Before They Are Hanged (First Law Trilogy, Book 2) Audio CD – Unabridged, September 8, 2015

Before they are Hanged is the second volume of The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. The First Law Trilogy along with a handful of other volumes are considered "must reads" by anyone who claims to be a grimdark fan. Whether or not this is the case is a matter of opinion but they are gritty, visceral, down-to-Earth fantasy with a lot of moral ambiguity as well as lack of pretension. They are the warm beer of fantasy and not the horribly watered down stuff we Americans produce, Samuel Adams exempted, but the good European stuff. The First Law Trilogy is a earthy lager with a rich working man's taste and...okay, I've wandered off topic. I also want a beer. In the previous volume of the series, archwizard Bayaz collected a ragtag collection of misfits to retrieve magical Maguffin which seemed deliberately designed to deconstruct as many of these fantasy road-trips as possible. This book picks up their journey where the previous one left off and allows us to reach a startling conclusion. It's a conclusion I only once before encountered in these kinds of stories, Young Indiana Jones and the Treasure of the Peacock's Eye, which felt out of place there but worked here. I've claimed elsewhere The First Law Trilogy works well as the "spiritual antithesis" of The Lord of the Rings and that's never more apparent in the Bayaz portion of the plot. It's the equivalent of Gandalf leading Conan, Red Sonja, the most obnoxious shining knight in the world, a complete idiot for a navigator, and his apprentice on a quest for the One Ring to use against an Arabic Sauron. While this is happening, Colonel West is leading an invasion of the North which is criminally under-supplied as well as poorly trained. Very few fantasy novels show invading armies crippled by disease, desertion, starvation, and poor training but these were daily parts of life in Medieval warfare. Likewise, Inquisitor Glotka, my favorite character, is given the unenviable task of attempting to hold a poorly-defended city-state against the infinite hordes of the Gurka army. We also have Dogman and his gang which is a group of Northmen hard to describe but basically would make a wonderful television series to follow. They don't do much but damn if they're not always entertaining while they're doing it. Much of the book's appeal is, essentially, how ruthlessly unsentimental the storytelling is about the fantasy genre. While never approaching parody, just about everyone has it made clear how awful war is and how utterly pointless the concept of causes in most of them are. Glokta is holding a city he can't hold but which he's doing so solely because it's a point of pride to the Union to hold it, no matter how many people are killed. Logen Ninefingers tries to explain how he regrets the path which lead him to become a famous warrior but might as well be speaking Greek to young Luthar. Ferro, who has known nothing but violence, wants to make a human connection with Logen but finds neither of them is capable of doing so easily. I enjoyed the world-building for The First Law world a great deal. We get the backstory of the wizards, ancient empires, as well as some personal insight into the characters not detailed in the first book. Part of what I like about the book is Joe Abercrombie leave hints the stories we hear from Bayaz and other characters aren't the whole truth. Another thing which makes this series so memorable is there's very few objectively true perspectives. The Gurkish Empire is portrayed as a horrific threat led by a False Prophet and his cannibal wizards but this view of them is as ignorant as the view they are no worse than any other ruler. Peace-makers and warmongers are equally ignorant with distrustworthy characters manipulating events from behind the scenes. Ignorant and stupid leadership is also more dangerous than outright evil. You know, just like in real-life. The moral ambiguity of the series is one of its best features with heroes, anti-heroes, villains, and everything in-between existing. The heroes can't automatically make the world a better place, though, and the villains may be better for society in the long run. Hell, the heroes may actually be working at cross purposes (what a novel concept). Astute readers will appreciate the opportunity to judge for themselves about the characters' actions. For example, Inquisitor Glokta is a torturer and supporter of a corrupt regime who doesn't even believe in his superiors but does horrible deeds in their name. Despite this, I find him one of the most fascinating antiheroes in grimdark. After all, if every way is dark, why not walk boldly in the path which appeals to you most? Don't answer that. In conclusion, Before they are Hanged is an excellent book. It's mostly set up for the conclusion in the next volume but resolves several outstanding plots. I suggest everyone who has an interest in dark, gritty, and morally ambiguous fantasy fiction would find the First Law Trilogy a good read. It's a story not afraid to have the heroes set out to do something epic, sacrifice everything to get it accomplished, and still fail due to circumstances beyond their control.10/10

Book one setup the characters. Book two carries them into the heart of adventure, love, loss, pain, puzzlement, and more. Say one thing for Joe Abercrombie, say he is a master of his craft.

