The Trouble With Peace - REVIEW 

Say what you will about Joe Abercrombie, say he is a master at writing character.

Savine is great, but Orso is my favorite. He's so real. Amazing chararcter. Also being able to root for him actually made this so much less grim dark for me. like who cares if scumbag bayaz is pulling most of the strings Orso is still the king and I want him to stay the king. I also have this (unfounded) belief that he can overthrow scumbag bayaz but we will see.

" I like my thinkers, clever and dead" - Joe Abercrombie 😂😂

Characters in other Fantasy books have adventures. Characters in Abercrombies books have PAINS.

The way Dan tosses books around is just... I'm not going to look.

Loved a little hatred, just can't help but think that all the characters efforts are hopeless when a certain Bank and a certain Magus are pulling strings.

(Sees Daniel toss the book) Me: THE SACRED TEXT!

Daniel: “Some of the bloodier First Law fans” Me: hello darling

As much as I like Savine, there are just so many great new characters in this trilogy who are also worthy successors to those who came before them. Clover feels like a natural progression from characters like Shivers or Logen Orso has many of his father's faults, but more steel to him and a kinder heart Rikke has taken the lessons of the Dogman, Shivers, and Isern to become one hell of a woman (she also has some of my favorite chapters, simply because they're written unlike anything I've ever read! Seriously, HOW did you not talk about those Daniel?!) Also, shoutout to Vick! I feel like while Savine may have been raised by Glokta, Vick is his successor. I really had a hard time putting down "The Trouble With Peace" because I just couldn't wait to see what happens next.

I'm waiting until they're all out so I can binge read the series without getting frustrated I have to wait like usual.

This review only made me even MORE excited for The Beautiful Machine (renamed to The Wisdom of Crowds), a.k.a the third book in the trilogy, because you know Abercrombie's building up to something. I loved the climax of Last Arguments of Kings, so I can not wait. And here's hoping for some more standalones to come after that!

Great to hear you have a very positive take on The Trouble With Peace! Character development, political intrigue -- sounds perfect. I agree with you about the quality of Best Served Cold, but also that The Age of Madness could very well take first place among Abercrombie's stories (I'm agreeing on the basis of having read A Little Hatred, and I can't wait to read The Trouble With Peace). As you say, his writing is actually getting better and better. Thanks for the review!

I mean, they’d find body floating by the docks, if you’d give it negative review... As, even Lord Grimdark said on your previous interview with him 😈

Im fine with less actions scenes, i always felt that there are too many in his books.

i watched a lot of your videos ages ago and not been back in a while (not for any reason in particular). On coming back you have 200k subs and you're interviewing Joe?! Wow. Nice work! I'm so excited to start this book today.

I hope Orso doesn't go TOO bad. I hope he keeps his morals. I'm also extremely interested to see how Leo turns out.

I've really liked every book I've read from Joe Abercrombie in the "First Law"-setting so far, and can't wait to get my hands on "The Trouble with Peace" too. I've found that I tend to enjoy character-driven stories more so than plot-driven ones, so his books are right up my alley!

Best character is Glokta? Wow big freaking shocker 😂

Hands down most MOST M O S T anticipated book of this year (sorry rhythm of war)

I can’t wait to read this also did you do something different with your desk you’re sitting at?

Starting the new book today and I am SO PUMPED! This world and its characters are so amazing and I cannot wait to see where all of this is going. Daniel, I'm putting the pieces together to begin writing my own series set in a Grim Dark fantasy world. I don't know how to reach out to you other than here but I was wondering if you would be interested as a proof reader when the time comes?

Weird, it seems a comment thread was deleted. Either by Daniel or from people reporting the post or maybe the author removed it, but I found the discussion to be very interesting. So to recap that, the author of the post was hesitant to get in to the series because the way things have been explained to him, the series is very political, which is true, but not in the way he was thinking. It's political because there's a lot of individual and faction politics, not because Joe Abercrombie is inserting his own politics in to the story. So to waylay anyone with similar concerns... The series is full of individual characters, all with their own personalities, opinions and politics. There is no "good" idealogy, nor "good" characters. You can sympathize with some and hate others, but at the end of the day, the person with the 'right' ideology doesn't win. Who wins, wins. Whether they're more cunning, have more materials to get the win, or simply get lucky. If you are afraid to go in to this because you think the author, Joe, is going to browbeat you on how to think, you have nothing to worry about.

