Last Argument of Kings

The First Law: Book Three

By: Joe Abercrombie

Narrated by: Steven Pacey

Length: 27 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

The end is coming.

Logen Ninefingers might only have one more fight in him, but it’s going to be a big one. Battle rages across the North, the King of the Northmen still stands firm and there’s only one man who can top him. His oldest friend and his oldest enemy. It’s time for the Bloody-Nine to come home.

With too many masters and too little time, Superior Glokta is fighting a different kind of war - a secret struggle in which no-one is safe and no-one can be trusted. His days with a sword are far behind him. It’s a good thing blackmail, threats, and torture still work well enough.

Jezal dan Luthar has decided that winning glory is too painful, and turned his back on soldiering for a life with the woman he loves. But love can be painful too, and glory has a nasty habit of creeping up on someone.

While the King of the Union lies on his death bed, the peasants revolt and the nobles scramble to steal his crown. No-one believes that the shadow of war is falling across the very heart of the Union. The First of the Magi has a plan to save the world. But there are risks. There is no risk more terrible, after all, than to break the First Law.

©2008 Joe Abercrombie (P)2010 Orion Publishing Group Limited

Last part of a trilogy

So if you liked the first two, chances are very good that you'll enjoy this as well.

If you enjoyed The First Law Trilogy as much as I did, you'll also get a kick out of Abercrombie's stand alone novel, Best Served Cold.

awesome

my favorite audible series. pacey does a great job with distinct voices for the characters

Best Yet

I'm a bit concerned that this series has spoiled me. This is simultaneously the best written and best narrated audio book I've ever listened to in the fantasy genre. I highly recommend it. Give the first book a little time to get going.

Leadership manual for cold bastards

A very well written almost poetic epic journey. Each verse was timeless and every arch type explored topped with intrigue and unexpected turns. I will most likely read it again and save the passages that are quotable and useful in daily life. Highly recommend!

captivating

*. . . . . . .words can only do harm. . . . . . .*

You have be realistic about these things.

If you like happy endings where the hero gets the girl or the hobbit returns home to sit by the fire then you need to look elsewhere. However, if you have enjoyed the first two books of this trilogy then chances are you aren't looking for those kind of endings anyway. If you are wavering on reading book 3 because of the darkness of the first two then be warned that it only gets worse. It is likely something bad will happen to whatever character you are rooting for.

Abercrombie is ruthless in the way he resolves his story arc and no character gets through unscathed. You will have to take comfort in the fact that you do get a full reveal of what's been going on behind the scenes from the beginning because you will find little comfort in what actually happens. Things go from bad to worse for most of the characters and even those who win big in the end are actually losers. The big reveal didn’t make all the pieces fit together perfectly for me, but I am going with 5 stars anyway because I totally enjoyed the series and I wasn’t left guessing.

When I step back and think about the series and the characters I still wonder why I like it. Each of the main characters has a dark side and does some truly evil things, female characters are treated pretty poorly by the author, and the world itself is pretty bleak and almost without hope. Then I think upon Steven Pacey’s reading and I wonder no longer. I enjoy almost every character in the series and it is simply because of the way Pacey reads them. They feel like old friends that I trust and therefore I am willing to look the other way when they do something I despise. I have listened to a lot of audio books and I would now list Steven Pacey as one of my favorite narrators.

So if you liked the first 2 books, bust out your antidepressants and get ready for more of the same. Although the ending does leave things open-ended enough for a continuation of the series, I am quite satisfied with the way all of the threads came together and don’t feel like I was left hanging. After all, you have to be realistic about these things.

What's wrong with the ending? NOTHING...

What made the experience of listening to Last Argument of Kings the most enjoyable?

Joe has written one of the darkest fantasy stories I've read to date... the world is gritty and dark... its characters are gritty and dark... and the story is more of the same. It was fairly typical of modern storytelling (which cost him a star) but the characters were brilliant (which will likely have me listening again).

What did you like best about this story?

GREAT characters, deep (though not particularly subtle) and photo-realistically communicated. Joe took the typical fantasy archetypes and added another dimension to each of them... asking the question 'what would a REAL barbarian hero, or noble brat, or centuries old conjurer act (and THINK) like?'

What about Steven Pacey’s performance did you like?

Great character separation, delivered solid performances on some challenging 'damaged' characters. A great voice performance doesn't draw attention to itself... and this was a great performance.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

'Say one thing about Joe Abercrombie, say he's got a few things he could teach George RR Martin about dark fantasy'

Any additional comments?

Don't listen to the 'ending critics'. The book ended perfectly fine. After reading the reviews I was expecting some horrible open ending (like HBO ends every series they've ever made)... and Joe ties this up as neatly and cleanly as this story demands (nearly as good as it could be). Of course this story demands a messy ending, so don't blame Joe for delivering... but all the primary plotlines are properly concluded, so have no fear and buy the series.

Finale keeps promises of its predecessors!

This final book in the First Law trilogy never fell below the quality of the first two. The author continued to intrigue, not only with the current crises facing the protagonists, but also with more exploration of the characters and their history. The revelations were a worthy payoff.

I'm looking forward to more great works by Joe Abercrombie.

Just plain incredible --

Listen up, people -- this trilogy ain't no fairy tale. Don't be expecting any neat and tidy fairy tale endings.

I am in awe of this entire trilogy. I don't go looking for blood-and-guts books, but I will definitely be reading any Abercrombie stories I can lay hands on. The end is upsetting, annoying, and leaves you dying to know more -- and it's completely consistent in tone and spirit with the rest of the trilogy. Many readers might have been happier with something more conventional, but they are missing the point. These books aren't about neat and tidy characters, nor about neat and tidy lives. These are messy, complex, sometimes tragic stories that don't have those simple endings that we find so reassuring.

If you're looking for engrossing, exciting, and thoughtful writing, the First Law trilogy is a great way to spend some time. If you want sunshine and rainbows and fuzzy puppies, look somewhere else.

still amazing!

What made the experience of listening to Last Argument of Kings the most enjoyable?

Steven Pacey is amazing! In fact, I plan to look up other books he has narrated because I loved listening to him bring this story alive!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Still Glokta, Logan, and West. Don't want to give any spoilers so I won't tell you what happens to them, but their journeys are so riveting, I was almost cranky when Abercrombie would turn to his other characters.

Have you listened to any of Steven Pacey’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I look forward to listening to his other books to compare!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I was captivated by this series. I cared about some characters, I grew to loathe others. But the point is, I was never indifferent. I wanted to know what was happening to them, and would be frustrated when they were frustrated, sad, when they were sad...

It is a little gruesome at times, but it is part of the hard, fearsome world Abercrombie has created, so even though I cringed through those parts, I couldn't put it down!

Any additional comments?

Abercrombie does not write fairy tales. This isn't a book about happy endings and everyone getting what they deserve (or maybe they do, I suppose). Abercrombie does not resolve the whole story, just this particular phase in the lives of the characters. I am dying to know what happens next- where do they go, what happens on their journeys, tell us more !!!! There is a lot of room for Abercrombie to tell us more about these characters- their histories, their future adventures... I am anxious to know more!