 Hey guys, it's Leanna and I'm here today to talk about the first law reading order. So this isn't a video that I ever planned to do ever. It didn't occur to me to be a video that people would, it didn't, I didn't think this was a video, but hang on, hang on, hang on, this is a big ol' stack. But yeah, so I get this question so much in like personally, like people DMing me, people on Instagram commenting on posts that are related to this book, or asking me when I'm commenting on their post, like if it's one of those posts where there's like, you know, what's your favorite grimdark author or something, and I'll be like, oh, Abercrombie, and they'll be like, oh, what book should you start with? So like that and then like in comments on my videos on YouTube. And it's just a question I get a lot. And I have had to have conversations a lot with people about what order you should read the first law books in. And with the upcoming release of The Trouble with Peace, which is the second book in the Age of Madness trilogy, which is Abercrombie's new trilogy, which also takes place in the world of the first law. I've gotten even more questions since he started this new trilogy of like, okay, just generally, where should you start? And then can you start with a new one? Or like, what did you do? And so here we are in future, I guess I'll just point people to this video instead of every single time explaining what I think is the reading order. What I'm going to offer you today is what I what in my opinion is the best reading order, the ideal reading order, the one that I would most recommend. And then I will also offer you two alternative reading orders that I don't think are as good, but are like, fine. But you don't want to go with my preferred reading order. Those other two are like, viable. But I would not recommend that over my preferred reading order. So here we go. We're going to start with my preferred reading order so that I can then tell you why the second two are not as good as if that makes sense. Okay, cool. In my opinion, the reading order that you should absolutely abide by, if possible. And I don't know why it wouldn't be possible because it's entirely up to you. But in my opinion, the ideal reading order is the order of publication. Now, I wouldn't say that that is necessarily always true for all book series that publication order is the best reading order. So it's not like I'm automatically saying that just because it's always the preferred reading order. I think often it is because that's the order in which the author came to the material. And obviously the author intended things to go that way because that's the order in which it was published. There are, again, exceptions to that. I can't think of any, but it's not like I would not consider. Actually, Narnia is debatable, but I'm not an expert on Narnia by any stretch. So I don't know. Or Lord of the Rings, because Hobbit came first. So do you need to read Hobbit first? Like, I don't think so. But anyway, we're not here to talk about that. My point in that is simply that I'm saying the publishing order, publishing order, published order, whatever the fuck. I'm saying that the order in which they were published in the case of the first law is also, in my opinion, the ideal reading order. Not simply because that's the order in which they were published, but because I think that is the best reading order. So first we'll go through what that order is really quick so that you have it. And then I'll tell you why I think that's the best reading order. So if you're going to go by this reading order, you'd start with the first law trilogy, which begins with the blade itself. That's like, I'm pretty sure you'll have a commies debut novel, but it's the beginning of the first law in terms of publication and chronology. The blade itself, before they're hanged, the last argument of kings. Now, the trilogy is a self-contained trilogy. There's obviously, there's threads enough for him to have written more material. So I feel like that's true of most fully fleshed out worlds in series, because not every single possible character has completely fleshed out their arc, not every single character. I mean, basically, everybody would have to be dead in the world, have to be over for it to be an entirely conclusive arc. But this is a self-contained arc. So you could start and end with the first law trilogy and not read anything else. Why would? Because that would probably be great. But this is a contained trilogy. The other books in the series, it isn't like The Wheel of Time, which is multiple books in one contiguous series. The first law trilogy is a trilogy. And then after that, there are stand-alones, and there is a series of short stories, and now there's a new trilogy that is also in the world of the first law. I think you should start with the trilogy. This is the first thing that he published. This is a contained story. This introduces you to the world. This introduces you to all of the main characters, the main power centers, the magic system. It's not a series that's heavy on a magic system at all. It's not really focused on that so much. But there is a magic system, and your introduction to what that magic is, what the sides are, how it works, is in the first law. It gets touched on again in other books, but this is where it gets explained. And yeah, this basically introduces you to the world of the first law, both in terms of the characters and in terms of the world and its magic and politics. This is your intro. I don't know why you wouldn't start there. So this is where I recommend you start. And then the stand-alounds are stand-alounds. So I guess in theory you could read them in any order, but the published order, or the order in which they were published, Besser of Cold, The Heroes, and Red Country. So to continue our reading order stack, if you finish to the trilogy, oh god, this is going to be so hard. If you finish the trilogy, then you go to Besser of Cold, then the heroes, and then Red Country. Now with the stand-alounds, why do I still think that you need to read them in the published order, or the publish in the order in which they were published? Well, for one, Besser of Cold happens chronologically because these are taking place, even though their stand-alounds are taking chronologically, they're taking place chronologically after each other, even though they affect different