CORRECTION! The trilogy announced from Abercrombie won’t be a First Law trilogy. That was my bad. New series which I’m really excited for will be called The Devils.

Blade Itself has THE most tragic loss in the series. RIP cookpot

The *Evil Gandalf* trope was nailed beautifully in Last Argument of Kings.

Finally got my wife to start The Blade Itself. She’s disabled and uses a cane or walker to get around, and shortly after she gets to Glokta I hear her yell “YES!! F’ING STAIRS!!” 😂 Hooked her early

For anyone looking to get into these books I HIGHLY recommend the audiobooks narrated by Steven Pacey. His character voices are fantastic and he nails both the intensity and humor. Definitely my favorite audiobooks I’ve ever listened to. (I used Libby to rent them for free from my local library)

I accidentally read the Age of Madness Trilogy before The First Law. It was quite interesting to get the info the other way around, to have heard characters referencing past events and glorifying old heros in tales and then going back and getting the first hand accounts of those people and stories. Unlike when a prequel is written, and the past was based off of vague comments and generic statements having people talk about past events that were already fully fleshed out was interesting. Both trilogies are amazing and I recommend you give them a go!

First Law is a series that will forever be close to my heart. While I hate the "everyone is grey" arcs, Joe does it such justice that I still desire more character in my life. Glokta that crooked bastard is like crack to my feeble reader mind, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Thanks for the amazing breakdown Daniel! All hail the Disheveled Goblin Lord!

Honestly, I can’t imagine starting The Age of Madness trilogy without reading the so called “standalones”. Half the characters mentioned I’d be like, I’m sorry who?

Reading this series now!!! Just finished The Blade Itself and man.. what an awesome ride!!

Joe Abercrombie just wanted to write an evil Dumbledore that we love to hate

He also wrote a short story in the Rogues anthology ;) Also, an important note re publication time: in an interview, Joe has stated that all 3 books were finished before the first was published and released :)

Say one thing for Logen Ninefingers. Say he's one of the best fantasy characters ever created. -- Logen Ninfingers could have kept the Fellowship together with his bare hands.

I have said this before and I'll say it again: I love books and I have read a lot of them and of all the characters met, Logen Ninefingers remains my absolute favourite. Say one thing for Logen Ninefingers, say he is the G.O.A.T.

I would love such a breakdown for Dresden Files or Discworld. I know this would be a nightmare for you, seeing the sheer amount of entries in these two series. Also, Discworld is just Discworld, with multiple entry points and multiple overlapping but semi-independent series going on. But, I think this is also why breakdown videos on these two series are needed and would be so valuable. PS Merphy just started Vinland. Seeing that Vinland won your poll too (I voted for it too), watching you two cover the same series at the same time would be fun.

The Audible version of these books are absolutely amazing. Also the best example of character development I have ever seen.

That scene with Logan and the 1st in the forest running and fighting was so awesome. I really think his combat writing is surreal, it feels actually heavy like when people are getting stabed their whole body is going to jolt back with the impact.

I really love it when you add more lore details - I've been debating picking this series up for a while and this is so helpful

I love that you included lore in this one. I'd be really interested to see either a rerelease or a companion video to the Malazan breakdown that includes some of the lore primer because I was really lost on that one.

Great video! I love that you managed to not spoil anything, so now that you've made me wanna move this up on my TBR, I can enjoy it without spoilers

Thank you for adding the lore info - it makes me way more excited to check the series out! Also, thanks for adding page count and not just word count for each book - I have no sense of word count when I read so page count really helps give me a sense of the size of the books.

Not even a hundred pages in Before They Are Hanged, but I am in love with these characters and setting so far and wish I had more time to binge this series!! Can’t wait to get deeper into the world

I am forever grateful for Abercrombie because he got me back into fantasy after years of lulls. It got me back into my favourite niche! Also, I watched the interview here with Daniel as my first video on this channel and have been watching ever since.

Perfect timing with this video as I'm reading The Trouble with Peace right now. I agree these books just get better and better.

Daniel, it's been really fun to see the evolution of your presenting style and this channel overall. Keep up the good work. On a more related note, I just started Red Country last week and I really enjoyed The Heroes before it. Your video has made me even more excited to continue this series of books. Thanks!

Just the other day I was thinking about reading this series! This video came just in time, Daniel. Thanks!

This series was my favorite thing I've ever read. Can't recommend it enough

Literally my favorite youtuber, everytime a Daniel Greene video pops up my cellphone I know that I HAVE to listen to it immediately

Great video! The First Law is a definite read for fans of the grimdark genre! No one writes humour and characters like Abercrombie! I have been fortunate to meet Abercrombie twice, and he is also really funny in real life! 😅

Almost finished his 1st book thanks to your videos. Sooo glad there's a bunch more to read and that Joe's young enough that many more will be out in the future

As an audiobook lover, I'd like to see the "listening time" along with pages and words

Absolutely loved the First Law series. Best Served Cold might also be my favorite with plot, characters and arcs all coming together beautifully. If you haven't read Sharp Ends, I recommend it highly - if for nothing else than for the first and the last chapter/story. There's nothing like spending time with that beautiful bastard.