Oof, I am envious of the arc in your hands! (I typed that as you yeeted it HAHAHA.) I've preordered the audiobook cos Steve Pacey is incredible. I love what you mentioned, that there's typically no protagonist or antagonist in the First Law books, that it's driven by people's goals and nobody is really "good". The fact that you reviewed this... you have my admiration. I don't know how to talk about A Little Hatred without talking around it and saying "pls read the prior First Law installments" haha.

I think Joe has managed to capture my ideal version of fantasy, which has steadily made him my favorite author. Extremely low, dark fantasy. Magic exists but is very rare, and little to no intelligent races other than humans. Especially that last part, I feel as if fantasy gets in to a habit of typecasting races, and then no other races can do that thing. Well, Dwarves are industrious and live underground and make mead, so nobody else can do that. Orcs are tribal and warlike, so nobody else can be. Elves are protectors of nature and like really shiny things. Of course I think we've seen a lot break out of that, but I find a fantasy story dealing with only humans makes things a lot more relatable. Not to say someone can't relate or sympathize with a dwarf, orc, or elf, but humans are portrayed as multifaceted. Some are industrious, some greedy, some evil, some warmongers, some truehearted. We know humans, we know how complicated and diverse we can be, how we never have just one defining trait as a people. Even in a series like Game of Thrones, which is very human focused, other intelligent races such as dragons, night walkers, children of the forest, and so on are one people acting as one thing with one goal in mind with little or no individuality.

I'm just bracing myself for that knife in the back that I take so personally, it messes with my whole week after reading it. When Threetrees got it, I cried. Seriously. When Clover betrayed Wonderful, my jaw fell open. I love and hate how Joe does this to me. Why do I let him?? But I come back for more each time. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Joe's minimalist magic achieves to make magic such a menacing background presence. Personally I feel that the story took one step back in order to accommodate for more characters than Best Served Cold had. I didn't count, just had that impression.

Thanks!! I'm finishing up the first First Law book of the first First Law trilogy this weekend :D

I've always needed to own the physical book to read it but a switch to night shift with a very long commute I hesitantly started using audible and boy am I glad I did! Joe Abercrombie is battling with Brandon Sanderson to be my favorite writer! They are both amazing. The nod for narrator 100% goes to Steven Pacey though. He is simply brilliant!

I always listen to the audiobook before reading it later on. I was instantly in love with the first law trilogy, I read the first trilogy and the standalones, upon release, I even bought them all on hardback, but after stumbling across the audiobook on RU-vid I fell in love with Steven Paceys performance instantly. I highly recommend the audiobook for anyone who has a busy life.

What cover is that? Is that like a special edition?

Actually bought A Little Hatred before ever reading the first law. Looked up some reviews, found your channel and a few others and the general consensus was read the first law books first. Loved the first law trilogy. Only negative I have thus far is a few of the characters didn’t have an ending to their arc that was satisfying to me personally. Haven’t started the age of madness yet as I’m finishing the faithful and the fallen currently. It’s definitely next in the tbr list though.

Joe Abercrombie is genius. How he wrote various social and political themes into this book was amazing. You should have given it a 9 out of 10

Hey there Daniel. How are you doing? I have never read/listened to any of his books yet, but I think once I get done with the Wheel of Time, I may give him a try. Unless I get distracted by Brandon Sanderson. I have not listened to the Stormlight Archive yet. I did want to let you know, that I have started also listening to the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt. I thought that would be a good Fall type book, and I am only 2 chapters in and do not want to put it down. I know that is a bit random, but I am a mood reader for sure.

Great job hosting the The Trouble with Peace virtual event today ! The interaction with Abercrombie and Stephen Pacey was a delight to watch. Would you consider interviewing audiobook narrators on your channel?

Yessss! Read the 2 preview chapters available and by far am most interested in Savines arc. My girl is all sorts of yayed out combined with desperate and ruthless. Yea. Give me this.

I'd be interested to see a review about Lev Grossmans Magicians trilogy, I love those books and think you'd have a good take on them.

Is the Livestream happening later today or tmrw?

