You have be realistic about these things.

If you like happy endings where the hero gets the girl or the hobbit returns home to sit by the fire then you need to look elsewhere. However, if you have enjoyed the first two books of this trilogy then chances are you aren't looking for those kind of endings anyway. If you are wavering on reading book 3 because of the darkness of the first two then be warned that it only gets worse. It is likely something bad will happen to whatever character you are rooting for.

Abercrombie is ruthless in the way he resolves his story arc and no character gets through unscathed. You will have to take comfort in the fact that you do get a full reveal of what's been going on behind the scenes from the beginning because you will find little comfort in what actually happens. Things go from bad to worse for most of the characters and even those who win big in the end are actually losers. The big reveal didn’t make all the pieces fit together perfectly for me, but I am going with 5 stars anyway because I totally enjoyed the series and I wasn’t left guessing.

When I step back and think about the series and the characters I still wonder why I like it. Each of the main characters has a dark side and does some truly evil things, female characters are treated pretty poorly by the author, and the world itself is pretty bleak and almost without hope. Then I think upon Steven Pacey’s reading and I wonder no longer. I enjoy almost every character in the series and it is simply because of the way Pacey reads them. They feel like old friends that I trust and therefore I am willing to look the other way when they do something I despise. I have listened to a lot of audio books and I would now list Steven Pacey as one of my favorite narrators.

So if you liked the first 2 books, bust out your antidepressants and get ready for more of the same. Although the ending does leave things open-ended enough for a continuation of the series, I am quite satisfied with the way all of the threads came together and don’t feel like I was left hanging. After all, you have to be realistic about these things.

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Ending (light spoilers)

First, let me say I'm an avid reader of negative reviews. I want to find out what people don't like about a book when I bother to find out anything at all beforehand. That having been said, most of the bad reviews of this brilliantly written and performed series are aimed directly at the ending Mr. Abercrombie gave us. And I must point out to anyone who might read my glowing review that we are warned a couple of times in this book that it's not going to be pretty. But that's the point of the whole thing, at least to my mind. Ardee says "No one gets what they deserve," or something close thereto, and that sums up the whole thing.

I guess my point is that anybody that's looking for a fairy-tale ending should probably read a fairy-tale and leave off the grown-up fantasy. They'll just be disappointed.

I also particularly enjoyed the very end. (BEGIN SPOILERS) I think dropping the Bloody Nine off a cliff into a river and leaving it there is an awesome way to come full circle and let the reader's mind fill in what happens next. I can just see him washing up somewhere--"Still alive..."--and charging into another several months of butchery to pay back Black Dow. Or maybe he'll head south and find Ferro. It's up to me and which aspect of Logen I want to root for how it all turns out. I'm thankful for that.

In all, a superb work of fantasy by one of my new favorite authors. Thanks Joe.

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Great Trilogy; No Ending to Speak of...

This third installment of The First Law trilogy is great. Loved it until the end. At that point, I was checking my iPhone to see if it somehow stopped playing before the end of the file. There was no ending... or, if that was the intended ending, it didn't do anything for me. I was literally thinking that I may have gotten a faulty download because it just seems to stop in mid-narration without ever gaining closure on the active storylines.

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Love the series, but......

Joe loves to stick it to his characters. Series leaves you with "Well..there must be another coming...there just has to be." But there is not. One of the other books mentions some of the characters and his latest book apparently mentions Black Dow, but in general you come out of this series feeling like you've been punched in the stomach. While I loved the books I don't think I'll be reading anything else of his.

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Dark, nasty, and very satisfying story

I'll start by saying you shouldn't read this book unless you've read the first two in the series or you'll probably find the characters confusing... and if you found either of those first two to be gory, mature, or violent, this one is as bad, perhaps worse.

I really shouldn't like Glokta as much as I do. Really. And, I have to admit that from the very start of this book, I wanted his life to work out for him... even while knowing it would be completely inappropriate if it did, but still...

This is a nasty little book... nasty nasty... and a fantastic wrap up of the trilogy. Everyone is neatly squared away at the end (yeah, okay, not so neatly in some cases, but anyway.) Some horrible twists, some intriguing plot turns...

Lots of blood and death and gore and a lot of time spent inside Glokta's head (which I quite liked)... and most of the characters did not come away with a "happy ending" even if the over-arching story did... sorta...

I thoroughly enjoyed this series (even with its length) and particularly liked how "right" and "wrong" were sort of up in the air a lot of the time... the author didn't try to tell us what the moral should be, or if there are even supposed to be any morals. And if you don't like that, you can suck on your sour toothless gums.

The narration is excellent. Each character is distinctly voiced.

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Last Argument of Kings

I thouroughly enjoyed the Narrator and was entirely enthralled throughout the series. Yet, could this be it? I fear that the ending left me with a sinking feeling. The story book fairy tail that I envisioned never came true, nor did I feel a sense of closure. Even so, it has been a most enjoyable experience. Highly recommended!!