"The blade itself" should be arriving in a couple of days, It's a highly anticipated read for me!

I just picked these up on audible because I saw a video you did ranking your favorites. Thanks for not spoiling it.. I still have one and a half WoT books to go before I start but I'm excited to get into a new world after being in WoT so long.

Thanks for introducing me to this series a few months back. I'm all the way on the final book and am excited to see how it goes. It's a little sad that the story may be over for good once I'm done this though

This series was really smart idea, Im half way though before they are hanged and you made me much more exited about finishing the whole series. 📚🗡

I just started this series after finishing my Wheel of Time read-along. So glad I started it.

The breakdown series are really good. Keep doing them, Daniel!!

Your short videos are great, fun sketch comedy is always good content.

I just finished Wisdom of Crowds a couple days ago and I NEED Daniel to do a spoiler talk!!!

I love this series. Moved on to age of madness this week. Also very good

Currently reading the heroes and I’ve been absolutely loving the first law. Probably one of my favorite series of all time.

I recently have been rereading all of the first law as I collect all the paper books and with every book I find myself loving Joe's work more and more. Just finished Best Served Cold and I am so excited to get to Age of Madness, and here's to his new series! As much as I love the world and characters of the First Law I am just so hype for a new project from him.

I love this series even though I've read all these books. Mustache looking good brother, keep it going!

You get me to read the First law trilogy and it’s so far one of my favorite trilogy

My favorite of the standalones was actually Red Country. It's cool seeing a story about living out in the country like a western with no guns. Towards the end it was hard for me to put the book down. The characters weren't all my favorite and some of the plot seemed a bit pointless, but I liked the setting and the setup.

I want to say that this is the best breakdown yet. I think you've really figured out the formula. Keep it up and I'm looking forward to the next series breakdown. One critique is my OCD going crazy with you using book covers from different publishers. I like it when you show covers from multiple publishers (like Gollancz and Orbit in this case). Sometimes it's nice to see the differences in cover art and style.

Really enjoy this series! Please continue it!

Really like this format, keep up with these !

Great breakdown 👍🏼 below are few suggestions for future breakdown series - 1. Realms of Elderlings 2. The Faithful and the Fallen 3. Middle-Earth 4. Cosmere

I want to tell you what I enjoy about these videos so you can focus on that when creating them. But the truth is, I come for the enthusiasm so… keep up the good work!!!

I've been tearing through all the First Law books the last month. They are all magnificent, each in its own way.

This was one of the best reviews I’ve ever seen. I love First Law

Bro I love seeing the word count and also the year of publishing.... other than that you are just awesome.. Love your videos

I only recently started reading the (first of the) first law trilogy and, even though it took a while for the story (etc) to get into gear, I'm loving it. I've had bad reading slumps for years - on and off again and easily distracted from books - so I decided to buy the trilogy kindle version and have been reading it every day. WOW. Nothing like a change of medium to get the reading juices flowing.🤣 My point is: I'm about halfway through the trilogy and (surprisingly) the story/characters have scarcely left my mind since I started. This video was a great watch. Thank-you.❤

This is excellent. Thank you for making it.

Best Abercrombie series review on KZfaq hands-down. Dammit Daniel, you just so GOOD at this! Loved how you were able to dodge character-specific things since, y'know, people die a lot lol. And I figure anyone looking for book-specific stuff will find you individual reviews where you do mention these tidbits.

I am currently on last argument of kings. I like how war is going in the north,was going in gurkish empire, how they fight. Glokta's narrative is my favorite.

I finished the trilogy a couple days ago. It was my first full read in a couple of years, and man it was so great! I ordered the first book in Red Rising and will be trying that out next. Love the videos! You got me back into reading.

I'm working my way through the audio books now and I'm thoroughly enjoy them! I'm just about to start Red Country and am excited to get into the Age of Madness soon! First Law has become one of my favorite series, it's an absolute master class in character development!

I only read The First Law for the first time just a few months ago. I decided that I had to give it a go after seeing your video explaining why it's a must read and now they are some of my favourite books I've ever read. So far, I've only read the original FL trilogy (with Before They Are Hanged being my personal favourite), but I definitely plan to get into more of Abercrombie's works. I adore his writing style and I love the characters so much.

My absolute favorite Fantasy series… EVER!!

I literally just finished "Last Argument of Kings" yesterday. What awesome timing!

