The First Law

Published works

Short stories

Abercrombie's short fiction works were collected in Sharp Ends: Stories from the World of the First Law (April 2016) and The Great Change (And Other Lies) (September 2023).

"Tough Times All Over" won a Locus Award, and "The Fool Jobs" and "Some Desperado" received nominations.

Book titles

The titles of the works derive from various sources, including real-world quotes or phrases, and in-world references.

The title of the original trilogy is a reference to a law put forth by the legendary half-Demon Euz from the series, which stated, "It is forbidden to touch the Other Side direct," the Other Side being the realm of Demons, from which magic power derives.

Setting

The First Law series is set in an epic fantasy world at war, on the verge of an Industrial Revolution. Long ago, the world was inhabited by both Demons and Humans. Then hundreds or thousands of years ago, in the Old Time, Euz, a legendary half-Demon, half-Human with great magical powers, banished the Demons from the world. Magic still exists, which relies on connections to the Other Side, where the Demons live. However, Euz left behind the First Law: "It is forbidden to touch the Other Side directly."

The Union contains the provinces of Angland, the Midderlands, Dagoska, Starikland and the city of Westport in Styria. It is a powerful kingdom reminiscent of Western and Central Europe, particularly the Holy Roman Empire.

The Gurkish Empire is a sprawling empire to the south of the Union, similar to the large Middle-Eastern empires of antiquity.

The North is referred to as such not only by The Union (for whom it really is to the north) but also by those who live there, who refer to themselves as Northmen.

Styria is a large island continent to the east of the Union containing multiple warring city states and factions.

The Old Empire is a former world power to the west of the Union, now reduced to a patchwork of squabbling warlords all vying for the throne.

Far Country is a near lawless frontier region to the north of the Old Empire and west of Starikland province.

The books of the trilogy do not contain maps, as Abercrombie prefers not to use them. However, the three stand-alone novels do contain their own local maps and a World map was finally produced in full on the cover of the Sharp Ends short story collection.

Plot overview

The First Law

The plot of the original trilogy involves three major powers: The Union, the Gurkish Empire, and the North, recently united under King Bethod.

There are two major theaters of war. The first takes place in the north between the Union and the Northmen, who invade the Union's northern province of Angland. The second is in the south between the Union and the Gurkish Empire, who attempt to annex the Union city of Dagoska. The trilogy centers on the fortunes of a variety of characters as they navigate through these and other conflicts. The trilogy follows the stories of six point-of-view characters, whose paths often intersect.

The first book introduces the three main characters of the trilogy and three secondary ones. Logen Ninefingers is a warrior who earned a fearsome reputation helping to bring Bethod to power in the North, but has since fallen out with him. Logen and his small crew of friends flee after being attacked by Shanka creatures. Logen is separated from his crew, and sets off on his own path. He meets Bayaz, a powerful centuries-old Magus, who enlists Logen's help in accompanying him to Adua. Sand dan Glokta leads an Inquisition investigation into a bribery case, which leads to him uncovering a wider corruption among the merchants. His superiors divert him into investigating Bayaz. Jezal, a vain young nobleman who has become a Union army officer due to his connections, trains for a prestigious swordfighting tournament. He falls in love with Ardee, the sister of his friend and superior Major Collem West, and wins the tournament with help from Bayaz. At a celebration banquet, Bayaz is challenged to prove who he is by entering the House of the Maker. The main characters of the book converge in accompanying Bayaz into the building. Bayaz retrieves an artifact and announces his plan to retrieve the Seed, a powerful magical artifact that can help him take on Khalul and the Gurkish Empire. The book also follows the journey of Logen's companions, led by Dogman, to warn Bethod about the Shanka, and Ferro, a mysterious escaped Gurkish slave, with some useful hidden powers, who travels with another Magus to find Bayaz. West is recruited to the Lord Marshall's personal staff, in preparation of the army moving out to defend Angland.

The book follows three distinct sets of characters as war breaks out on two fronts. In the south, Sand dan Glokta and his inquisitors attempt to repel a Gurkish invasion of the city of Dagoska, the Union's sole possession on the continent, won some decades earlier at great cost. In the North, the book follows Colonel West and the Northmen as they attempt to deal with Bethod, who intends to force the Union out of Angland, their principal northern possession. Finally, the book follows Logen, Ferro, and Jezal as they journey into the far west of their world with the sorcerer Bayaz, First of the Magi, seeking out a powerful and dangerous ancient artifact known as the Seed. The book makes it explicit that all these events are interconnected and part of the greater machinations of a sorcerer called Khalul, Second of the Magi and one of Bayaz's enemies. Khalul has raised a great army of slaves and Eaters (cannibalistic transformed humanoids with enhanced durability and magical abilities), and has indirectly given Bethod an alliance with the Flatheads, orc-like creatures created as weapons in an ancient war, as well as a man known as the Feared, who is supernaturally all but immune to damage. The story ends on a low note for all groups involved: Dagoska is lost to the Gurkish; an intrigue sees both heirs to the throne killed and an innocent man is blamed for political reasons; the quest for the Seed is an abject failure; and Bethod remains at large in the North; Ferro and Logen's burgeoning relationship ends abruptly as both are incapable of making it last.

