http://bactra.org/weblog/algae-2008-1... ( )

This was a fitting end to an excellent series. I loved how Joe Abercrombie was able to roll up most if not all of the lose ends, while maintaining a very interesting world. I can not wait to return to Adua to see what other havoc comes of the place. The characters where very well written, and I loved to see where they would go next. A very good series which i would recommend to anyone interested in reading. ( )

There was much not to like about this final part of the First law trilogy.

Gratuitous and bloody violence. Magic interventions that change events. Characters that are not what we’ve come to expect: Glotka becomes more and more like Blackadder; Bayaz started out like Belgarath, kindly and jovial, but morphed quickly into a manipulative egomaniac with a very mean streak; Jezal turning into a half-way decent king; Logen becoming more and more unpredicatable; and, by the end, the three female protagonists (Ferro, Ardee, Terez) are lazy stereotypes.

Having said that, I couldn’t put this down.

The philosophical musings of Logen Nine Fingers – ‘still alive, still alive’ and ‘you can never have too many knives’ – will stay with me forever. The acerbic wit and self-deprecation of San dan Glotka are engrossing. The ethos of the Northmen could do with elaboration. There are many questions of why, who, what. Where did the Shanka come from? What is Bayaz really up to? What will become of Jezal? How will the relationship between Ardee and Glotka play out, and what of the bastard child? Will the Dogman negotiate an ongoing treaty?

The ending is superb, particularly the tremendously satisfying epilogue and the final scene. Life goes on, and the tale ends where it began. The Bloody Nine falls into oblivion; a battle is won, but clearly the war goes on. Enough loose ends are left that Abercrombie can revisit the storyline in future books or series.

I really hope he does – and soon. ( )

I really like how this book tied everything together. Far too often in a fantasy setting you see the climax of a book bring us a happy world where the bad guys are beaten, the good guys win out, the world is saved and... that's it.

In Last Argument of Kings, you get this, but a bit more. By the end of the series we start to understand that the good guys aren't always good. The bad guys aren't always bad (they're still bad but at least we understand the "why" of their "evil" in a way). But we do get an ending that ties everything together. While not a perfect world, it's a bit more of a "realistic" ending. We see certain characters like Jezal and Glokta get situated. We see the power struggles resolved, relatively speaking. We see the enemy beaten back, but not vanquished.

Overall I thought it was a fitting end to the series. ( )

The slow build up and shuffling of pieces from the first two books pay off in this final installment of The First Law Trilogy. Cliches are deftly avoided, tension is nurtured and I was kept guessing all the way to the end. The only concerns I have are with regards to pacing and a lack of subtlety. Joe has shown that he is at the front of the march to break down the boundaries around the genre and lead on to pastures new. ( )