much later on in the list.

5. The Wisdom of Crowds.

The final book in The Age of Madness trilogy, The Wisdom of Crowds was an expectedly tragic close to this section of the First Law storyline.
After the cliffhanger of The Trouble With Peace teased a peasant uprising against the nobels, The Wisdom of Crowds follows through on this promise, with the uprising ruining Orso’s victory against Leo, making him a prisoner of the Breakers and the volatile Burners.
The story then follows Orso, Leo and Savine attempting to navigate this extremely dangerous political climate, so that they do not get executed for going against the Great Change, Joe Abercrombie’s version of the French Revolution.
As this is happening, Rikke prepares for war against Black Calder, leading to what I feel is the most predictable storyline in all of First Law.
This is not to say that the storyline was bad but I realized that Rikke was attempting to fool Black Calder’s spies into thinking she was throwing away her allies very quickly, and this made this part of her storyline drag a bit for me, which is the reason The Wisdom of Crowds is not higher.
That being said, watching her defeat Black Calder was still great and her betrayal of Orso at the end was fittingly unfortunate.
As for Orso, his ending is the most poetically tragic in the entire series, as he is hanged all so Leo can maintain his grip on power.
Speaking of Leo, oh, my god, I absolutely hate him.
The Trouble With Peace made me dislike him but The Wisdom of Crowds made me want to jump into the book and push him down a flight of stairs.
Still, I cannot deny his downward spiral is amazingly written and he is still not quite a bad person as Savine.
This again speaks to Ambercrombie’s writing ability, as he made me like Savine more than Leo, when she readily admits that she is the “villain” in her final chapter.
She is probably not as big of a villain as her adoptive father though, as Glokta literally becomes the next Bayaz, wrestling control of the Union away from him.
Bayaz is definitely not taking this sitting down, however, as he has recruited Hildi and Calder’s unnamed son to get his revenge and take back control.
Rikke’s vision at the end foreshadows this eventual storyline, along with the return of an as yet unnamed character.
Whatever storylines eventually follow, for now, The Wisdom of Crowds is a fantastic temporary conclusion to the series.

4. Red Country.

Red Country is, without question, the most divisive book in the First Law series.
Most seem to either love it or hate it.
Personally, I fall into the love it camp, as it is my second favourite of the stand alones.
Red Country stands apart from the rest of the First Law series because, while all the rest of the books are strictly fantasy, Red Country is a western with a pinch of fantasy.
The story follows a former outlaw named Shy South, who goes on a journey with her step-father, Lamb, after her siblings are kidnapped.
Oh, and Lamb?
Yeah, he’s Logen.
I cannot tell you how joyous it was to read the first few chapters and realize Lamb’s identity through his dialogue and the the physical description of him.
I also liked how Abercrombie never addresses him as Logen or even the Bloody Nine in this book, just as Lamb, yet both sides of his character are readily apparent in all of their darkness.
As for Shy, sure, she is not the most interesting of Abercombie protagainsts, but where she lacks is more than made up for by the other characters, most notably Temple, a former lawyer who now works under Nicomo Cosca.
Temple’s story of redemption with Shy was fantastic, making him a successful parallel to the tragic Cosca who has sunk low after the highs of Best Served Cold.
His fall from grace and somewhat pathetic demise was sad to see play out, yet felt fitting.
Just as fitting was how the few fantasy elements were incorporated into Red Country, with the reveal of the mechanical dragon made by Kanedias being a highlight scene.
Red Country is also capable of being incredibly funny at times.
The reveal that Lestek was acting as the Gurkish Legate had me laughing my head off.
As for the ending, we get a final, satisfying confrontation between Logen and Shivers, before both ride off, Logen into an uncertain future.
Will we ever see him again?
Time will tell but if not this was a fitting end for the character.
Red Country may be the most divisive First Law novel but I consider it to be a compelling story and one of the best western tales told in recent years.

3. The Trouble with Peace.

The second and, in my opinion, best book in The Age of Madness trilogy, The Trouble With Peace depicts the aftermath of King Jezal, King Scale, and the Dogman’s deaths.
As the leaders of their respective kingdoms, their deaths throw these countries into states of unrest, which all of the main characters have to deal with.
This is especially the case for Orso, who attempts to step up as King, only to learn just how trapped his father was in the position.
Orso is the highlight of this book, for me, as his attempts to do right are continuously sabotaged, leading to the eventual battle at Stoffenbrek, which allows him to truly become a leader, outsmarting Leo.
If only he had the ruthlessness to execute him at the end.
As for Leo, this was the book where I began to dislike him, although he is still very well written.
Watching him be manipulated into starting a rebellion was frustrating but the good kind, especially when Savine got involved, doubling down on her own ruthlessness from A Little Hatred.
And then there is Rikke who has some of the best chapters of the novel because of just how creative Abercrombie got with her Long Eye.
There is a chapter where it is revealed that everything we just saw was Rikke’s vision of the future, and a chapter where the events take place in reverse as Rikke can no longer tell between the past, present and future.
This leads to her getting her Long Eye contained, with her becoming cunning enough to eventually take her father’s place, outwit Savine, and take Stour Nightfall’s castle while he is away at war.
Watching both her and Orso have the opportunity to become great leaders was thrilling to read.
The Trouble With Peace also has some of the best chapters in the series.
I have already mentioned the creative Rikke chapters, but the one where Orso and Leo have very different confrontations with Jappo is also a highlight.
The book also ends on an intense cliffhanger, with the joy of Orso’s victory being crushed with the false reveal of Pike as the Weaver, and the beginning of the Breakers and Burners’ Great Change.
The only issue I have with it is that Gunnar’s role in this book feels pointless but that is it.
The Trouble With Peace is the best book in The Age of Madness trilogy and more than deserving of the third spot on this list.