characters in different parts of the world. So chronologically after the first law trilogy ends, the next thing to occur in this world is Besser of Cold. And so even though you follow different characters in the other stand-alounds, the world is affected by what has occurred here. So in order for it to be clear in your mind where all the pieces are on the game board of the world, so to speak, these events affect each other in that way. So the events of Besser of Cold affect the world power map. The heroes affect the world power map. Red Country less though, but Red Country is a better tie-in and a better jumping off point to now be entering into his new trilogy. So Red Country is, because it's chronologically the nearest to the new trilogy, it is also in terms of where the world is, is a better jumping off point for sort of where we've left things and where we have progressed things to to be able to now jump into his new trilogy. But before you jump into the new trilogy, you need to reach Sharp Ends. So to complete the stack, you've got the trilogy, the stand-alounds, and then Sharp Ends on the bottom. And Sharp Ends is a series of short stories that take place in the world of the first law. Now the short stories don't take place necessarily chronologically after everything else. They're all over the place. But I think you need to read them last because they are touching on pieces of the world that you have now come to discover through the trilogy and through the stand-alounds and having read all of that. Now the short stories are going to be either characters that you saw before, characters in a different age from what you saw, characters that were affected by something that you saw. So like these are all pieces that you only recognize and they're only relevant to you in the scheme of the world because you've read the trilogy and because you've read the stand-alounds. So you can read the short stories like right after reading the trilogy I suppose, but to have the full context and to place in your mind who these people are and where this is happening and to get the full enjoyment and context for each story you have to have read everything that came before it. And then when you have read all of that, then you can pick up A Little Hatred and as soon as it is published, The Trouble with Peace, which is those are the first two books in the new trilogy, The Age of Madness, which is still taking place in the world of the first law. A Little Hatred kicks off around, I believe, it's around 30 years after the events of the first law trilogy. Give or take, it's around 30 years. Again, Red Country is chronologically the nearest to A Little Hatred and A Little Hatred, which if you've seen my review for this book, I have a whole separate review just for this book, this new trilogy has pushed the world of the first law into a more industrial age. So it's less medieval magic and battles and more machines and populism, which I think is genius and I love it that a world has modernized and evolved as opposed to just arbitrarily becoming stagnant in a medieval setting, which so many fantasies are, which there's reasons for that. I could have a whole video about that, I suppose, but this has progressed the world. And because what happens between the first law trilogy and in throughout the stand-alones, and then by the time you get to here, that jump isn't jump anymore. It's not like you went from medieval-ish, kind of Machiavellian Europe to suddenly industrial revolution. It's not this arbitrary and wide chasm to leap over to suddenly fast-forward to this new age because there is a progression in terms of what has been going on in politics and the economy and in people's attitudes towards politics and towards other countries and towards magic. It's not been the focal point, but in the background of the other books, you've seen this shift beginning to take place in the world. So by the time you get to a little hatred, you're not like, I guess shit's industrial now. No, it's moved up a little bit further, even in that red country, but you've been taken along this ride. So it's not like you just fell asleep for 30 years and woke up and were like, shit, the world has changed. You've seen it begin to change. It seems natural for it to have progressed to this point. So again, I've kind of already explained as I went. I think the publication order makes the most sense because the first law trilogy introduces you to the world. Each of the stand-alones in its way expands that world and expands your understanding of the politics and the players and expands the map and expands your cast of characters that you're familiar with. The short stories draw on what you've read in all of those books, and then the new trilogy has now been the culmination of all of those things, and now we've fully entered this new industrial age. So it makes the most sense as a reader to experience it linearly like that. So if you're going to ask for the, what is the best order in which to read these, in my opinion, that is the best order in which to read these. However, committing to a trilogy is a bigger commitment. So alternatively, the second best reading order that I can recommend, and this is, again, not my preferred, but my second best, if you can't stand the idea of committing to a trilogy right to start with, would be to start with Besserft Cold. Besserft Cold is a self-contained revenge story that takes place in the world of the first law. Now, a lot of the nuance of the character dynamics and character relationships will be lost on you if you haven't read the first law trilogy. That said, you can understand the action. None of the characters in it were really main characters from the trilogy. A few of them were people that were mentioned. The places they're in are places that were mentioned. A lot of the incidental people, figures of power, things they're interacting with, you would be familiar with if you've read the trilogy. However, it is possible to understand how it's going on to follow the story and to become invested in the story if you pick up Besserft Cold as your first foray into the world of the first law. Again, not my favorite, not my ideal, but if you want to get a taste of Joe Abercrombie. I think Besserft Cold is a really good place to start for that. If you want one standalone book that will give you a taste for his writing style, that'll give you a taste for