The Blade Itself was a complete character study without a lot of plot, Before They Are Hanged has a little more plotting involved but for me it was still all about the characters. I travelled with them, I worried for them, I hoped for the best even in the midst of the worst and at the end I’m left wondering how they will ever get out of the complete mess they are all in.Glotka-- "Strange how, with time, even the most terrible suffering of others can become . . . tedious"Glotcka has proved again what a complex character he is. It he the misunderstood hero or is he the villain? I’m never quite sure myself. He can torture better than anyone but still it seems that he has a conscience and I love the inner dialogue he has. I look forward to his chapters because even though in so many ways he is awful he is also extremely clever and knows the true score. He might be dead as soon as the other players in the dangerous game he is playing if he can’t keep on the right side of the people in power. So he plays his part of the game better than anyone else and proves that just because you are horribly crippled the mind is a dangerous thing and being smart will save your ass more than a solid sword arm.Logen and Ferro + the rest of the travelers (Bayaz, Jazel, Quai and Longfoot)I ship Logen and Ferro so hard. Both are fierce warriors with horrible pasts. Again we get to see Logen and the burden he has carried by having Ninefingers as a traveler in his head. Logen is calm, smart and collected. He hands out great advice and seems like the true leader of the pack. But when Ninefingers comes out to play no one is safe, even his allies.Ferro, I just want to hug you, but you’d probably slit my throat if I tried. Learning about her past made me feel so much for her character. She is a feral beast to be sure but I loved the time she and Logen spent together and how close they became.Jazel surprisingly has grown on me, all it took was a near brush with death and some real pain to make the boy grow up a bit. He might be a decent person after all and it just make me wonder what is Bayaz grooming the boy for.-- ‘Easy, now, and listen to me. It hurts, yes. Seems like more than you can take, but it isn’t. You think you’re going to die, but you won’t. Listen to me, because I’ve been there, and I know. Each minute. Each hour. Each day, it gets better.’Bayaz is still a huge mystery to me and everyone else he is traveling with so I guess it is only fair I’m in the dark about his character as well. It seems that Quai has started to question his master a little more and the First Magi must tell stories of his past in order to convince the group that he is prepared and will not make the same mistakes again.-- “All the great heroes of old, you know - the great kings, the great generals - they all faced adversity from time to time.” Jezal looked up. He had almost forgotten that Bayaz was there. “Suffering is what gives a man strength, my boy, just as the steel most hammered turns out the hardest.”Wow what a journey these characters had and I will say at the end of it I was beyond surprised with how it all turned out. With all they went through to get where they were going I didn’t expect the outcome and can’t wait to see what the band of brothers + Ferro will do now.The Northmen and WestThe Named men from the north have found a common ally against Bethod, but the crafty king has a lot of tricks up his sleeve and things might just get a little bloody.-- ”It was a bad day for men, all in all, and a good one for the ground. Always the way, after a battle. Only the ground wins.”I was so upset with West at the end of The Blade Itself but seeing him in his new position and having to deal with the Prince and a few other circumstances I really began to like him again. He has practically redeemed himself to me and I honestly felt extremely bad for him at one point. But I like West and the Named men together and it seems they have a lot to teach each other.The Rest of the StoryThere was a lot going on in this and at the end of it and well to be honest, it seems hopeless for everyone. The deck is definitely stacked against them all and I’m not sure how they will win let alone survive the upcoming battles. There are so many players, old debts to be settled, new terrifying adversaries how many more will die???That said I still can’t wait to see how everything plays out and I am crossing my fingers and hoping that at least of few of my favorite characters, if not all, will make it out alive.Buddy Read of the next book cannot come soon enough.

The meat of the trilogy. The first book sets the stage and this book fulfills the promise. Just wonderful!

When you read this you may say to yourself, wait, what? What was the point of this book. Then you read book 3 and you go, ohhhhh. Okay then. I will warn you that if you like “happy endings” this series may not be for you.

Much like Martin's Song, this series takes some time to get rolling, as it has an impressive cast of characters. But, once the train gets going, the story becomes a thing of beauty. As a side note, for a book two of three, Hanged is as good as it gets for a middler.

Before They Are Hanged é segundo livro da trilogia The First Law, e faz jus a série: uma fantasia sombria, cruel e moralmente questionável: onde personagens com as melhores aparências são possuidores dos piores defeitos; onde planejamentos metódicos e trabalho duro são recompensados com a árdua e fria realidade.O autor parece fazer questão de montar os personagens só para torturá-los com problemas atrás de problemas. Mas quanto mais difíceis os desafios, mais heroicos são aqueles que os superam.Uma leitura recomendada para todos os amantes de fantasias que já possuem o padrão de qualidade elevado por Game of Thrones ou The Kingkiller Chronicle.

I am about a third of the way through and absolutely recommend this and the first book in the trilogy. I don't generally read fantsay but this is just awesome. I am hooked!

War! War brings out the dark side in people, and makes friends if unlikely characters

Ótimo livro. Já havia gostado muito do primeiro, mas esse conseguiu superar. Still alive! Still alive!! Personagens muito legais e escrita bem fluída.

Too good