2. Best Served Cold.

I can still remember reading the first chapter of Best Served Cold, which was used as a teaser at the end of the Last Argument of Kings book I have.
That first chapter hooked me in on Monza’s journey of revenge and, when I finally read the rest of the novel, I was not disappointed.
Best Served Cold follows mercenary Monza Murcatto, a woman hellbent on revenge after her brother Benna is killed and she is thrown off a mountain.
She enlists a cast of colourful and morally dubious characters to help her, consisting of Caul Shivers, Nicomo Cosca, Friendly, Castor Morveer, Day, and Shylo Vitari.
All of these characters are fantastic, especially Cosca, as this was the book which finally made me take notice of him as a character.
His friendship with Friendly was an unexpectedly endearing one and full of hilarious moments, both light-hearted and dark.
It is Shivers who is the best character in this book for me, though.
Much like Cosca, this was the first book in which I truly took notice of him, and his own descent into murderous revenge was tragic to watch, yet highly understandable.
As for Monza, her journey is also very compelling through what she learns about revenge.
In most revenge tales, the author focuses on the cost of revenge, with the main characters often questioning whether they should abandon it altogether.
This is not the case for Monza because the negative effects of her revenge are made clear from the first dozen murders, and she remains devoted to her goal of killing Grand Duke Orso.
What makes Monza’s revenge tale unique for me is how she comes to learn the man she is seeking revenge for, her brother, was actually a bit of a jerk, to put it lightly.
Across the novel, both Monza and the reader come to realise what a monster Benna was and how his actions lead to the chaos that Monza is now wreaking through Styria.
This results in multiple stages of the novel, each dedicated to Monza taking out one of the seven men she has sworn to kill.
Each of these instances of revenge stand out from the other, from Morveer poisoning dozens of people in a bank, to the fight with Ganmark, which is one of the best sword fights in the series.
Then there is so-called grand finale with Duke Orso, who Monza takes out with fittingly little fan-fare.
She is aided by Shenkt, who is revealed to be the one who saved Monza at the beginning of the novel in a great twist reveal.
When Abercrombie decides to incorporate twists into Best Served Cold he absolutely nails them.
There is of course Shenkt’s reveal and the twist of Benna’s true nature to the reader, but also the reveal that Monza is sleeping with the Duke of Delay.
That last one was particularly funny, as I was getting uncomfortable with how much detail the sex scene between Monza and Shivers was getting, while wondering why the POV kept changing between them, only for Monza’s POV to finally reveal she was sleeping with Rogont as well.
Best Served Cold has many twists and turns, along with fantastic characters, so it is no wonder that this is the first of the series to be getting a movie adaptation, which I hope they nail.
Best Served Cold is my favourite of the stand alones and, in my opinion, the second best book in the whole series.

1. Last Argument of Kings.

It’s funny but, before I actually got to writing this list, I actually intended for Best Served Cold to be number one.
However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized just how often I was going back to re-read the chapters in Last Argument of Kings, the final book in the First Law trilogy.
Once I realized that, there was no doubt in my mind that this was the best book in the series.
Remember how I kept mentioning that The Blade Itself and Before They Are Hanged were set-up books for the big pay off?
Well, boy, does Last Argument of Kings ever pay off.
Every single one of our main POV characters has an impactful storyline.
Logen returns to the North to fight Bethod, only to fall further into the Bloody Nine side of his personality, resulting in more bloodshed.
Bayaz manuvers Jezal to take the throne of the Union, putting Jezal’s supposed positive change in Before They Are Hanged to the test.
Glokta is stuck between two masters who could both very easily destroy him, as he attempts to figure out the plans of both Sult, and the Valint and Balk bank.
Ferro’s discovering of the Seed leads to her finally gaining the means to accomplish her revenge against the Gurkish, while also finally revealing the true evil behind the scenes this entire time, Bayaz himself.
The First of the Magi reveals himself to be the power hungry overlord, controlling the Union from the shadows, and each of his conversations with the four main characters disclosing this are riveting.
In particular, his conversations with Glokta and Jezal are standouts.
In his talk with Glokta, Bayaz reveals all of his secret moves, paying off two whole books worth of foreshadowing.
As for Bayaz’s confrontation with Jezal, this may be my favourite moment in the entire series.
Watching Bayaz completely tear Jezal down, forcing him to be his puppet was devastating to watch in the best of ways.
There are numerous other highlights in this book, from Glokta and Ardee’s relationship, to Logen fighting Fenris the Feared in the Circle, to Pike’s reveal as Salem Rews following the tragic death of West and, of course, how so many of the characters’ endings come full circle.
Ferro is back on her revenge quest by the end, with the power to now actually achieve it, and Glokta continues to torture, only with much more power and now admitting to himself that it amuses him.
Finally, there is Logen, whose story ends exactly as it began, word for word.
Logen started the trilogy as a man on the run from his bloody past, and he ends the trilogy as a man on the run from his bloody past.
Last Argument of Kings has probably one of the most depressing endings of the series, with Logen’s fate unknown and Jezal now a fearful puppet of Bayaz, yet it is the perfect conclusion to this dark and delightful trilogy of books.
There is not a single bad novel in the First Law series and, in my opinion, Last Argument of Kings is Joe Abercrombie’s masterpiece.