Standalone books

The three standalone books are set in the same world as the trilogy. Some of the major characters are minor characters from the original trilogy while several major characters from the trilogy sometimes also appear in smaller roles, cameos or are mentioned in passing.

This set of novels is sometimes marketed under the name World of the First Law, and has also been released as a combined, omnibus volume with the title The Great Leveller.

The first of three stand-alone books following the original trilogy, this book follows mercenary Monzcarro “Monza” Murcatto on her quest for revenge after a deadly betrayal. The book introduces new characters from the world of the First Law and features multiple known characters from the original trilogy, including Caul Shivers, Shylo Vitari and Nicomo Cosca.

Monza Murcatto is a mercenary commander in the services of the Grand Duke Orso, previously mentioned in Last Argument of Kings as the father-in-law to the King of the Union, Jezal dan Luthar. After another successful battle to unite Styria under the rule of Orso, Monza and her brother Benna, who is also her second-in-command, are summoned to the palace of the Grand Duke in Talins. There she has to witness the murder of her brother at the hands of the Grand Duke and his men who suspect the siblings of planning to overthrow Orso. She herself is severely injured and thrown off the balcony to fall down the side of a mountain but miraculously survives.

The rest of the book is divided into seven parts, one for each person involved in her brother’s murder. These are Gobba, the Grand Duke’s bodyguard, Mauthis, a representative of the banking clan Valint and Balk, General Ganmark, leader of Orso’s army, a senior captain of Monza’s mercenary company named Faithful Carpi, the Grand Duke himself and his two sons, Prince Ario and Count Foscar. Each part opens with a short episode from Monza’s past detailing her and her brother’s way from children on a farm to leaders of the mercenary company in Grand Duke Orso’s service.

In the first part, Monza is found barely alive by a mysterious stranger. He performs various surgical procedures on her to mend her many fractures and wounds. For the pain he gives her a smoke pipe with a highly addictive substance called husk which she becomes more and more addicted to over the course of the book. After regaining her strength, she escapes the stranger’s hut and seeks out a hideout that she and Benna had prepared. With the weapons and money stored there she returns to Talins to start her quest for revenge. She enlists the help of Caul Shivers, a Northman who just recently arrived in Styria to become a better person, and an ex-convict called Friendly. Together they abduct and kill Gobba.

The Age of Madness

The Age of Madness takes place 15 years after the end of Red Country. The Union has begun to see rapid changes with the onset of an industrial revolution.

Takes place 15 years after the end of Red Country. The Union has entered early industrial age, and the North is invading Angland again. New characters are introduced, crown prince Orso (son of King Jezal and Queen Terez) and Savine dan Glokta (daughter of Sand dan Glokta and Ardee West). Angland is inherited to Leo dan Brock, the young and reckless son of Finree dan Brock and her late husband, and in the protectorate of Uffrith, Dogman's daughter Rikke has the Long Eye, the ability (or curse) to see the future. There is public discontent in the Union, aimed against the Banks and social structures, led by factions called the Burners and the Breakers. In the South there is a rumour that the prophet Khalul has been killed by a demon, and there is a civil war.

In the north, Stour Nightfall, son of Black Calder and nephew to King Scale Ironhand, leads the invasion of Uffrith and Angland.

King Jezal dies and is succeeded by crown prince Orso, with whom Savine had an affair, which she broke after finding out he was her half brother. After marrying to Leo dan Brock, the couple starts to plot rebellion against the crown, with the help of the North, which fails nevertheless. Rikke regains control of her Long Eye, and in the mist of Northern attack on Adua, she betrays Leo and claims the North.

Leo is saved from the hanging by Savine's confession to Orso that they found out they were siblings, and even though Leo's rebellion failed, a new one is ready to succeed, armed with Angland's weapons.

