Joe Abercrombie Books In Order

The Age of Madness Books In Publication Order

A Little Hatred (2019)
The Trouble With Peace (2020)
The Wisdom of Crowds (2021)

The First Law Books In Publication Order

The Blade Itself (2006)
Before They Are Hanged (2007)
Last Argument of Kings (2008)

First Law World Books In Publication Order

Best Served Cold (2009)
The Heroes (2011)
Red Country (2012)

First Law World Collections In Publication Order

Sharp Ends (2016)

The First Law Comics Books In Publication Order

The First Law (2013)

Shattered Sea Books In Publication Order

Half a King (2014)
Half the World (2015)
Half a War (2015)

Anthologies In Publication Order

Dangerous Women (2013)
Rogues (2014)
Unbound: Tales By Masters of Fantasy (2016)

The Age of Madness Book Covers

The First Law Book Covers

First Law World Book Covers

First Law World Collections Book Covers

Sharp Ends
(2016)

The First Law Comics Book Covers

The First Law
(2013)

Shattered Sea Book Covers

Anthologies Book Covers

Joe Abercrombie Books Overview

The Blade Itself

Epic fantasy. It’s all the same, no?There’s a grumpy wizard, a deadly barbarian, a jumped up nobleman and some feisty girl, more than likely. They’re all engaged in a mysterious quest to bring that from there, and they’re all made out of cardboard. Probably there’s a dark lord of some kind involved. They talk like extras from a bad soap opera. They fight like extras from a bad cop show. Probably there’s a prophecy, and a farmboy with mysterious parentage, and if not a magic tower, then certainly a strange tall building of some kind. There’ll be battles, there’ll be intrigue, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if a magic sword came up somewhere along the way.I don’t need to read that again.I want to read a fantasy with all the grit, and cruelty, and humour of real life. Where good and evil are a matter of where you stand, just like in the real world. I want dialogue that actually sounds like people talking, and action that actually feels like people fighting. I want magic and adventure, sure, but I want it to hurt. I want blood, sweat, and tears, and plenty of them. I want to read about characters as selfish, as flawed, as complicated, and as unpredictable as real people. I want a fantasy that can shock and surprise, amuse and horrify, delight and excite me, all at once.I spent a long time looking, and I couldn’t find a set of books quite like that. So I thought I’d write some. You like your fantasy with the edges left on?Try The First Law.

Before They Are Hanged

‘Dark, deeply ironic, and full of character gems that will appeal to your cynical side, Before They Are Hanged is as brilliant as its predecessor.’ SFRevu As war threatens to descend on all sides, the Kingdom of the Union once glorious, now weak and corrupt must depend for its security upon three very different men, unlikely saviors whose abilities and characters are shaky at best…
and at worst, unknown. Superior Glokta’s problem? How to defend a city surrounded by enemies and riddled by traitors, when your allies cannot be trusted, your predecessor vanished without a trace…
and you can’t even walk without a stick. Prince Ladisla’s concern? How to achieve undying glory driving the barbarous Northmen out of Angland while commanding the worst armed, worst trained and worst led army in the world. And the dilemma of Bayaz, First of the Magi? How to conduct a mission through the ruins of the past with the most hated woman in the South, the most feared man in the North, and the most selfish boy in the Union at each others’ throats. Despite their best and worst efforts, ancient secrets will be uncovered, bloody battles won and lost, and bitter enemies forgiven…
but not Before They Are Hanged.

Last Argument of Kings

The end is coming. Logen Ninefingers might only have one more fight in him but it’s going to be a big one. Battle rages across the North, the King of the Northmen still stands firm, and there’s only one man who can stop him. His oldest friend, and his oldest enemy. It’s past time for the Bloody Nine to come home. With too many masters and too little time, Superior Glokta is fighting a different kind of war. A secret struggle in which no one is safe, and no one can be trusted. His days with a sword are far behind him. It’s a good thing blackmail, threats and torture still work well enough. Jezal dan Luthar has decided that winning glory is far too painful, and turned his back on soldiering for a simple life with the woman he loves. But love can be painful too, and glory has a nasty habit of creeping up on a man when he least expects it. While the King of the Union lies on his deathbead, the peasants revolt and the nobles scramble to steal his crown. No one believes that the shadow of war is falling across the very heart of the Union. The First of the Magi has a plan to save the world, as he always does. But there are risks. There is no risk more terrible, after all, than to break the First Law…

Best Served Cold

Springtime in Styria. And that means war. There have been nineteen years of blood. The ruthless Grand Duke Orso is locked in a vicious struggle with the squabbling League of Eight, and between them they have bled the land white. Armies march, heads roll and cities burn, while behind the scenes bankers, priests and older, darker powers play a deadly game to choose who will be king. War may be hell but for Monza Murcatto, the Snake of Talins, the most feared and famous mercenary in Duke Orso’s employ, it’s a damn good way of making money too. Her victories have made her popular a shade too popular for her employer’s taste. Betrayed and left for dead, Murcatto’s reward is a broken body and a burning hunger for vengeance. Whatever the cost, seven men must die. Her allies include Styria’s least reliable drunkard, Styria’s most treacherous poisoner, a mass murderer obsessed with numbers and a Northman who just wants to do the right thing. Her enemies number the better half of the nation. And that’s all before the most dangerous man in the world is dispatched to hunt her down and finish the job Duke Orso started…
Springtime in Styria. And that means revenge. Best Served Cold is the new standalone novel set in the world of Joe Abercrombie’s First Law Trilogy.

The Heroes

They say Black Dow’s killed more men than winter, and clawed his way to the throne of the North up a hill of skulls. The King of the Union, ever a jealous neighbour, is not about to stand smiling by while he claws his way any higher. The orders have been given and the armies are toiling through the northern mud. Thousands of men are converging on a forgotten ring of stones, on a worthless hill, in an unimportant valley, and they’ve brought a lot of sharpened metal with them. Bremer dan Gorst, disgraced master swordsman, has sworn to reclaim his stolen honour on the battlefield. Obsessed with redemption and addicted to violence, he’s far past caring how much blood gets spilled in the attempt. Even if it’s his own. Prince Calder isn’t interested in honour, and still less in getting himself killed. All he wants is power, and he’ll tell any lie, use any trick, and betray any friend to get it. Just as long as he doesn’t have to fight for it himself. Curnden Craw, the last honest man in the North, has gained nothing from a life of warfare but swollen knees and frayed nerves. He hardly even cares who wins any more, he just wants to do the right thing. But can he even tell what that is with the world burning down around him? Over three bloody days of battle, the fate of the North will be decided. But with both sides riddled by intrigues, follies, feuds and petty jealousies, it is unlikely to be the noblest hearts, or even the strongest arms that prevail. Three men. One battle. No Heroes.