Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie

[Anthorn]

For Uk readers. Did anyone elses copy miss out pages 478 to 509?

 

[Surt]

I just finished it a earlier today.

Mild spoilers ahead (I think)

The pace is excellent and the action scenes are very well-written. The lack of a gazillion different plot-lines makes for an enjoyable read, where the storylines are progressing very well. Unfortunately some of the plot-lines and endings are seen if not a mile then at least a couple of hundred yards away.

Glokta and West are very fine characters, but the rest of the cast seem pretty bland to me, most notably Jezal. My biggest complaint is still Ardee, though, and I still cannot understand, why she has featured so prominently in the books.

Ah well, all in all it has been some enjoyable hours, so thank you for that, although I still do not understand the hype.

I'll give the trilogy 4.5 Practical Frost's of out 6.

 

[wolfbrother1846]

I ordered this from booksuppository 2 weeks ago. They never bothered to tell me they were out of stock and it hadn't shipped.



Is it worth paying $30 extra for expedited shipping from angland?

This is exactly what happened to me. I advise you to check and make sure they refunded you, because despite being out of stock, they still charged my credit card.

Still waiting for my copy of Last Argument of Kings, by the way Joe, this is the most money I have ever paid for a book, and I'm a cheap one.
Feel lucky, feel very lucky.

 

[StoneBurner]

I got my copy remarkably fast(ly) for amazon/uk. The Malazan books take ages.

I also had issues with the actual book itself including the issue richardb mentioned with the spine and keeping pages open. More troublesome the texture of the book is offputting to somebody with exema like myself. It's like holding a dusty mop from the wrong end on a humid day. I also weighed the book and it was almost 2 pounds. This is a paper back!

As for the actual story... BRILLIANT! It never occurred to me that Dick Cheney was the inspiration for BAYAZ. IN fact, the cheney may not be but that's besides the point since I believe him to be. A remarkable character to have, deus ex machina turned on its head. I approve. I give the trilogy 9 bloody fingers out of 10.

 

[Boiler]

finished it a couple of minutes ago. i read the whole trilogy in one go. overall, i thought it to be an excellent read.

somehow, though, it feels like this isn't the end....

 

[Kazz Wylde]

I'm REALLY looking forward to buying Before They Are Hanged & Last Argument of Kings! The Blade Itself was the FIRST book I'd ever ordered before. The Book Depository sent it within 7-10 days & I was climbing the walls waiting! BTAH & LAoK are even better then TBI from what I've heard, so I'm really fired up. As soon as I get the money...............

 

[mjolnir]

Wow... Wow. Canadians love Joe Abercrombie!

Either that, or the number of import copies the publisher set aside for shipping across the wide sea to Canadian retailers can be counted on the fingers of one hand, or something. I was so looking forward to ordering my copy of LaoK today, [May 1st is the official Canadian release date listed at online retailers]. I go to chapters.ca this morning, and what do I see? Eight hours after becoming available, the book is out of stock. Amazon shows me much the same thing; [except they seem to have slipped the book out last week; curse them.]

I am crushed and saddened and full of woe. But on the up side this means that lots of people like The First Law!
________
Paxil injury lawyer

 

[Kazz Wylde]

Okay, So May 1 is the Canadian release for this, & Sept. 08 is the US release? Is this right??

 

[hawkwind]

For some reason Chpaters always has the books on the shelves 1 or 2 days before the release date. I picked up LAoK's yesterday afternoon. They had about 12 copies in.

 

[Cranky Hamster]

Hmm. I have The Blade Itself but just couldn't get into the story (dropped it around the time Jezal meets what's-her-name, the first girl to show up in the book). This thread has convinced me to give it another shot; if the trilogy ends with such a bang, it's probably worth trying to get back on the ride.

 

[Decado]

WTH is up with online stores and this book? Amazon.ca ships in 1 - 4 months and it is unavailable/out of stock at Chapters.ca? Yet I waltzed into my local Chapters and bought it off the rack (several copies still around).

Anyway, I read the first 20 pages or so and I must say I'm lost. Was there a The First Law: Book 2.5? None of the characters seem to be anywhere close to where they were after book two ended. It is disorienting and I was curious as to how some things turned out

Anyway, I'm still looking forward to reading it (though I'd rather have bought it from an online store along with the other two books).

 

[Werthead]

Well, the gap isn't that big. All that happened is that Team Bayaz walked and sailed back to Adua, mission unaccomplished, and Team West took that castle with hideous losses.

Believe me, by the time you get to the end of Book 3 you'll understand why Abercrombie couldn't really cover those events in detail. The book would have been much bigger and not really gained much from it.

 

[mjolnir]

Decado Wrote:
WTH is up with online stores and this book? Amazon.ca ships in 1 - 4 months and it is unavailable/out of stock at Chapters.ca? Yet I waltzed into my local
Chapters and bought it off the rack (several copies still around).

