The First Law trilogy splits into three storylines, and Before They Are Hanged follows all of them with confidence that the first book only hinted at. Glokta has been sent to defend the city of Dagoska against a vastly superior army, armed with nothing but his intelligence and his willingness to do terrible things. Bayaz leads a quest party, including Logen, Jezal, and the warrior Ferro, to the edge of the world in search of a weapon from the distant past. In the North, Colonel West finds himself fighting a war where the enemy is savage, the allies are worse, and the chain of command is a joke. All three threads run simultaneously, and all three deliver.
Middle books in fantasy trilogies are supposed to sag. Before They Are Hanged doesn’t. Reader discussions consistently identify it as the strongest entry in the trilogy, the book where Abercrombie’s characters reach their deepest points and his plotting finds real momentum. The consensus is that this is where The First Law transforms from a promising debut into something genuinely special.
Glokta in Dagoska and the Art of Dirty Survival
Glokta’s storyline in Dagoska is the book’s highlight and one of the best extended sequences in modern fantasy. Tasked with defending an indefensible city while surrounded by enemies both external and internal, Glokta operates at peak ruthlessness and peak intelligence simultaneously. His sections crackle with tension, political maneuvering, and the dark comedy that makes him such a beloved character. Watching him solve problems through a combination of cruelty, cleverness, and sheer bloody-mindedness is compulsive reading.
Jezal’s character development is the book’s most satisfying arc. The insufferable pretty boy from the first novel gets broken down by the realities of the quest, physically and emotionally, and what emerges is a more complicated and more sympathetic person. Abercrombie handles this transformation with patience, never rushing the moments where Jezal’s vanity cracks and something real shows through. Readers who found him unbearable in The Blade Itself frequently cite Before They Are Hanged as the book that turned them around on his character.
The action set pieces mark a significant leap from the first book. Battle scenes in the North, confrontations in Dagoska, and violence on the road to the edge of the world are all rendered with visceral precision. Abercrombie writes combat that hurts, where every wound has consequences and every fight leaves participants diminished. The contrast with the sanitized battle sequences of traditional epic fantasy is stark and effective.
Logen’s character gains layers through his interactions with the quest party, particularly his tentative connection with Ferro and his increasingly uneasy relationship with Bayaz. The question of who Logen really is, gentle philosopher or savage killer, tightens throughout the book without resolving. Abercrombie plays this ambiguity with a skill that keeps readers arguing long after they’ve finished.
The Ending That Divides the Faithful
The quest storyline’s resolution is the book’s most controversial element. Without spoiling specifics, the journey to the edge of the world concludes in a way that deliberately subverts the expectations that quest fantasy has trained readers to have. Some readers find this brilliant, a statement about the futility of the genre’s most cherished narrative structure. Others find it infuriating, feeling cheated of a payoff they invested hundreds of pages earning. Your reaction to this ending will shape your opinion of the book more than any other single element.
The war in the North, while well-executed, follows more conventional beats than the other two storylines. West is a sympathetic character, but his arc is less surprising than Glokta’s or Jezal’s, and the military plot hits familiar notes of disillusionment and brutality. It serves its purpose within the trilogy’s structure, but it’s the thread readers discuss least.
Ferro remains the least developed of the major characters. She’s compelling in action but one-dimensional in quieter moments, defined almost entirely by her anger and her desire for revenge. Abercrombie gives her less interiority than the other viewpoint characters, and the result is a figure who’s interesting to watch but difficult to invest in emotionally.
The Gears of a Trilogy Turning
Before They Are Hanged works as well as it does because it functions both as a middle chapter and as a collection of three stories, each with its own momentum and satisfactions. The interweaving structure allows Abercrombie to cut away from one plotline at its peak tension and jump to another that’s building toward its own peak. The pacing benefits enormously from this approach, keeping the reader’s energy high even during necessary slower passages.
Should You Read Before They Are Hanged?
If you finished The Blade Itself, this is where the investment starts paying dividends. Every character deepens, every plotline gains urgency, and Abercrombie’s confidence as a storyteller is palpable on every page. If you bounced off the first book, nothing here will change your mind about the fundamental approach. This is The First Law at full power, for better and worse. Be prepared for an ending that will either make you love the series or throw the book across the room.
The Verdict on Before They Are Hanged
Before They Are Hanged is the rare middle volume that outshines its bookends. Glokta’s Dagoska storyline alone would justify the read, Jezal’s transformation is earned and affecting, and the action sequences establish Abercrombie as one of the genre’s premier writers of combat. The controversial ending and an underdeveloped Ferro are real flaws. They matter less than the overall achievement: a second novel that doesn’t just avoid the sophomore slump but actively raises the bar.