Book Log 57/2009 - Storm Front

Jim Butcher – Storm Front I read this back in October but have only just got round to writing it up. Having watched the first (and only) series of the Harry Dresden (Dresden Files) TV show on DVD and having read many reviews from people who swore they preferred the books, I'm glad I saved the books for later because I both enjoyed the TV series and enjoyed the first book. This is an introduction to the wizarding world of Harry, but not a Potteresque Harry with a comfortable Hogwarts, but a slightly noir greasy-mac Harry on the streets of Chicago trying to earn a living as a paranormal investigator. It's a whodunnit with added brimstone. I'll probably look out for more Dresdens later – when my current reading pile had shrunk a little. Recommended.

Book Log 57/2009 - Storm Front

Jim Butcher – Storm Front I rad this back in October but have only just got round to writing it up. Having watched the first (and only) series of the Harry Dresden (Dresden Files) TV show on DVD and having read many reviews from people who swore they preferred the books, I'm glad I saved the books for later because I both enjoyed the TV series and enjoyed the first book. This is an introduction to the wizarding world of Harry, but not a Potteresque Harry with a comfortable Hogwarts, but a slightly noir greasy-mac Harry on the streets of Chicago trying to earn a living as a paranormal investigator. It's a whodunnit with added brimstone. I'll probably look out for more Dresdens later – when my current reading pile had shrunk a little. Recommended.

Book Log 58, 59, 60/2009 - The First Law Trilogy

Joe Abercrombie – The Blade Itself; Before They Are Hanged; Last Argument of Kings. (The First Law Trilogy)

Wow... just WOW! I make no excuses for this trilogy taking from mid October to Mid December to read because it's big, it's densely packed and it's fascinating with a broad sweeping plot, a cast of complex characters and cataclysmic action. Like life, it's not tidy, and like life nobody's perfect – even the heroes. In fact perfection is far from the state any of this bunch of assorted misfits achieve and there are no heroes, though at times people do heroic things. Yet at other times they run away.

So take a bunch of assorted people who barely know each other and like each other even less, and throw them together for great purposes. Then at the end of the day you have a bunch of cohesive comrades? Yes? Well, actually no. At the end of the day they may have achieved things, but they still hate each other as much as ever and don't like looking in the mirror much.

So – first things first – or maybe second. This isn't really a trilogy, it's one huge book split into three volumes. Don't think you could pick up book 2 or 3 without reading book one. How many pages? 422 + 570 + 695 (1600 give or take a few and the first one was a trade paperback so at a rough word count I'd say something like 250k per book).

How many main characters? Well Abercrombie adds a few as we get into each new book, but in the first book we have three, starting with Logen Ninefingers, the Bloody Nine, berserker barbarian. Logen is a humane, intelligent, uneducated warrior, rough as a badger's bum, who will kill his enemies at the drop of a hat, but in the heat of battle, when Ninefingers takes over, he'll kill anyone in his way – and that includes his friends, too.

Then there's Glokta, once the Golden Boy of the Union, master swordsman and brave colonel in the Union army, but a few years on the receiving end in the torture chambers of Gurkhul have changed him into a twisted cripple, living in constant pain, whose purpose in life is now to inflict pain on others in the name of the King's Inquisition. If you're guilty Glokta will make you confess. Actually if you're innocent he'll make you confess, too. With his latest swathe of victims he may well have unearthed major corruption at the highest levels of government, but if he exposes it, he's pretty sure that he'll be the next body found floating in the harbour.

Then  there's Jezal dan Luthar, the Union's current Golden Boy, but if this is the best the Union has, it might as well give up now when the barbarians in the north attack at the same time as Gurkhul in the south. Luthar can swing a sword a bit, and he turns a pretty leg in a uniform, but he's never seen real action and would probably sprint a mile in the opposite direction if he did.

As the books progress we get a series of additional characters unfolding which include control-freak Byaz, a master mage with a power complex and a determination to steer the Union to victory even if it kills everyone in the way – including the Union's own citizens. Ferro, carrying demon blood in her veins and a raging desire for vengeance over the Gurkhish which has consumed all she ever was or might be. The Dogman, left leading the Northmen's resistance in Logen's place against their new king who is bent on cutting the heart out of the Union and slapping down ant rebellion from his own people. Hard! Colonel West, honest soldier from common stock who has risen because of his talent, but he has a temper which will get him into trouble if he's not careful, especially with his sister, Ardee, a wilful, bored fish out of water, perpetually drunk and none too discrete with her favours

And this is all there is to save the Union. Can they do it? Maybe they can, but there's a price – a terrible price. Good deeds have horrible consequences. Quests come to nought. Sieges bravely defended are left to crumble for political expediency. The least trustworthy prove their resilience and the most trustworthy fail. Last minute rescues don’t exactly save anyone. The brave die; the undeserving survive.