It's being shelved in actual bookstores, you say? Cool. I didn't think they did that for UK import fantasy novels except for The Malazan Book of the Fallen. I live in a fairly small community, but there's a fair-sized city not terribly far away. Perhaps they will have it. Ah, truly we have entered the digital age when hauling my lazy carcass to a bookstore to pay cover price for a book becomes so irksome.

Really, though, what is up with the online imports? Did Gollancz underestimate the units that would be required to sate the hunger of the Crombites ... Crombians ... across the seas, or something?
________
Fetish Parties

 

[mjolnir]

I have it! I have it! It is mine! My joy is boundless!

Sorry; needed to get it out. I had a similar experience to Decado in the end. Book wasn't to be had for any money on the interwebs, [short of importing from the Uk], but several copies were on the wrack in the first Chapters I checked. It costs rather more in the shop than online, [almost a fifty percent price increase in Canadian doubloons], but still not what a hardcover would run, and I hope and trust that it shall be worth it.

I probably won't read it right away, though; I don't seem to be quite in the mood. I'll go through some shorter books first.
________
grandma Cam

 

[s271]

Well I finished it at last. I usually hate long books with more than two main protagonists, but this is a happy exception. Abercrombie juggle points of view so masterfully, and characters are so well developed that transition goes smooth and plot never break. And the ending is just great. Truly a new landmark for fantasy genre.

 

[Luke_B]

I finished The Last Argument of Kings this morning. It has confirmed my opinion of Joe Abercrombie as an exciting new writer, whose best work is still ahead of him, yet still has a lot of room for improvement. His prose is patchy, better suited to his lovingly rendered action sequences than other passages. His characterisation is often too cartoonish, which has led some reviewers to make slightly inappropriate comparisons to Jack Vance. His world building, something I see as an important element in epic fantasy of this kind, is his greatest weakness. I found all three books to contain pacing problems, and I really struggled to will myself through sections of this book; particularly after the resolution of the Bethod plot strand. The battle in the Union that comes after is rushed in comparison with the events which have previously taken place in the North, and ultimately anticlimactic. I think there was far too much for him to resolve in this book, but he gave it a damn good shot.

As the end to the trilogy, there is some inevitable disappointment, but for the main part I did walk away with from this feeling satisfied. Some plot strands were closed off, while others were left open hinting at possible sequels, which I didn’t mind. As with previous volumes, Logen’s story was the most interesting. I found my self somewhat annoyed at the revelations regarding Bayaz. I know it wasn’t a twist that anybody couldn’t see coming, but it just seemed to make redundant the whole narrative that preceded that point, almost a dues ex machina. I really dislike plots where the actions of all characters have been heavily manipulated so as to remove any sense of agency in their contribution to the story.

While I think these books are overpraised, particularly on internet discussion boards such as this one, it does strike me that Abercrombie has popularised fantasy featuring amoral characters, with generous lashings of horrific violence and explicit sex, to an extent which I hope only leads the genre in interesting directions. Despite the flaws of these books, they do read like a fresh of breath air in the much-maligned epic fantasy field. I know that works such as Martin’s ASOIAF feature villains and amoral or flawed characters heavily, but let’s face it, Martin and others like him also serve up there fair share of comforting, heroic characters we find it easy to root for. Abercrombie doesn’t offer his readers any comfort, and every character seems to have a nasty streak that outweighs his or her good side. In some ways, I feel this trilogy shares more in common with British space opera than it does traditional epic fantasy and I hope this develops into a trend in the genre. I’m not sure that this trilogy will be remembered in a few years time as a classic, like I think Rothfuss’ will if he can maintain the quality of his first book, but I did find them an enjoyable, and maybe groundbreaking work.

 

[Leiali]

I've been very busy and putting off reading this, but finally got round to it and finished it last night. It was very good, though I felt the last section was drawn out a bit.

It kind of made me think of Bayaz as a really mean version of Belgarath the sorcerer, which was pretty cool. Glokta is by far the best character in my opinion, though I was a teensy weensy disappointed in his choices towards the end of the book, but then I am a grumpy cow.

Well done Joe, and if you don't mind, write another one set a hundred years later please, so someone can kick som Magi arse.

 

[wolfbrother1846]

I would love love love to see a story written about the Northmen (maybe even a prequel).

Just love the Northmen.

 

[Eventine]

I finished this up yesterday and don't feel that it lived up to the buzz (see that Spanton! I didn't say hype!).
It was a good book, but a lot of it just failed to live up to the second book. I felt the Jezal and Logen (and even Ardee) aspects of the story were a bit too predictable. I was actually surprised the forecasted events around Jezal happened so early.
The narrative technique of dialogue responses from Jezal being cancelled by "is what he thought" really annoyed me and knocked me out of the story, however the Glokta italicised comments were, as with the previous books, brilliant.
Keep it up Joe, but don't let all the sycophants around here go to your head (too much) .

 

[Sabetha]

I felt the Jezal and Logen (and even Ardee) aspects of the story were a bit too predictable. I was actually surprised the forecasted events around Jezal happened so early.
(too much) .

I thought so,too. But Ferro's laughing fit during one of these "forecasted events" made the whole read worthwile for me. I was chuckling for a while after I had read that scene.