Last Argument of Kings: The First Law: Book Three (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

...say he spins a damn good yarn.

In fact, for my money, Abercrombie has delivered quite simply the most memorable and satisfying fantasy saga since the original Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.

Last Argument of Kings skilfully draws together the diverse threads into a breathtaking finale. We have some sex, some explicit torture, intrigue and stunning revelations aplenty, battles on an epic scale and some incredibly vivid descriptions of how it must feel to become a berserker. We also have more than a few laughs along the way. If you're a fan of the swords and sorcery genre, you may well remark on the absence of any maps at the front of the novel. Abercrombie cheekily engages with the reader by letting one of his characters comment on how she hates books with maps. Nice touch!

More so with this novel than its predecessors, I got a distinct feel that the warring factions hint at historical conflicts between Islam and the West. The 'Gurkish' certainly have vaguely arab-sounding names, aim to force the Union to worship god in their manner and the word 'Crusade' is even used on one occasion. Whether this was Abercrombie's intention or not I don't know, but it adds a further element to the saga. Indeed, somewhat like the Crusades, the labels of right and wrong frequently get blurred. It is in this splendid ambiguity that the power of Abercrombie's story-telling lies. The nearest thing we have to a conventional hero is Jezal - but he remains a coward at heart. We dally a long time with the witty Glokta - and yet he is a ruthless torturer. Logan, Dogman, Bayaz, Ardee, West, even previous bit-players like Pike all have their splendidly rounded characters develop yet further in this superb novel.

Don't expect a feel-good ending. What I can promise you though, is a spectacular, memorable and realistic ending to this deliciously cynical and ironic, but above all, very human, saga.

Great stuff!

If you buy this trilogy expecting pages of epic landscapes alive with giants, goblins, dragons and bestrode by shining heroes in silver armour sat on magnificent horses wielding magic swords dealing out death and destruction to an evil meglamaniac and his hordes of minions, you will be sadly dissappointed. Also if you like your books full of song lyrics, poems, family trees and elvish alphabets you will be equally dissappointed. Our author even declines to prefix the action with the usual obligatory badly drawn map!

No, Abercrombie's world is a world made of men. Their actions, emotions desires, words, triumphs, failings, smells and innards. The author takes you through the story from the various points of view of the main charactors, and what a collection of charactors they are, beautifully fleshed out, 3D and brought to life so that I almost expected to meet them whilst out walking the dog in the woods. The major benefit of this style is that you never tire of one charactor and you ride along behind their eyes so you know and understand their motives and grow to love and sympathise with them even though they are cabable of the dreadful.

Don't get me wrong, there is much here the hackneyed fantasy reader will recognise. A grizzled campaigner, a young handsome swordsman, an ancient arch magi, a torturer, a beautiful girl and a host of barbarian tribesman. However all given a refreshing twist. The swordsman is a cowardly, self obsessed snob. The grizzled campaigner is oft possessed by a 'beserker' alter ego who is as likey to kill his best friend as his worst enemy and the beautiful girl is a slightly tarty 'low-born' with an inclination to hit the bottle.

Potential buyers of a sensitive nature be warned the writing style is more Guy Ritchie than Tolkien. Expect profanities, sex, gore and plenty of black humour.

The joys of this book are the authors ability to create 'real' people, he has a gift for dialogue and moves the action along at a satisfying pace and puts you in the heart of it. The story avoids being cliched and predictable for the most part. The charactors are all shades of grey rather than being definatively evil or good and their actions stay true to their personalities as set out in volume one.

If I was hyper critical I may say that the plot though neatly pulled together at the end, for much of the trilogy can feel like a series of random events. Also the female charactors don't feel quite as authentic and fleshed out as the male ones. But I am splitting hairs here, this is a rollicking good adventure that has made me remember why I first picked up a copy of LOTR all those years ago.

I'm going to really miss the personalities in this book, Logan Ninefingers is truly one of the great fantasy charactors ever created as is the deliciously bitter and twisted Glotka. That said I hope 'Joe' does not do the predictable sequel or prequel but conjures us up another cast list of equally entertaining heroes & villains to ride with in his next book, and if your reading this Joe don't keep me waiting too long!

I liked the gritty feel of the series, the dark humor and the interesting anti-heroes that make up the entire cast. But plot-wise, this was a disappointing ending to the series. Compared to Brandon Sanderson's new "The Way of Kings", which had me at the edge of my seat, the Last Argument of Kings is slow-paced and oddly uneventful - not to say depressing. It feels as if Abercrombie didn't really plan ahead - this trilogy had potential, but it failed to deliver in the end.