Revolution is swift and new change is taking place in the Union. The first ones to go are the banks of Master Bayaz. Savine dan Glokta manages to became popular hero and mother of the nation, after her fight with rebel leaders, and her husband manages to gather enough forces to take over the government. After finding out that Savine and king Orso are related, he manages to throw off king, and proclaim his new born son (Savine had twins) as new one. Ex king Orso is hanged, which causes further tensions between him and his wife. New order is being established. At the North Rikke manages to beat Calder and becomes undisputed ruler of the North.

The Great Change (And Other Lies)

A collection of 4 short stories going through industries as they evolved within the Union's equivalent of an industrial revolution.

“The Thread” literally follows the thread, from the ex-slaves working in the fields of Gurkhul, through the mills of Adua and the overworked seamstresses, to a dress that’s just not quite good enough for that infamously fastidious leader of fashion Lady Savine dan Glokta. “The Stone” follows one exceptional rock from the rivers of the parched south through the smugglers, spivs, merchants, and jewellers of the burgeoning diamond trade each taking their cut, and ends with the stone that so many have sweated, schemed and haggled over being not quite good enough for the King of the Union’s new crown. “The Point,” meanwhile, digs iron from the penal mines of Angland, forges that iron into a dagger, and the dagger, by a circuitous route, finds its way into the hands of a certain member of the Burners and...well, you’ll get the point. “The Great Change” is something slightly different—again it is a chain of varied points of view, but it follows not an industry, but an idea—the idea of that grand revolution, that blow for the common man, that effort to sweep the past away wholesale—the Great Change itself.

Major characters

Logen Ninefingers, infamous barbarian warrior of the North named for his missing finger. Nicknamed the "Bloody-Nine" after losing a finger in battle during a berserker-rage, he strives to turn from the path of senseless violence he has followed for so long.

Sand dan Glokta, a dashing young swordsman before his capture and years of torture by the Gurkish. Now crippled, he has become a torturer himself in the Union's Inquisition.

Jezal dan Luthar, a self-centred, immature nobleman and swordsman training reluctantly for the greatest tournament in the nation.

Bayaz, First of the Magi, a wizard from an older time, his magical skill is only outstripped by his political savvy.

Collem West, a common born officer of the Union army. Intelligent and diligent but quick to anger and worried for his younger sister.

Dogman, a loyal member of Logen's band, a skilled scout with sharpened teeth and an incredible sense of smell.

Ferro Maljinn, an escaped slave from the south who puts her thirst for revenge over all else. She is part devil.

Other characters

Magi

Khalul, a Magus who is the religious leader of Gurkhul, he has created an army of Eaters and is Bayaz's bitter enemy.

Malacus Quai, Bayaz's apprentice who grows disillusioned with his master.

Yoru Sulfur, an odd man with Heterochromia iridum, he was Bayaz’s old apprentice. It is later revealed that he is an Eater, although he is still loyal to Bayaz.

Northmen

Bethod, a charismatic and ruthless leader. An excellent military tactician who intends to conquer Angland after he has defeated almost every clan in the North. He is Logen's bitter enemy after he betrayed him and his band of men. He has two nasty sons, Calder and Scale.

Black Dow, a sharp-tongued member of Logen's band who is famed for his ruthlessness.

Caul Shivers, an amicable Northman who carries a bitter need for vengeance.

Jonas Clover, once known as Jonas Steepfield and reckoned a famous warrior in The North, he is now renowned as a sardonic do-nothing.

Reception

The Blade Itself was released to positive reviews. Writing for The Guardian, author Jon Courtenay Grimwood said, "for once, the novel comes close to living up to its publisher's hype", and Strange Horizons's Siobhan Carroll said that "fans of character-driven epics who are willing to take their heroes with a grain of moral ambiguity should add this novel to their 'must read' list."

Reviews for Before They Are Hanged were also positive; Fantasy Book Review stated that it was "hard not to try and read it in one sitting" and that it "does not disappoint".

Best Fantasy Reviews said it was "an excellent book, and accomplishes a fairly rare feat – the middle book of a trilogy that does a hell of a lot more than provide a stop gap between the beginning and the end."

Last Argument of Kings was well received by critics, with Publishers Weekly saying that "readers will mourn the end of this vivid story arc." SFX's David Bradley gave the book a five star review and stated that Abercrombie "signs off the trilogy on a high, interspersing breathless skirmishes with thriller-like moments."

Eric Brown reviewed Red Country for The Guardian and said that Abercrombie was "tipping his hat to the Western genre but continuing his mission to drag fantasy, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century with his characteristic mix of gritty realism, complex characterisation, set-piece scenes of stomach-churning violence and villains who are as fully rounded as his flawed heroes" and concluded that the book was "a marvellous follow-up to his highly praised The Heroes."