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Last Argument of Kings (2008)

by Joe Abercrombie

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Series: First Law (3)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
4,2231172,765 (4.16)80
Fantasy. Fiction. Thriller. Historical Fiction. HTML:The final novel in the First Law Trilogy by New York Times bestseller Joe Abercrombie.
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 stop 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. As his days with a sword are far behind him, it's fortunate that he's deadly with his remaining weapons: blackmail, threats, and torture.
Jezal dan Luthar has decided that winning glory is too painful an undertaking and turned his back on soldiering for a simple life with the woman he loves. But love can be painful too ?? and glory has a nasty habit of creeping up on a man when he least expects it.
The king of the Union lies on his deathbed, the peasants revolt, and the nobles scramble to steal his crown. No one believes that the shadow of war is about to fall across the heart of the Union. Only the First of the Magi can save the world, but there are risks. There is no risk more terrible, than to break the First La
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English (109)  Spanish (2)  Dutch (2)  German (2)  All languages (115)
Showing 1-5 of 109 (next | show all)
I'll still read/listen to the next one in the series. And given how averse to series fiction I am, that's something of a recommendation. ( )
  Treebeard_404 | Jan 23, 2024 |
The first two books moved slowly in building towards the culmination to so many plots that tied up nicely in this final volume of the series.

I will admit that I had visions of sunny, happy endings for the characters, but I should have known better. This is Grimdark at its finest.

If you have read the first two books, then you need to finish the series. Action abounds here, and if for no other reason, one cannot get enough Glotka! ( )
  wvlibrarydude | Jan 14, 2024 |
Fantasy with grit. And mud. And more mud. ( )
  danielskatz | Dec 26, 2023 |
Book three of the trilogy starts with the return of Bayaz's band of travellers to Adua, the capital city of the Union, unsuccessful in their epic journey to find the Seed, a dangerous weapon from the long ago past. Logen leaves the group to head back North, to rejoin his people in their fight against the self-styled King of the Northerners, leaving his relationship with Ferro unresolved. She hangs around to wait for the return of the Mage who had brought her from the South, meaning to return to her endless quest for revenge against the Gurkish overlords who enslaved her. And Jezal briefly enjoys a manufactured triumph which takes him by surprise, someone having spread stories of his military prowess on the journey - a pack of lies which he eventually learns has been spread by the First of the Magi, Bayaz, for the latter's own reasons.

West, and his commander Burr, meanwhile, arranges with the Northerners who befriended West in book 2, and who now have a growing body of other Northeners who have defected, for them to decoy the Northern King's army to a fortress where the Union army can entrap and defeat said army. But tragedy strikes, trapping the Named Men we have followed since Book 1, and Logen also, into a desperate holdout against overwhelming odds. Meanwhile, back in Adua, Glotka comes under increasing pressure from the displeasure of his superior, Sult, and the city itself eventually is subjected to the onslaught of the Gurkish army and their zombie Eater enforcers.

As before, the book is a tour de force of writing, with the action scenes some of the best I've read, and the twists and turns of plot and characterisation keeping me guessing. I loved the scene where West finally brings the two ghastly generals to heel. But this volume finally earns the label grimdark which I thought the other two books did not fall into. After the partial redemption in the characters of Logen and Jezal, among others, in book 2, in this everything falls into a nihilistic quagmire. With the single exemption of some compassion shown by the least likely of all, Glokta, most of the characters turn fully to the Dark Side. Logen finally gives in to the beserker side of his character, shown previously in the other two books, with devastating results for friends and innocents; Bayaz is revealed as just as bad as his counterpart on the Gurkish side and in some aspects worse, even entertaining a former apprentice who is a part-time Eater, and literally viewing the Union people he is meant to be helping as cattle. Jezal, who had seemed for a while to be developing some maturity and concern for others, is rather too forcefully branded a "coward" against overwhelming odds. And for one of my favourites, West, who was undergoing his own dark night of the soul over his treatment of his sister in book 1, there is no happy ending either. I don't really "get" what happened to him, since the effects of the magical weapon can't be identical to those of nuclear radiation, despite their resemblance to radiation sickness, or a large part of Adua would be uninhabitable, and Jezal, for example, who helped to dig people out of the ruins, shows no sign of succumbing to the sickness. Besides, other people West was with at the time the weapon was used, such as Pike, are healthy at the end of the story.

In this volume another female character is introduced (or reintroduced as she played a bit part in book 1) but is thoroughly unpleasant, as is the way she eventually is "brought round" to her expected role. It is a bit "dodgy" that it is implied that her nasty character is due to her sexual preferences, rather than simple arrogance and snobbery - similar attitudes had been shown towards West and his sister throughout the trilogy by male characters without that being in anyway linked to their sexuality.

Given my reservations and in particular the fate of a favourite which seemed unnecessary and gratuitous, I can only award this 3 stars. ( )
  kitsune_reader | Nov 23, 2023 |
Am i missing something or the book ends with Logen hurtling himself through a windows in Carleon's great hall, Glokta with Rews torturing Sult, no mention of Ferro and her whereabouts after ghosting Bayaz.
There are just so many loose ends! ( )
  NG_YbL | Jul 12, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 109 (next | show all)
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» Add other authors (15 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Joe Abercrombieprimary authorall editionscalculated
Borchardt, KirstenTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
García Bercero, BorjaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Pacey, StevenNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Preuss, AlexanderCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Ruth, GregCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
Life being what it is, one dreams of revenge.—Paul Gauguin
Last Argument of Kings—Inscribed on his cannons by Louis XIV
Does the devil know he is a devil?—Elizabeth Madox Roberts
Dedication
For the Four Readers

You know who you are
First words
Superior Glokta stood in the hall, and waited. He stretched his twisted neck out to one side and then to the other, hearing the familiar clicks, feeling the familiar cords of pain stretching out through the tangled muscles between his shoulder-blades. Why do I do it, when it always hurts me? Why must we test the pain? Tongue the ulcer, rub the blister, pick the scab?
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Fantasy. Fiction. Thriller. Historical Fiction. HTML:The final novel in the First Law Trilogy by New York Times bestseller Joe Abercrombie.
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 stop 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. As his days with a sword are far behind him, it's fortunate that he's deadly with his remaining weapons: blackmail, threats, and torture.
Jezal dan Luthar has decided that winning glory is too painful an undertaking and turned his back on soldiering for a simple life with the woman he loves. But love can be painful too ?? and glory has a nasty habit of creeping up on a man when he least expects it.
The king of the Union lies on his deathbed, the peasants revolt, and the nobles scramble to steal his crown. No one believes that the shadow of war is about to fall across the heart of the Union. Only the First of the Magi can save the world, but there are risks. There is no risk more terrible, than to break the First La

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