Ok, I know I said I was done with Joe Abercrombie, however I don’t really enjoy leaving things unfinished; the existence of additional books in the First Law universe was there, nagging at the back of my mind, so I decided I could as well go ahead and read them.

Last Argument Of Kings is the third and final novel of the already famous (or notorious) First Law trilogy – and while there are several other books set in the same universe, I think I have seen enough of it, at least for a while. But, before I move on to something else, here I am sharing my thoughts on this final installment of the series.

After surviving The Blade Itself, I was tempted to abandon the First Law series for good – but no, who am I kidding, I had to go back and see how it developed. So, does it get any better? Well, as I said the series wasn’t bad in the first place, just very frustrating for my tastes. The second book doesn’t depart too much from what we already know, but it does effectively build on its established foundation. To what end? Well, let’s see…

The Blade Itself – first book of the First Law series, mile- and cornerstone of the grimdark subgenre – has been in my reading list since time immemorial. Why hadn’t I read it yet? Perhaps because I have always seen it as something I had to read, something to get done, rather than something I’d particularly enjoy? Finally, I found myself in the mood for some gritty medieval fix and I decided to give it a go.