Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie

Blurb:

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...

Review:

“Body found floating by the docks...”

**This is the conclusion of a trilogy. Spoilers.**

Last Argument of Kings is a diabolically grim, bloody masterpiece of puppet governments, otherworldly mystics, and backstabbing carnage that leaves you craving more. The First Law is one of the best trilogies I have ever read. Hands down. Hard stop.

As I started Last Argument of Kings, I was nervous that Abercrombie wasn’t going to be able to bring it all together. I remember messaging one of my friends who had insisted that I put my entire TBR on hold and read The First Law, and asking her if I was going to be satisfied at the end of this book. There were just so many threads and I was nervous that it was going to take the full 9 books in the Circle of the World before I had any feeling of closure. She assured me that I was going to love the conclusion and she was 100% correct. There are still some questions I have, without a doubt, but Abercrombie wrapped up this first trilogy so well.

As with The Blade Itself and Before They Are Hanged, the characters carry this story. They’re unforgettable and so unique. And Abercrombie is BRUTAL with them. For me, this was the grimmest book of the series. And I love that Abercrombie didn’t pull any punches. 

“You can’t truly hate a man without loving him first and there’s always a trace of that love left over.”

For starters, Bayaz. First of the Magi. I’ll be honest, I had been suspicious of his motives from the beginning. But to find out that he’s the dark puppetmaster, orchestrating all the pain and suffering throughout this entire trilogy with his self-serving machinations surprised me. His fingers have been interwoven throughout each and every one of these characters, subtly squeezing the life out of everyone he contacts. As he shapes the Circle of the World to fit his own whims, he casually incites wars and genocidal levels of bloodshed without consideration of the small lives he ruins. He looms in the shadows as an ominous specter and he is not done with the people of the Circle of the World, even as Last Argument of Kings concludes. I can’t wait for what other mayhem he has in store.

Jezal, as one of the prime puppets of Bayaz, is elevated to the position of King of the Union. The trilogy ends with him blubbering on the ground, kissing Bayaz’s feet, swearing fealty to him. Despite all of his character’s growth throughout the trilogy—and I feel like he truly became a much more selfless person as he attempted to assume the mantal of the crown—he was still reduced to a pathetic cog in Bayaz’s grand schemes. There was no happy ending for Jezal. His attempts at improving himself and caring for the common person were not rewarded. He is a puppet king in a regime ruled by a rancorous, sinister magi from the Old Time.

“That’s the trouble with ambition. It’s easy to forget, when you’re always looking upwards, that the only way down from the dizzy heights is a long drop.”

I rarely make notes while reading, but I LOVED the reunion of Logen with his crew of Northmen so much, I wrote a sticky note to remind myself to mention how powerful the reuniting of the Northern brotherhood was. And then the Bloody Nine murders Tul Duru Thunderhead. Grim is slain in a pointless battle. Logen leaves the Dogman in Adua to try to negotiate with the Union. And the book ends with the Black Dow ambushing Logen in his throne room and attempting to murder him. So, yeah, the reunion was nice and then completely fell apart and everyone tried to kill each other in the end. As Logen says, “You have to be realistic about these things.”

I will say, the battle between Logen/Blood Nine and Fenris the Feared was epic and fantastic and had me pumping my fists the entire time. The way Abercrombie was able to keep the tension dialed up to 11/10 during that dual was masterful. 

Glokta. Sweet, disgusting Glokta. It is just so miserably fun to clatter around in his head as he asks himself, over and over, “Why do I do this?” He’s depraved and angry and brutal. But he has a soft heart as well. He marries Ardee in a desperate attempt to save her from death as she is with Jezal’s child. But almost in the same breath, he nails a person to a table to get his questions answered. There are few characters who have made me laugh out loud while reading their dark, internal monologue like Sand dan Glokta. For all the grim, terrible endings that most of the characters suffered, at the end of the day, Glokta finally defeated his greatest enemy: the stairs. While everyone else is thrust into a Hell of their or Bayaz’s creation, Glotkta’s office is now on the first floor. And I think that makes him happier than almost anything else in his slobbering, toothless life.

If you’re looking for a grim, gritty story that is strongly character driven that will leave you befuddled regarding who to root for or against, you have to pick up The First Law. I haven’t read anything like it. It’s truly a one-of-a-kind trilogy that rightfully deserves its place in the pantheon of grimdark fantasy. All hail, Lord Grimdark.

“It was better to do it, than to live in fear of it.”