THE FIRST LAW ~BREAKDOWN~ 

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.

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

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

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?

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.

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.

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 :)

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! 😅

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.❤

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.

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

Would anyone else like to see a soulslike video game set in the First Law universe? I feel like that kind of gameplay is perfect for the setting.

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.

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.

Currently my 2nd favorite series next to Wheel of Time. I just finished reading the spin-off books and my god they were incredible. They just have the most morally complex characters I’ve read. I really hope it gets adapted into a TV series.

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.

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

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

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

5:20 "three-hundred to four hundred thousand page drops". Its clear you meant "word" not "page" but the literal imagery was still amusing. Loved the first first-law trilogy, but after reading---id engaged in my favorite past time of consuming content about content, without realizing how much reading about the original trilogies' characters would spoil about the rest of the published universe. So the fact i feel like i know all the big twists has sadly kept me from diving deeper into the other books.

Gonn say something a little controversial: Age of Madness? Didn't love it. Thought it was a lot weaker than the original trilogy and had less intrigue, with weaker or less interesting characters. That being said, Shivers is one of my favourite secondary characters in basically any fantasy series

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.

Read the First Law trilogy because I first heard about it on your channel and I didn’t like it that much. Would love to hear some answers to my questions though! Is it really grim dark? Sure the characters aren’t all that great of people and there isn’t any real character redemption in the story but I feel like that hurts the story more in my eyes. Logen talks about how he wants to be a better man and instead of reflecting on how he killed Tul or inspiring the men to fight the last battle he just punches the guy and tells him to get in line. Is that grim dark because he and other characters don’t develop more over the course of the series? Speaking of Logen it was kinda sad that we got no background in the trilogy itself in order to really understand him. I understand there is a separate book about him and Bethod. Even calling it a trilogy at all seems weird as the story doesn’t end after the third book. I was so confused getting to the end of the third book when Bayaz says that the war will continue and then I find out that there’s more books. Why are those three classified as a trilogy? There are more questions but those are my main ones.

My question is, will Joe Abercrombie go right into the new Trilogy or will we have another 3 books that cover the in between times? Can't wait!

I also prefer the age of madness trilogy, but any adventure in the world is a treasure

I'm finishing up Red Country right now, thoroughly enjoying the series. The only downside is it's really hampering my reading of the Wheel of Time, I'm in book 10 of that series and it's just not as exciting, I know it gets better but I understand why it's called "the slog".

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

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

I love me some first law but gotta disagree about Wisdom of Crowds. That was the first book in the series I gave up on halfway through because I was so bored reading it. Ended up looking up the ending online and was disappointed that my guesses of where it was going were pretty much spot on. Love the series as a whole, but especially with this new trilogy Abercrombie seems to be doubling down on the suffering porn to the point where it's no longer surprising, just exhausting.

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

Very close. I think that perhaps giving us enough up front that we can enjoy spoiler free and then perhaps dig into spoilers?

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

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.

Sand dan Glokta. That is all.

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.

The Trouble with Peace (Age of Madness tril.) is in my top 3 books of all time, up there w/A Storm of Swords or GOT. No one writes better dialougue than Abercrombie. I never laugh so hard make sure to listen to THE STEPHEN PACEY VERSIONS. Way better than reading. (NOT MICHAEL PAGE)

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

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

rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, i haven't even finished watching this vid and i have 'bought' the 1st law trilogy

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!

Man ive really wanted to get into this trilogy

Say something for Logen Ninefingers, say his series is a banger 🔥

Great series

To all you out there that haven't read age of madness DO IT! Its honestly shocking how much I loved that cast. It was genuinely better than the first trilogy and I was blown away

Is the worlds name is the first trilogy name?

The Heroes is one of my absolute favourite stand alone's. I can't think of another book that tells that kind of story any better. I agree with you, age of madness is better than first law. I didn't think that would be possible going into the second trilogy but Abercrombie just got better and better.

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.

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

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

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.

Having read the First law trilogy and standalones - Heroes is definitely my favourite and Red Country is least favourite. Heroes is just very surprising book, provides completely new look on some of the characters. And packs so many events and twists into space of several days of one battle On the other hand Red Country is just depressing and bleak, character who you think earned some redemption in Best served cold is just destroyed in this book and it is justified but also sad. Just a bleak and depressing read while other books in the series provide at least some measure of positive emotions.

Glokta is best waifu, there I said it...

I think you should have mentioned the humor in the series. It's one of the most defining features in my opinion, and also one of the darkest. Reading about terrible people who each look down upon everybody else is an itch I didn't know I had until First Law. These books are legitimately funny, if you share Abercrombie's sense of humor.

Abercrombie is fascinating in watching how he's evolved and improved as a writer, all while staying true to the central core of his work. He was never bad but he's been getting better consistently and I love tracing that through his work. Best Served Cold was where he began to approach the subject of gender more consciously and improved his work on female characters a lot, so by the time you get to Age of Madness, you have 50% female POVs and they're all wonderfully varied and interesting. Shattered Sea is pretty good too and to me it feels like that series taught him how to edit his work down to make it as lean as possible. He's never been what I'd call "slow paced" but Age of Madness really trimmed away any fat and you can see that tendency develop in the shattered sea books

I've read the first law and best served cold. I really need to get to the age of madness series, people keep talking about it so much. I absolutely love Joe Abercrombie's writing style but, I just always gravitate to other authors before picking up another Abercrombie book. I really need to just commit!

