 Hey guys it's Liana and I'm here today to talk about rereading the first law trilogy. I feel like I just showed you the back of the book there instead of like the trilogy but y'all know what I'm talking about. So if you've never seen my channel before then you may not know that I'm a huge fan of Joe Abercrombie and the first law. Mainly the first law. I did read the first book in the Shattered Sea trilogy and I was not a fan. It wasn't awful but it was kind of a big let down. I have heard that the other books in that series take place like follow different characters and are better so I intend to read the others because like it's Joe Abercrombie so of course I'll give him another chance. I have a whole shelf that's like crumbling under the weight of all my Abercrombie books and I have more Abercrombie books on the way because I have his newest book pre-ordered in multiple editions. So I'm rereading these books. Why am I rereading them? One because I'm kind of rereading all of the first law books in anticipation of the next one coming out. Not that I need to because it hasn't been that long since I read them but just because I feel like it. And two yeah because I feel like it because we live in crazy times and I'm not here to talk about politics. I'm not here to talk about any of that but I think regardless of how you specifically feel or where you fall in the political like spectrum of opinion I think you'd agree we live in crazy times like very polarizing times and Joe Abercrombie's cynicism it just hits the spot so much that I'm in the mood for that a lot and um it's weirdly uplifting to me because when I watch the news or I see things that are like upsetting to me again just like world news domestic news whatever it is political news social news all this stuff that it just it takes a toll and when I read more hopeful and fantastical things where it's just like well Joe why don't we just have a hero with a sword that just like fixes it I'd be like you know like why can't we do that why is our world such shit where is our Luke Skywalker to fix it when I read Abercrombie books it's really uplifting to me that their world is equally shit they've got wizards and stuff but it turns out that corrupt politicians still fuck up the world all the goddamn time and that your heroes are probably not that heroic so like honestly having a hero would solve nothing and Glock does cynicism and internal monologue of just like having it to hear with everybody is just I'm just like preach preach motherfucker I am here for this so that's why I'm rereading them and how did I feel rereading them so like I originally when I first read the blade itself years and years and years ago I was still reading like the very hopeful heroic escapist type fantasy and I had no idea that the blade itself was not that way because the cover is just like you know yeah there's some blood splatter on it but like it just it looks like fantasy but there's nothing that proclaims it to be that grim dark and I had never really tried it I didn't even know what grim dark was I was very young so when I read the blade itself then I was just like why is everyone and everything awful why would I want to read this so I read it I was just like uh okay and then years went by and just like I kept seeing those books come up as people's just like all-time favorites and I was like since then I had been reading more and darker things and I was like I remember not loving that but also I was like a kid so I should probably give it a give it another go slash they had released the goleans anniversary editions and I was like I want it real bad it's such a pretty book but I was like I remember not really loving it so like I have to reread it and and see because maybe I love it and then I can get that edition and I fucking love it oh my god I'm so glad I reread it I mean it really goes to show that who you are as a reader does change and that you should be aware of that so the same thing happened with vicious honestly so there's just been a couple like that the second time that I read the blade itself I was just like oh this is actually like super my jam now like I am so here for this and now the third time reading the blade itself this time I wasn't reading it to be like let's see if I like it this time and being like oh wow no I was super like this now I already knew that I liked it so reading it now was just like give me that glac de yep mainline me that glac de and it was also because it was fresh room in the second the first time that I had reread it it had been a long time since I read it I'll I remembered was not very much liking it but I didn't really remember specifics about the world or the characters or any of that so the first time that I reread it it was like reading it anew because I hardly remembered anything other than my opinion of it so now rereading it much more closely to my previous read of it I was already pretty much aware of it was fresh in my brain the the plot points the story beats so I wasn't sitting there going like what's going to happen next I know what's going to happen next and the trilogy itself isn't very like plot driven it isn't the kind of book where you're just like what's going to happen next it's more like what are these characters going to do what are they going to say because of that then I just could sort of sit back and casually just savor the moments that I knew were coming and savor the character interactions that I knew were coming I also look forward to seeing some some groundwork that I that would have flown by me the first time through you don't know that that moment's coming that you don't know that connection is coming you don't know that reveal is coming so there's some reveals that don't happen honestly until the end of the third book but those