Jeez...I am just about done with Red County and cannot wait to get started with the final trilogy. Your quick review of it made me even more excite to get started with it. I am also pretty sad that I am getting to the end of The First Law in general. It has been an incredible read so far, the characters are amazing. The specific details he chooses to describe make it so easy to envision that I feel like I could recognize the characters in a crowd of people. They are so memorable and easy to root for. Thanks for the video!

I was decidedly not a fantasy reader before I found Daniel's channel. First Law was one of the series he'd discussed that convinced me to give it a try (and the fact he shared my dislike of Terry Goodkind's "work" which, had through friends, been held up to me as a fantasy standard) and I was pleasantly surprised. Happy he revisited this because I now know there are more books to read in the series!

Love the lore addition

I would love to see a spoiler take as a follow up. You’re clearly very passionate about these books you talk about and I would be interested in seeing your take on it.

hearing it described as "quentin tarantino violence" instantly made me hope he would do a tv series for first law.

The comedy in the first law absolute GOLD!! Its so funny man, its just my kinda humour!

The best series ever ....Love love love 😍😍😍

Fantastic series! Might be about time for a reread 👀

Digging the Stache Daniel. Looking good my friend

This is a really interesting series, I'm listening to the audio books at the moment and loving it. I love Logen, bayaz and glokta so much 😂 it's fast becoming one of my favourite series

I have a love/hate relationship with how the first trilogy ended but one thing that can’t be understated his the characters…truly a chefs kiss

Thanks for the breakdown, it was very timely for me as I've just listened to The Blade Itself last week and started the second book (I'm audio book only). And I very much like the books for the obvious reasons but I was also very surprised by how very enjoyable the writing is and how sarcastic some of the characters are. Glad to discover that my first proper foray into grimdark actually isn't that grim but a lot of fun instead.

Thank you for introducing more to First Law. You recommended The Blade Itself on one of your Twitch streams and I devoured the 9 books. Hearing that you also don't like westerns further cements that my tastes line up with yours very closely.

I just started reading The Blade Itself and am excited to see this breakdown! I was surprised how much I cared about the characters and how eager I was to follow what was going on, even if I usually don't enjoy political plots.

Just ordered the first trilogy and am excited to get started!

This is a wonderful format! I'm looking forward to getting into Joe Abercrombie. I just need to get through Les Miserables and The Farseer trilogy...and maybe the first three Malazan books, though I may want to read some more before I start Malazan.

A few years back, when I was looking to get into adult fantasy I Google best adult fantasy series and picked first law because it had an easy name to remember. I searched first law book reviews and guess which goblins Why you should read video came up? Half way through the video I paused and bought the trilogy on Amazon. Now reading fantasy is my biggest hobby. Thanks Daniel. I really like the series. I like when you talk about the real world reception to the series.

The short stories are well worth your time in my opinion

Definitely my favorite series, still need to read the standalones.

Oh fun, I just started reading The Blade Itself a few days ago!

My favourite author and series. Rereading all his books as we speak.

Whelp, guess it's time for a fresh run through of the First Law universe. I've read them all, and most of them twice, but I love this world.

I like the addition of lore in this series. While you are on the subject of multiple trilogies set in the same world, I would like to request a Realm of the Elderlings breakdown.

Sharp Ends is an excellent collection of short stories and tidbits, I really enjoyed it, hope you give it a go!

Top breakdown really helpful thanks a lot

"So that eerie things can be said about it..." was extremely eerie.

I have all 9 in my audible. Read the first 3 and enjoyed them. The narrator is excellent. Took a small break but will be returning to finish them.

I'd like to ditto the audiobook folks in that it'd be nice to see audiobook details too--narrator, listening time, and opinions of text v. audio for first read or returning reads. I'd also love to see a series timeline/chronological reading order, recommended reading order, especially for series with sidebooks and short stories. For series with Maps, getting a visual of where each book takes place would be kinda cool, if not too spoilery. Enjoying the series so far as it is though too!

Really enjoyed this primer for the book series, especially hearing about the stand alones. As for feedback for future videos, I’d like to hear at some point if a series is written in first or third person (or even both).

This series is awesome.

Abercrombie described chronic pain so well. I was like, yes! Exactly, this. This is chronic pain.

I like what you did with the shadow on the green screen😂

Definitely read Sharp Ends! It’s more than just a collection of short stories. There’s actually a through line featuring new characters that is highly enjoyable.

Man ive really wanted to get into this trilogy

Great series

Easily the best fantasy I've ever read. From the moment I started the first book I fell in love with this world and the amazing writing. No other series has characters like this, so human, so fallible, so disgusting. First Law is amazing.

I'd love to hear what book version are the best and most worth it, and maybe even say what pressing has the least pressing errors You already touched on it but just a rundown of the lore, worldbuilding and a quick tl;dr (as spoiler free as possible) on the story and potentially its progression!

I adore this fantasy worldscape