To say this is a dark work is an understatement of the word dark, but it's not without its quirky twisted humour and its sympathetic characters, foremost amongst these being Glokta whose world-weary commentary exposes wry humour and a deep intelligence. Despite his job and his willingness to detach body-parts from innocent men with rusty pincers, he may be the most honest and honourable soul in the hierarchy of government – which may not be saying much, but it might have to be enough.

It's taken me two months to read 750,000 words of the 'First Law' trilogy, but it was worth it and I highly recommend it to anyone who's got a strong stomach. The Guardian quote says it's 'Delightfully twisted and evil,' and I reckon that's spot on the money.

Book Log 58, 59, 60/2009 - The First Law Trilogy

Joe Abercrombie – The Blade Itself; Before They Are Hanged; Last Argument of Kings. (The First Law Trilogy)

Wow... just WOW! I make no excuses for this trilogy taking from mid October to Mid December to read because it's big, it's densely packed and it's fascinating with a broad sweeping plot, a cast of complex characters and cataclysmic action. Like life, it's not tidy, and like life nobody's perfect – even the heroes. In fact perfection is far from the state any of this bunch of assorted misfits achieve and there are no heroes, though at times people do heroic things. Yet at other times they run away.

So take a bunch of assorted people who barely know each other and like each other even less, and throw them together for great purposes. Then at the end of the day you have a bunch of cohesive comrades? Yes? Well, actually no. At the end of the day they may have achieved things, but they still hate each other as much as ever and don't like looking in the mirror much.

So – first things first – or maybe second. This isn't really a trilogy, it's one huge book split into three volumes. Don't think you could pick up book 2 or 3 without reading book one. How many pages? 422 + 570 + 695 (1600 give or take a few and the first one was a trade paperback so at a rough word count I'd say something like 250k per book).

How many main characters? Well Abercrombie adds a few as we get into each new book, but in the first book we have three, starting with Logen Ninefingers, the Bloody Nine, berserker barbarian. Logen is a humane, intelligent, uneducated warrior, rough as a badger's bum, who will kill his enemies at the drop of a hat, but in the heat of battle, when Ninefingers takes over, he'll kill anyone in his way – and that includes his friends, too.

Then there's Glokta, once the Golden Boy of the Union, master swordsman and brave colonel in the Union army, but a few years on the receiving end in the torture chambers of Gurkhul have changed him into a twisted cripple, living in constant pain, whose purpose in life is now to inflict pain on others in the name of the King's Inquisition. If you're guilty Glokta will make you confess. Actually if you're innocent he'll make you confess, too. With his latest swathe of victims he may well have unearthed major corruption at the highest levels of government, but if he exposes it, he's pretty sure that he'll be the next body found floating in the harbour.

Then  there's Jezal dan Luthar, the Union's current Golden Boy, but if this is the best the Union has, it might as well give up now when the barbarians in the north attack at the same time as Gurkhul in the south. Luthar can swing a sword a bit, and he turns a pretty leg in a uniform, but he's never seen real action and would probably sprint a mile in the opposite direction if he did.

As the books progress we get a series of additional characters unfolding which include control-freak Byaz, a master mage with a power complex and a determination to steer the Union to victory even if it kills everyone in the way – including the Union's own citizens. Ferro, carrying demon blood in her veins and a raging desire for vengeance over the Gurkhish which has consumed all she ever was or might be. The Dogman, left leading the Northmen's resistance in Logen's place against their new king who is bent on cutting the heart out of the Union and slapping down ant rebellion from his own people. Hard! Colonel West, honest soldier from common stock who has risen because of his talent, but he has a temper which will get him into trouble if he's not careful, especially with his sister, Ardee, a wilful, bored fish out of water, perpetually drunk and none too discrete with her favours

And this is all there is to save the Union. Can they do it? Maybe they can, but there's a price – a terrible price. Good deeds have horrible consequences. Quests come to nought. Sieges bravely defended are left to crumble for political expediency. The least trustworthy prove their resilience and the most trustworthy fail. Last minute rescues don’t exactly save anyone. The brave die; the undeserving survive.

To say this is a dark work is an understatement of the word dark, but it's not without its quirky twisted humour and its sympathetic characters, foremost amongst these being Glokta whose world-weary commentary exposes wry humour and a deep intelligence. Despite his job and his willingness to detach body-parts from innocent men with rusty pincers, he may be the most honest and honourable soul in the hierarchy of government – which may not be saying much, but it might have to be enough.

It's taken me two months to read 750,000 words of the 'First Law' trilogy, but it was worth it and I highly recommend it to anyone who's got a strong stomach. The Guardian quote says it's 'Delightfully twisted and evil,' and I reckon that's spot on the money.