groundwork and the seeds for that reveal are peppered throughout this this trilogy so you have no idea to look to look for it when you're first reading it this is my first time reading it through knowing those things already so I could pick up the blade itself and before they were hanged and last argument of kings knowing what I know now and look for those moments where those things have begun to show themselves where the first seeds of those reveals are being planted then you don't know that's happening the first time because like I do one of the most frequent criticisms the most frequent criticisms that I've seen of the trilogy beyond this is too depressing and dark why would you read this I've seen people complain that it seems to be beandering and it doesn't seem to be going anywhere in particular like nothing seems to pay off it's going nowhere all the time and John Abercrombie does kind of intentionally make it that way because he's basically he said himself that it's kind of his dark twisted take on the classic fantasy trilogy arc we have the wizard and the hero and the whatever all just kind of like flipped on its head and the grimdar version of that so instead of having the moments be significant they are the opposite of that instead of a prophecy turning out to be epic it turns out to be shit like everything is just kind of like the bizarro world version of the heroic fantasy so it's kind of intentional it seems everything does seem kind of like cynically pointless and very like jaded and nihilistic because that's kind of the point of the trilogy but also there is a point to things like at the end of the third when you do find out like that there is kind of a lot of things that seemed pointless they are pointless but for a reason like it was not just intended by Joe Abercrombie but intended by the characters who are making these things happen they they knew it was pointless when they set out to do it so like the cynic that basically the the big reveal being so cynical at the end and then again watching there are there are seeds for that planted there are connections to that throughout the book so it's not like it was this last minute like well i guess everything means nothing at the end like you know looking at you star wars like it was clearly his intention because if you read the blade itself after having read the trilogy you can see like it is all building towards that ending he knew where this was going when he started writing it and i just i loved seeing it happen now knowing it because it even the first time i read it even though i was loving the journey the journey did feel neandering the journey did feel like it was kind of going nowhere i was like i'm still here for this because i fucking love these characters like i love i'm just loving i'm eating this up but also like where is any of this going so now i do know where it's going so now i'm not sitting there going like where is this going i know where it's going so i'm just like hey little do you know that this is not going to be you know whatever galakta is my spirit animal and my soulmate fucking love sand and galakta uh there's like i he's probably my favorite character in literature to date i've never read a character like sand and galakta he's uh i fucking love him he's so awful but i also love logan nine fingers uh jazal dan luther you know he grows on you like the character work abracame continues to be the best author at doing character work that i have ever seen i i continue to be gobsmacked by it even the characters that aren't my favorites like galakta is he's always painting the most intricate messy portrait of humanity that i've ever seen any author do so just chef's kiss it's just a joy to watch him do it especially rereading it i'm not trying to follow the plot so much because i know what's going to happen so i could just sit back and watch the parts that i'm fascinated by i.e watching him plant seeds for the reveal watching him build up these character arcs watching him mess with your expectations like i can just watch it unfold and just be like oh man you're so good you're so fucking good at this like oh look at you all and look at the way you're like oh yeah like that's so brilliant i see you sir i see you and i'm here for you um in conclusion actually i gave the blade itself five stars on my reread first time through so it's i think it's been i've added a starter time i read it i think i gave it three stars i don't even think i was reading books back when i first read it because i wasn't using good reads or anything but if i had rated it i probably would have given it three stars because it'd have been like it seems pretty well coupled together but like why the fuck would i want to read this rereading it i was like oh man that was actually really good like i'm super here for that but also like it's kind of going nowhere so like like i don't know what the point of any of that was even though i super enjoyed it so i gave it four stars the first time that i reread it and now that i reread it i gave it five stars because i was just like you know what man this book though like it's so fucking good like give it give it the five give it the five so it went from being two fours and a five to being a five a four and a five maybe the third time that i read before they were hanged it'll bump it up to a five we'll see i'm sure i will reread it let's be real so let me know in the comments down below if you've read Abercrombie if you have not um i obviously recommend let me know in the comments down below anything else you want to let me know about your favorite trilogies about why you hated Abercrombie and you don't understand why the fuck i like it sure let me know that i post bookish videos on saturdays so like and subscribe and i'll see you when i see you bye