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

fantastic

Right up there with Tolkien and R.R.Martin... I love Abercrombies Writing... havnet read a bad book by Him..

Evil wins

This series is a great listen the writing and narration however if you like a good betters evil ending the series is not for you. Other than that I recommend it to highly.

Amazing Performance

Amazing story, absolute mastery if characters by both the author and the narrator...A trilogy so complex with such basic themes bestowed....all is grey, heroes and villains are exacerbated, but in this trilogy everyone is flawed to the core, it is up to us to determine pop rotagonists and antagonist. My analysis of such would surprise the lot of you. Don't pass on this trilogy, it's a master work.

All the cards finally on the table

If you've listened to the other two books in this series you might be wondering how it all ties up, especially given the pacing of the story. I'll tell you that the story does come to an end, though that isn't "the end." A lot of the set-up that the story has been pacing out does finally play out with pretty much all the cards on the table. Then it goes on for a bit in a sort of epilogue which lays out anything you might have missed, no more secrets about who is behind what.

But although this is definitely the ending to this story, there is more. The end is obviously putting some of the characters into place for what I guess will be the Second Law series.

In the end I liked it overall and would recommend it to others. I will also probably read a second series if indeed I am right about that.

Great "finish"? to a fun series

Overall, this was a great finish to a really good series. Abercrombie continues his great storytelling in this book and his characters grow even more than they did in the second book (they didn't grow at all in the first book). The one "negative" thing I have to say about the book (and other reviews I read were similar) is that there did not seem to be any real closure at the end of the book. Some of the story lines were kind of tidied up, but most of them were left in what felt like an unfinished state. I'm assuming Abercrombie did this on purpose. Maybe he's letting the reader decide the final fate of the main characters. Maybe he intends on writing more books in this world? (I know there are a few standalone books that take place in the same world using some of the minor characters from this series). Other than that, and the fact that a lot of the major turning points in the book were pretty predictable, it was still a fun book and overall great series.

Once again, Steven Pacey's "reading" (more like acting) was very very good. He definitely added value to the series.

nobody is perfect......except the performer

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend this read with the understanding that all characters have their own dark/light sides (as seen by most). All seem to be likeably despised. just like real life. Very entertaining but also quite disturbing. Enjoy.

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

He is a true performer giving each character a voice and demeaner of his own. well done. If Joes other books are redone with Pacey, I will buy them also.

Nothing but fantastic...

Abercrombie has a fantastic future in this genre and the naraition is top notch. thumbs up for entire series.

Great Characters

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

The one thing I hate most in books and movies is gratuitous torture. I'm OK with run of the mill violence, but long descriptions of pulling out teeth, smashing hands on anvils, burning, and castration - just not for me. Given that, I'm not sure why I chose to listen to a series in which one of the main characters is a torturer, and from the very beginning, I knew that Abercrombie was not going to hold back anything. But, listen I did, and I got hooked on the characters, including the torturer. They are complex and funny and sad and it's hard not to get attached to even the worst of them.

Like some of the other reviewers, I think the ending was disappointing. I was ready for things to be left unresolved, but I don't think it was necessary to leave us in such a dark place.

I'm done with Abercrombie for now. While he's arguably the best fantasy writer out there, I can't get myself psyched for more gore and torture.

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

I have not listened to other Pacey books, but I will definitely look for him now. He's great.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, I can only take so much gore in one sitting.

Amazing

I love these books! I can't wait to hear what happens to Logan! So hurry up and start writing Joe! 😉

Maybe a little too calculating

I've read a couple of fantasy series, so I'm always looking for something "sort of new", although it is a bit difficult to find.
Its a great story, the performance was great, but I found Bayas to be a bit too calculating, at times too much in control, which made it a little predictable, and maybe a little bit boring.
The way he worked around Glokta's psyche was great in my opinion, and the pairing of Ferro and Logen was really nicely done. Loved the whole nine fingers transformation, although terrifying, but I was awed as one still loved Logen and thought of him a Hero, excellent!
The Northmen i liked most of all, united and likeminded, never a dull moment with those guys. I found the Union, military and political characters dumb, and ruthless, and those are just the qualities of all politicians around here, which was well written.
All in all, a very good read!