Joe Abercrombie

He might be my new favorite author. I'm reading BEFORE THEY HANGED, book two of the trilogy, THE FIRST LAW. I'll admit it took me a bit to get into the first one, THE BLADE ITSELF, but now that I'm almost half-way through book 2 I'm getting a little anxious, feeling the need to have that third and final book right at my fingertips. Because I'm beginning to worry about these characters, these horribly perfectly flawed characters. That's why it took me a bit to get into the first book. These people were not exactly likeable. They weren't awful, just not the sort of main characters I'm accustomed to. I don't want to say too much but I'm really enjoying them now - which is why I'm worried. There's a war coming and I'm afraid they might not all make it. But we'll see, maybe Abercrombie is a kinder god than Martin.

Here's Amazon's description: Logen Ninefingers, infamous barbarian, has finally run out of luck. Caught in one feud too many, he's on the verge of becoming a dead barbarian - leaving nothing behind him but bad songs, dead friends, and a lot of happy enemies.


Nobleman, dashing officer, and paragon of selfishness, Captain Jezal dan Luthar has nothing more dangerous in mind than fleecing his friends at cards and dreaming of glory in the fencing circle. But war is brewing, and on the battlefields of the frozen North they fight by altogether bloodier rules.


Inquisitor Glokta, cripple turned torturer, would like nothing better than to see Jezal come home in a box. But then Glokta hates everyone: cutting treason out of the Union one confession at a time leaves little room for friendship. His latest trail of corpses may lead him right to the rotten heart of government, if he can stay alive long enough to follow it.

Now, tell us, what are you reading?