God I LOVE these books. My favourite fantasy series.

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

Cant wait to see you upload a 2 hour breakdown video on middle earth

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

Best Served Cold is still my favourite, mostly because I love the pseudo-Renaissance Italy setting. I wish we saw more of that type of setting, the High Medieval Europe stuff is so overdone. And the characters are so good, the main character is a total stonecold badass while still feeling very vulnerable and human.

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.

Love the lore addition

Hey Daniel, Some hopefully positive criticism this video kinda taught me nothing I prefer the previous way you've done this series. Love your content, This just seems like less than what I'd learn from a wikipedia page. Keep the great great stuff coming!

I’m currently reading through The First Law (before The Song of Ice and Fire, funny enough) and have been enjoying it so far. What I like about the books is how accessible they are. They don’t have ridiculous length and, while it is a cycle, the story is told in parts so people won’t get exhausted reading one continuous long story. I honestly think that Abercrombie would be a better starting author for people interested in fantasy than, say, Sanderson (of course, if you are not turned off by violence and lack of fantastical elements for most of the series). The lack of convoluted magic systems, better character work and worldbuilding. Sure, the fights aren’t as creative, but I think Abercrombie intended for action scenes to be more realistic and off-putting with their violence. Which is another good thing about The First Law: characters don’t feel like action stars. They are vulnerable, they make mistakes, they feel like they can die at any moment. Also, 7:44, is this like a rule everyone has to mention Tolkien every time they talk about fantasy? People had been writing short stories long before him, including fantasy.

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

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

Ok soo... you presented about a dozen books, said NOTHING about the plot and NOTHING about the characters... SO WHY AM I SO INVESTED ??

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

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.

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

Great video as always. I kept thinking about 1970s pornstars because of the mustache, but still a great video.

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

Little spoilers(🙌): Wish their journey could last a little longer. I also miss Logan's and Ferro's couple. They really accompanied each other. Being so supportive. I wished Ferro could find her best friend and family. Logan is one who can comfort other people. He is big hearted man. First two books was miracle and pleasure. But third little bit disappointed me. That's why it cannot be compared to Game of thrones written by George Martin. Yes, dark fantasy world doesn't meant to be sweet. But why... Why their journey through Aulkus etc. didn't last a little longer? 4/5 Btw, Ferro and Glokta were unique characters.

Sharp Ends is great, it's really great, you'll love it, totally read it, man! There's tons of extra backstory for the First Law trilogy and the standalones, as well as a really brilliant series of stories strung throughout following the adventures of a new "odd couple" of vagabond warriors who are companions but they really DON'T get along that well, Shev and Javre, who you're sure to fall in love with as much as any of the more established characters we know you're already a fan of.

You should absolutely do this style of video for Warhammer 40K and Age of Sigmar.

My absolute favorite Fantasy series… EVER!!

I think it's important to realize that how you feel about this genre will probably 100% determine how you feel about this series. Having read this whole series, I can safely say you should not read this at all if you don't like Grimdark. I was continually dissatisfied by the character development, plot and story. That being said, the writing itself is enjoyable and never boring. For people who don't know what Grimdark is, this is a great way to find out. Now, YMMV, but if you don't like the first book, that's probably a solid indicator you won't like the rest, but that's just what I wish I'd heard before starting.

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 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

You have got to read Sharp Ends. There is an account of the “liberation” of Averstock from Red Country written by Spillion Sworbreck that made me laugh so hard while listening to the audiobook that my coworkers thought I’d lost my mind. It includes gems as “He [Nicomo Cosca] took drink but rarely and only in the strictest moderation.”

Love the First Law series and all of the add on books. He has great humor that helps really you like characters that are morally questionable. I am looking forward to reading the Mad series. Always enjoy your insight.

Ngl; I found the first book pretty mid. Was a fine read, but felt like a sub par Anthony Ryan book; lacking the charm and nuance of say Blood Song. Also kinda had a Black Company vibe, but was much better written. Unlike the Shadow of What was Lost, however, nothing irritated me to the point of quitting, so i can still be convinced to continue with First of Law but still undecided.

First Law has a lot of my favorite fantasy characters of all time. If you like audiobooks, Steven Pacey does an absolutely amazing job portraying them.

Currently reading first law, and I'm up to Red Country. Initially I had planned to just read the trilogy and then come back at a later date, but the characters, the humour and the brutality has me hooked. I read Mistborn trilogy before this and by the end I knew I needed a break before returning to the Cosmere (which I will), but no break is needed for first law, I'm binging them all!

Daniel drawing a sword and declaring he’s going to give us a breakdown is a little worrying. Half expected the goblin king to come at us swinging.

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!

1st law series is terrific

It's STEE-REE-UH not STY ria. Cmon daniel haven't you listened to our lord and savior stephen pacey yet??

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. 📚🗡