The sweet Book Gods above smiled upon me as I got this book 2 weeks before the official release date thanks to the store where I pre-ordered it messed up and sent me my copy 2 weeks ago. It is pretty true that the old characters we know and love are pushed more to the back and the new characters take centre stage and discover that their old "relative" care-free lives are gone and enter a world of cruel realties and brutal responsibilities. I do admit that the book suffers a little bit from "middle book syndrome" at the 2/4 point and near the end the pacing goes a bit too slow and not much happening. One thing that really is good about this book is the various twists and reversals of fortune that Abercrombie does so well. Oh and how my favourite character in these new series turned into such a manipulative and merciless player in this conflict.

IMO Joe Abercrombie is getting BETTER. EVERY. SINGLE. BOOK. He is now a god tier author and may have overtaken Sanderson as the goat fantasy author imo.

Do you have a review out for Red Country? Can't find it

I loved all the POV characters, (Rikke, Clover, Orso and Savine are my favorites) but I can't ever see them topping Logen & Glokta.

I’ve begun to suspect that the Owl in the prophecy is Rikke.

Good interview on 'Geek's Guide to the Galaxy!' Didn't know you were a software developer in your previous life.

Just finished this last night. Thought it was incredible. My only tiny criticism would be that the previous wars with Ghurkul and the underlying war between the Magi felt somewhat absent. I was presuming it would be connected to the civil unrest and as such the way that plotline played out (i.e identity of the weaver etc) felt a little contrived. Otherwise, it's my second favourite (after best served cold).

I think I need to catch up on my Abercrombie, is the vibe I caught

Surprised you haven't done a reaction video to The Original teaser. It's coming out on Monday i believe.

Have you ever any of the Pendergast series by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child? I read all 19 books in about a year. Fantastic series and it's still going.

Whatever happened to Lord Marshal Mitterick and General Felnigg after The Heroes? We've got 2 new Lord Marshals that arent either of them. Did they die in Styria?

The ending of this book is brilliant.

I'm waiting for the whole trilogy to be out and it is literally killing me! 😅 A little Hatred is sitting on my bookshelf being like "REAAAAAD MEEE 😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱"

Will you ever review King's Dark Tidings? I recently read it and it took my "best book ever read" spot. I've read so many, granted none of the classics like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, etc. But from all those I HAVE read...phew

Best Served Cold is my favorite as well. With this Trilogy, I'm intrigued. I am having a hard time seeing where this is going, and how Bayaz fits into this. Who is pulling the strings? Where is Abercrombie headed with this story? Why is Jezal dead? How did he really die? It feels like He's keeping us intentionally in the dark with this one.

Please don’t say it’s up there with the best of the stand alones until you’ve actually read The Heroes and Red Country.

Can you tier list all of first law books? Please

Why isn't it called the second law trilogy?

He finally hit something I have hated recently. Modern authors seem to think unless they have 1000 pages they haven’t written a book. Older authors did the classics and very few of them crack 400 pages.

Looking forward to more of zuri in the third book.

I try to never leave negative comments on videos but something that really annoys me when watching your videos is the way you display your ratings on screen. It looks bad, you've been improving all the aspects of your videos consistently but the way you choose to visually depict your ratings is easily the one thing I wish you'd fix. They run together and I usually end up thinking of radio stations. 7.5/107.5/107.5/107.5/107.5/107.5/10 7.5/107.5/107.5/107.5/107.5/107.5/10 7.5/107.5/107.5/107.5/107.5/107.5/10 Spacing them out, or maybe alternate the colors of every other column would go a long way to fix this one very jarring aspect of your videos. As always, love your reviews Daniel! Keep being the best Booktuber out there!

So... I’ve been under the assumption that Thorn of Emberlain is supposed to drop on September 17, but I can’t find that confirmed by people related to the book. Is it coming out or no?

Just finished ALH last night, can't wait to pick up TTWP. First Law is just consistently great.

So cool to see your review after seeing your interview with the author.

When does the next book come out?

I wish he would hold that book steady for five seconds so I can read the cover. 🤣

Just finished this one. The characters in the first trilogy for me are still far more interesting, besides Orso none of the other pov characters really do it for me. I still like it, but I miss being in the mind of glokta and the bloody nine :(

Should I wait for the trilogy to be completed so I can get the omnibus or should I read it now? For reference, I never read Abercrombie's books but I'm willing to start.

