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Obligatory to mention (as I do when listening to every Abercrombie audiobook) that Steven Pacey is an absolutely brilliant narrator

When I 1st read this book (almost exactly a decade ago) I enjoyed it but considered it the weakest of Abercrombie's 6 released works at the time. Over the last decade however I've thought back on it often and it's grown on me massively. It now stands alongside The Heroes as 1 of Abercrombie's masterpieces. Will be interested to see how it holds up

This Fidele-Lykos plot is extremely dark and creepy. Probably moreso than anything I can remember from Joe Abercrombie (the king of grimdark) and it's doubly weird as this series is otherwise pretty much classic fantasy with a relatively light tone.

So far continuing nicely where the last book left off. Classic fantasy with plenty of action. Audiobook narrator is good. Not in the elite Steven Pacey (narrator for all the Joe Abercrombie audiobooks) tier but mixes his presentation up nicely for different characters and keeps the story moving well

I'm enjoying the villain origin story/rise to power as seen through one of the POVs in this one. I think the only time I can remember reading something similar was in the earlier Lightbringer books and I really liked it then as well as it humanizes the villains while also establishing them as a threat more organically than the typical villain setup

Struggling a bit to track all the different, not yet connected POVs but really enjoying the world-building and tone so far. Classic fantasy vibes that isn't written much any more

Slow-build so far but I'm enjoying the world and character building

Interesting world-building so far but the plot has moved pretty slowly.

I forgot that Jezal spares the treasonous Lord Brock in this trilogy. It's really interesting the parallels and knock-on impact that has on the subsequent trilogy.

Approaching the end of this trilogy now which I've been dreading since I started the re-read. The endings for pretty much every character we've grown attached to are at best bitter sweet and in a lot of cases just straight up bitter. This is gonna be rough

My only complaint about listening to this trilogy on audiobook is I can't post all the great 1 liners from it on here

Jezal (aka the Jez-meister) is more sympathetic in this book than I remembered. I mostly just remembered his major screw-ups but he does have a really nice arc in this trilogy (especially the 2nd and 3rd book) where he goes from spoiled, selfish nobleman to a decent man trying to do the right thing

"Who cares who killed who a thousand years ago" - Ferro

World-building has always been Abercrombie's weakness. Aside from the North, all of his settings (the Union, Red Country etc.) feel pretty shallow and generic. With that said I do really like the world-building he's done around the Juvens-Kanadius-Bayaz betrayals and killings in the "old time" and how the initial story of how it went down is slowly peeled away

Ardee West is more prominent in this book than I remember and more sympathetic. Even though she's an angry drunk (who debatably assaulted Jezal) on this re-read I have a better appreciation for the difficult and isolating position she's been thrown into and her banter with Glokta is top tier

On 1st read through I thought Dogman and especially Ferro were the weak links among the main characters. But both have grown on me significantly on this re-read (especially Dogman). They're effectively the straight men who don't have any complex, hidden motivations or major character change arcs like the Big 3 main characters

I think the Northern War arc in this book is my favourite storyline in any Abercrombie series and is up there for my all time favouite from any series. Cinematic set piece battles/duels, a great cast of main and secondary characters and the slow horror of Logen gradually turning back into the Bloody nine

"The crew" is a common trope in about a million different books, films etc. but I think Logen's/Dogman's crew in this series might be my all time favourite even though they're not really central characters. They all have unique backstories and personalities and their dynamic as a group is really well written

It's interesting how Logen and Ferro continue to think about each other after their "breakup" (if you can call it that) at the end of the last book. It's vintage Abercrombie that the 2 characters who worked so well together and brought out the best in each other were ultimately kept apart by their own stubborness

I say this everytime I listen to an Abercrombie audiobook but Seven Pacey is a master of narration. Best in the business imo

As I continue though this initial trilogy, and this 3rd book especially, I increasingly feel this was Abercrombie's peak. I vividly remember almost every major plot point with cool subtle details layered in I had forgotten about. In comparison I don't really remember too much of the plot from the more recent trilogy or the YA trilogy even though I read both more recently

Re-read after almost 10 years. I remember this as being peak Abercrombie. An ambitious, dark and gripping story with a pretty frustrating/depressing ending ha. Let's see how it holds up

The 1st story in this book has been pretty slow and generic but it's really come together in the final 3rd. Showing signs of how good this series eventually becomes

Hadrian and Royce are as likeable as I remembed, reading this is like visiting old friends. Most of the other characters though seem quite 2D in this 1st book and it's only really later in the series they're fully fleshed out

It feels like a significant chunk of this 1st book is villains going on big monologues about their evil plans. I generally prefer a show rather than tell approach but it's always tough to establish world-building in the 1st entry in a series

I remember how this series started off slowly but rapidly gained momentum as it went so while I've not really been completely grabbed yet I'm looking forward to whats to come. Also even though this is a somwhat bland 1st entry I'm still enjoying being back with Royce and Hadrian, 2 of the most likeable protagonists in the genre

Since my The First Law re-read went so well I'm going for an audiobook re-read of another of my favourite fantasy series. I have very positive memories of this series so interested to see how it holds up

I forgot Shivers even appeared in this book never mind having a fairly prominent role. Albeit the handsome, kind young warrior he appears as here is quite different than his later appearances

Logen and Ferro's romance is still pretty weird in many ways but while I wasn't a fan of it on the 1st read I'm really rooting for them this time. Abercrombie does a good job of showing 2 older, flawed characters who are haunted by their pasts but are drawn together. I'm also overall liking/sympathising with Ferro a lot more than I did 1st time around

I like how with each of Bayaz "siblings" the crew meets on their journey more info about Juvens, Kanadius etc. is revealed and with each reveal Bayaz seems more and more sinister

I remembered Gloktas part in this as being my least favourite in this book and essentially a rip-off of Tyrion in GoT season 2/Clash of Kings (probably influenced by the fact that I'd just watched that season shortly before my initial read of this). While strong "similarities" remain I'm still really enjoying the intrigue and dark humour of Gloktas sections here