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A review by vaxildidi
Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie
3.0
3.75 marked as 3 instead of 4 for Reasons Ill talk about under a spoiler at the end.
Such a marked improvement from The Blade Itself it beggars belief. If I had my way The Blade Itself`s ~500 pages wouldve been trimmed down to ~200 and been the opening to Before They Are Hanged, because I still think there is NO REASON for that book to be over 500 pages, because even after reading the (much better) events of Before They Are Hanged I dont think that much preamble was necessary at all.
That out of the way, man this was a good book. The battles were intense, the character growth was real, the intrigue in Dagoska was a lot of fun, the magic was appropriately world bending, the world building was fantastic, Just overall a good time. Also, the addition of West and Dogman as recurring POV characters (instead of Dogman feeling like Interludes in Book 1) was very welcome. I still cannot ever fully root for West after what he did to Ardee at the end of book one, but that doesnt stop him from being an interesting character.
The battles: While Abercrombie struggles a bit, imo, with the geography of larger scale combats, namely the two large military battles between the Union and The Northmen, he really shines in the smaller scale scuffles. The visceral, heart in your throat pace of Logan and Ferro cutting down brigands or an entire score of Flatheads and Dogmans crew taking down bands of Northmen twice their number never got boring.
The character development: I will likely never like Jezal too much as a character but him learning humility, loyalty, and respect for people he once thought below him was an absolute joy and it happened in what felt like an organic way. I kept waiting for the rug pull and for him to revert back to the elitist noble jackass, but it never came and hope it never does. Less so with Ferro, as events in the book do cause her to close back off into her shell, however there was clear, marked improvement on her becoming less of a shell of a person and beginning to trust and maybe even like other people. Glotka remains an enigma in that I dont know when he is going to hurt or harm but he is ever predictable in that he is a sucker for a pretty woman.
Political Intrigue: This probably remains the least interesting/exciting portion of the story for me. I had no care for Goltka`s plot against the Mercers in Book 1, for reference. That said, it is clear that Goltka is Abercrombie`s special little guy, so he takes extra care with all stuff surrounding him, and that extra care is noticed and appreciated. It made the whole Dagoska plot feel lived in and well thought out, even if by the end of the book it was clearly just a stepping stone for further set up (the biggest issue of Before They Are Hanged besides one Ill come to shortly, for me, is all the plots had Middle Chapter Syndrome, the story had to progress but not too much as to insure the third book is necessary).
Magic, Worldbuilding and Lore: Some of the stuff Bayaz does in this book clearly speaks to the power of what they call High Art and what the world under his master and his master`s brothers must have been like. As well, some of the places in the Old Empire, including the City of Jewels were breathtaking in their description. As well, the lore of Euz`s family was genuinely interesting, but I am always a sucker for Fantasy Creation Myths.
Now, the biggest reason I am marking this as a 3 even though I am rating it closer to a 4 is Cathil. Heck it might have genuinely actually just been a 4 prior to what happens towards her really throughout the book, but the ending was very much a last straw. Using a woman`s struggles as a character development for a man is just...fucking shitty and I am so bored of it in fantasy. (Trigger warning for Sexual Assault both in this book and behind the spoiler)
Using Ladisla`s attempted rape of Cathil to push West to realize Ladisla is a liabilty who needed to be dealt with THEN fridging her for Dogman`s character development at the end were both COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY. Ladisla couldve caused Pike`s death and pushed West past the brink that way. You already killed Threetrees at the end anyway, Dogman making the sacrifice to leave a LIVING Cathil behind to take up the chiefdom of his clan wouldve been such a better beat to end on. But NoOoOoO its GRIMDARK so we gotta be on guard for (seemingly always female and tertiary) characters dying at any moment. Piss on that, I say. Do better. Be more creative.
Such a marked improvement from The Blade Itself it beggars belief. If I had my way The Blade Itself`s ~500 pages wouldve been trimmed down to ~200 and been the opening to Before They Are Hanged, because I still think there is NO REASON for that book to be over 500 pages, because even after reading the (much better) events of Before They Are Hanged I dont think that much preamble was necessary at all.
That out of the way, man this was a good book. The battles were intense, the character growth was real, the intrigue in Dagoska was a lot of fun, the magic was appropriately world bending, the world building was fantastic, Just overall a good time. Also, the addition of West and Dogman as recurring POV characters (instead of Dogman feeling like Interludes in Book 1) was very welcome. I still cannot ever fully root for West after what he did to Ardee at the end of book one, but that doesnt stop him from being an interesting character.
The battles: While Abercrombie struggles a bit, imo, with the geography of larger scale combats, namely the two large military battles between the Union and The Northmen, he really shines in the smaller scale scuffles. The visceral, heart in your throat pace of Logan and Ferro cutting down brigands or an entire score of Flatheads and Dogmans crew taking down bands of Northmen twice their number never got boring.
The character development: I will likely never like Jezal too much as a character but him learning humility, loyalty, and respect for people he once thought below him was an absolute joy and it happened in what felt like an organic way. I kept waiting for the rug pull and for him to revert back to the elitist noble jackass, but it never came and hope it never does. Less so with Ferro, as events in the book do cause her to close back off into her shell, however there was clear, marked improvement on her becoming less of a shell of a person and beginning to trust and maybe even like other people. Glotka remains an enigma in that I dont know when he is going to hurt or harm but he is ever predictable in that he is a sucker for a pretty woman.
Political Intrigue: This probably remains the least interesting/exciting portion of the story for me. I had no care for Goltka`s plot against the Mercers in Book 1, for reference. That said, it is clear that Goltka is Abercrombie`s special little guy, so he takes extra care with all stuff surrounding him, and that extra care is noticed and appreciated. It made the whole Dagoska plot feel lived in and well thought out, even if by the end of the book it was clearly just a stepping stone for further set up (the biggest issue of Before They Are Hanged besides one Ill come to shortly, for me, is all the plots had Middle Chapter Syndrome, the story had to progress but not too much as to insure the third book is necessary).
Magic, Worldbuilding and Lore: Some of the stuff Bayaz does in this book clearly speaks to the power of what they call High Art and what the world under his master and his master`s brothers must have been like. As well, some of the places in the Old Empire, including the City of Jewels were breathtaking in their description. As well, the lore of Euz`s family was genuinely interesting, but I am always a sucker for Fantasy Creation Myths.
Now, the biggest reason I am marking this as a 3 even though I am rating it closer to a 4 is Cathil. Heck it might have genuinely actually just been a 4 prior to what happens towards her really throughout the book, but the ending was very much a last straw. Using a woman`s struggles as a character development for a man is just...fucking shitty and I am so bored of it in fantasy. (Trigger warning for Sexual Assault both in this book and behind the spoiler)