Joe should hope to have the privilege of Steven Pacey reading his books until he decides to leave the First Law world behind. Steven has done 9 so far I think, and he is AMAZING. For all you paper boys, the audiobooks are excellent, give them a try if you can. If Joe were a god, Steven would surely be his prophet.

I just got done reading this book and it was fantastic!

Should I read The Heroes, Red Country and Sharp Ends before starting to read the new trilogy or that's not that important to Age of Madness? I've read the original one and Best Served Cold.

A Little Hatred was great. I didn't even know that the second book was out. Ordering it today!

ok how many times till you got that intro right?

Also any guesses on who the owl is going to be

What happend with Logen?where is he?

That shirt is amazing

Like do we gotta wait or do we find out what happens with logan 9 fingers?

Orso was also my favorite

I gotta get to the First First Law trilogy first.😁

I have no doubts that I’ll love this book and finish it in like 2 days

Can’t wait til Tuesday to get my copy.

Is that a Kvothe shirt? It looks epic :O I want one!

Still appreciate that you use a full 10 numbers on your ratings scale. Also commenting so your engagement numbers go up.

Love it, thanks for putting me onto Abercrombie.

Do people think you need to read the standalone novels before this series? I'm going to read them, but I am just finishing LOAK and really want to read A Little Hatred and this

Super late, but I feel like Savine got nerfed almost as bad as Tyrion in s8 of GOT. Trauma should have consequences, I suppose, but her father did much better with much greater trauma. Meh

I didn't like leo in the first book. I understood him (not hard he is simple as a brick). I just found him unsympathetic. He doesn't grow out of the unearned confidence and completely ignores Rikke after she saved him from certain death in the duel.

Read Red Country. SPOILER FOR FIRST LAW FANS You see Logen Ninefingers again as a major character and get closure to his arc. He is maybe my favourite First Law character.

Best served cold really hits every nail on the head. And represents the idea of Joe's grim dark perfectly. Good people being twisted into dark ones. Not bad but dark!

How can I get the cover you have? It looks awesome!

Hey, man. could you review Angus - The first warrior

Ahhh I’m so excited for this book now

Someday you'll convince me to try grimdark and finally read First Law.

I finally finished this book and now that I'm fully caffeinated, came back to watch this video. I agree with you for the most part. Here's what I recently posted in a reddit thread. What to say about this book without spoiling anything? First off, I think that Abercrombie has delivered a really great sequel to A LITTLE HATRED. He is known for his brilliant character work and rightly so. His characters are fully-fleshed out and nuanced and just oh so interesting to follow. You may not like them all but it’s hard to deny their appeal, even a bastard like Stour Nightfall or a weak-ass little bitch like Lord Isher. But, what’s great about Abercrombie is that as he’s progressed in his career as a writer, he has gotten considerably better at writing plot and because of that, the book had a really nice pace and flow to it. My favorite characters are Clover, Vick (she’s so interesting), Shenkt (definitely wish we had more of him; in fact, I’d love a standalone dedicated to him), and Rikke. Oh, and of course Savine dan Glokta. There were some loose ends that didn’t quite get tied up but I assume they will be in the final book in this trilogy. My only criticism I can think of is that Abercrombie isn’t really doing anything that we haven’t already seen him do before. Yes, he’s better at plot but the theme of “a person trying to do good in a shitty world” is still the main theme here. Or “these characters switch statuses” is a common one he uses as well. There’s nothing wrong with this; it’s just not breaking new ground. But maybe it doesn’t need to? I don’t know. Still a great book!

Nice throw and catch Daniel

I'm upset that the audiobook narrator changed the dialect of Casamir dan Shenkt's voice from Best Served Cold.

Must check it out .it sound like it makes people question.

When do we get spoiler full reviews on these? ;(

Lean, mean, Fantasy machines. 😎

I am so getting this.

I cannot wait for Steven Pacey to serenade me with his sweet, sweet narration in three days.

Daniel, how come you have the UK edition of the book?

Read Crimson Empire trilogy bruh. It builds on Joe Abercrombie's style in some amazing ways and is not just a copy paste Abercrombie knock off. BONUS: main protag is an old retired woman, which is not often done in epic fantasy.