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Engrossing, but a disappointing ending

If you could sum up Last Argument of Kings in three words, what would they be?

A bit unsatisfying

Would you recommend Last Argument of Kings to your friends? Why or why not?

If would probably recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the fantasy genre. It is well-written - great characters, good foreshadowing, excellent plot twists - but I would be more likely to recommend it as an audiobook than as a novel to read. The battles in the book would have gotten quite tedious for me if I were reading, but I think I could enjoy Pacey reading the phone book to me. He is amazing.

Have you listened to any of Steven Pacey’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I've only heard Steven Pacey on the 3 First Law novels, but he's got to be one of the best and I will look for other books he narrates.

Any additional comments?

Pacey is perfection and the novel is well-written. However, I found the ending disappointing. Abercrombie wrote the First Law series as 3 books although none stands alone. And, then this last one leaves you hanging. That seems a bit unfair and sort of manipulative on the author's part. If I have spent the time and money to go through three entire books which constitute the whole series and some of the central characters are left hanging still...not quite right if you ask me.

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Well read. Disappointing Ending

I commend Pacey for his voice characterizations. They are distinct and creative and obviously require a nimble tongue and imagination. This fits well with a character-driven novel.

As to the story, my assessment is quite mixed. I understand that a lot of the appeal of this series is that it is dark and isn't concerned with the white night slaying the dragon and getting the girl. I appreciate the departure from the regular Joseph Campbellesque heroic fantasy architecture.

This story relies heavily on character development and interaction. The plot is a solid fantasy story, not sweeping or epic, but solid. It is the characters that really draw you in. They are sympathetic and very human (also, once again, at least a partial credit to Pacey for voicing them so well). The characters are what really engage you about the story. This alone is not a problem, but when you finish the book and take stock of where the characters are and what they are doing, you realize that it is like nothing happened. They spent three books going on an adventure of a lifetime, being forced to work together under strenuous conditions, to grow together, only to renounce all they had learned and regress to square one.

Logan begins a hated and feared monster. He discovers his second chance only to let it go and become the hated and feared monster once again. Jezal goes from self-centered jerk to budding altruist, back to egotist. Ferro goes from zealously chasing her revenge, living like a sub-human, to discovering true kindness and genuine human relations, but throws it away to chase revenge again. Glokta goes from being a self-loathing tool of a vain, powerful master, and for all his discovery of true friendship despite his deformity (and genuine loathsomeness), ends up being a self-loathing tool of a vain, powerful master. Even Bayaz, for all that his actions are challenged and appeals are made to his humanity and sense of honor, simply resets the clock to zero.

The characters learn nothing. It's like watching a child grow to adolescence then age backwards to childhood again. And I understand the critique, that often in real life, people fail to learn thus making the characters more human. How true. But I would respond to this in two ways. First, even in real life, not all the characters experience the exact same positive and then negative growth. Second, If I were looking for real life, I'd pick up a newspaper. If I were looking for believable, I wouldn't be reading fantasy.

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What's wrong with the ending? NOTHING...

What made the experience of listening to Last Argument of Kings the most enjoyable?

Joe has written one of the darkest fantasy stories I've read to date... the world is gritty and dark... its characters are gritty and dark... and the story is more of the same. It was fairly typical of modern storytelling (which cost him a star) but the characters were brilliant (which will likely have me listening again).

What did you like best about this story?

GREAT characters, deep (though not particularly subtle) and photo-realistically communicated. Joe took the typical fantasy archetypes and added another dimension to each of them... asking the question 'what would a REAL barbarian hero, or noble brat, or centuries old conjurer act (and THINK) like?'

What about Steven Pacey’s performance did you like?

Great character separation, delivered solid performances on some challenging 'damaged' characters. A great voice performance doesn't draw attention to itself... and this was a great performance.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

'Say one thing about Joe Abercrombie, say he's got a few things he could teach George RR Martin about dark fantasy'

Any additional comments?

Don't listen to the 'ending critics'. The book ended perfectly fine. After reading the reviews I was expecting some horrible open ending (like HBO ends every series they've ever made)... and Joe ties this up as neatly and cleanly as this story demands (nearly as good as it could be). Of course this story demands a messy ending, so don't blame Joe for delivering... but all the primary plotlines are properly concluded, so have no fear and buy the series.

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Say one thing for Joe, say he falls at the finish!

I'm surprised there are not support groups for people to cope with the horrible ending to this fascinating series. I can only assume that either the author suffered a psychological break just prior to writing the end, or he rushed the ending just to be done with the thing. Don't get me wrong, the writing (and reading) was excellent. The ending... oh my. The author closes up shop on this series by simmering everyone in a large vat of their own weaknesses. There is little to no closure. He inspires me to write, and I don't mean that as a compliment. If you ignore this review and decide to listen anyway, rush out and get anything written by Brandon Sanderson or Richard Morgan immediately after the "end" of this book. It will be chicken soup for the fantasy-genre soul. Say one thing for me, say I'll never read Abercrombie again.

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