what his grimdark is like, for what his humor is like, for what the world of the first law is like. If you won't really understand the world itself because you haven't read the trilogy, but you'll get a sense for what it's like, if that makes sense. And so then I would say, if you read Besserft Cold and you like it, then go back, read the trilogy, then read the heroes and read the country and follow the rest of the reading order. So basically I'm saying, follow my original preferred reading order, but instead of Besserft Cold being fourth, you move that up to first and then continue the rest of the reading order the same. Not my preferred. But if you want a sample of Abercrombie before committing, this is the one that I would pick because I think it's the best example of what his style is like in general. Because the heroes is very particular and a very unique kind of project that you have to have already become involved in the world of the first law and been committed to his writing style and wanted to see what else he can do to be interested in the heroes. To start there is not a good idea and read country is kind of his own thing. Again, it's like his take on a Western, which is kind of this offshoot thing where you've seen all of this other first law stuff and he's like, what if I kind of did a Western? With that. So it's not a good example of what the rest of it's going to be like because the rest of it is not a Western. This is still taking place pretty near to where the first law trilogy takes place and where the new trilogy is taking place and it's a better, more central, condensed sample of his work. Third best reading order, if you really just want, if you're the kind of person that doesn't want to read the old stuff, you want to read the newest stuff. You want to read what's hot now. You can start with a little hatred. I don't recommend it. You see, I've already said what my preferred reading order is and what my second best preferred reading order is. Third best reading order is starting with a little hatred and if you like a little hatred, then go back to the first law trilogy and then read Besser of Cold and the heroes and Red Country and the short stories and then read the next book in The Age of Badness. This book, it is a self-contained new trilogy. You don't have to have read everything that came before it to understand, to follow the plot, to know who is who and what's going on. That said, a lot of who is who. There's a lot of context to who is who that you will not be getting, that you will completely miss out on. So connections that are tied to these people's parents or what happened in this country before they were born or around the time they were born. Connections like both political and personal that have affected the landscape and have affected the board on which our current characters are playing. So you can understand the game they are currently playing, but you don't get the full context and significance of certain moments because those moments are colored by what you already know if you've read the trilogy and if you've read the standalone because they have shaped your understanding of who these powers are, who these families are, who these people are, etc, etc, etc. So again, this is new and it's written in a way to where even though it's a continuation, you can read it and understand it without having read anything before it. So if you want to read the newest, hottest thing and you want to get a taste for Abercrombie, much like Bess Earth Cold, this is going to be giving you a pretty good sample of what his style is like in general. It will. So if you want to try it on for size, read a little hatred, but then go back and read everything else. If you're just like, you know what? He's for me. I like it. I really do. Go back and read the trilogy and the standalone and then possibly reread this to refresh yourself. But maybe not. Depends on how fast you get through everything and then read the trouble with peace when it comes out because once you've read this, I would imagine, I mean a lot of it was, it was so fun to see this stuff going on already knowing, but I think there would still be some enjoyment to seeing it have, having already happened and then going back and finding out what got us there. I don't think that's the preferred way to do it. I think it's still better to read it chronologically, but there is, it would still be fun to read this and then be like, man, there's, there's a lot of history here that I'm missing. So like, I know who the people are now and I know kind of where they're ending up. So I think it would still be fun knowing that then to go back and read the trilogy and read everything else because then you'll, you know where that, that endpoint is, the end game. So seeing kind of how everything is leading to that point would still be fun and interesting and kind of the reverse experience of I wonder how that could have come to be and then finding out the origins of it. Would still be enjoyable, not preferred, but it would be okay. So yeah, that's, if you read it in any order, that's not one of the three that I went over today in this video, then you're wrong, you're doing it wrong and I disapprove. Well, there's no wrong way to read, but I mean, I don't know why you wouldn't choose one of these reading orders. In any event, let me know in the comments down below if you've already read all of these books and you read them in a completely shuffled order that was completely different from what I just said, or if you read them in the exact order that I said to read them, or if you came here because you were like, I want to know where to start, please tell me you're going to read it in my preferred reading order if you want to make me happy. But let me know in the comments down below just generally also your thoughts on the order in which books are read, whether it's important to read them in a specific order. I assume you think it is, otherwise you wouldn't be clicking on a video that's about reading order, but if you think the order publication has some significance in bearing or if that's completely irrelevant or, you know, whatever you want me to know about the first law, about Abercrombie, about reading order, about all of the things. I post videos on Saturdays and sometimes random other times, but for sure on Saturdays, so like and subscribe and I'll see you when I see you. Bye.