Last Argument of Kings by Joe AbercrombieMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
The climatic last third of Joe Abercrombie's Last Argument of Kings, is a fantastic sequence that the reader cannot help but read in one sitting. After the first two book's of The First Law trilogy this confluence of events is exactly what the series deserved in it's final volume, however leading up to this literally climatic battle there was a congestion of happenings to begin the book that while not frustrating just took too long to get through that made the volume feel longer than it was. Abercrombie's characters lost none of their originality or well-roundedness throughout the book, however in a few instances they seemed to accept things or do things that seem literally out-of-character. Like that previous two volumes, Abercrombie seemed to telegraph basic fantasy tropes then paid them off in surprising and unexpected ways though as stated before some of them happened at the beginning of the book and felt longer to get through then seemed necessary once you finished the book. The ending of Last Argument of Kings is without a doubt a very thought provoking one, especially in the character of Bayaz who is the embodiment of the saying "history is written by the victors." Though I was a tad disappointed with the pace of the first 375 or so pages, the last 260 pages through are what makes The First Law Trilogy great and so if you've read the first two books, The Blade Itself and Before They Are Hanged, then you have to read this book to see how all the story arcs play out.
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