The First Law

The first law is a novel - trilogy of the British Fantasy -Autors Joe Abercrombie , consisting of the volumes Kriegsklingen (English title: The Blade Itself ), fire blades ( Before They Are Hanged ) and King blades ( Last Argument of Kings ). In addition to the trilogy, there are also five other books that are set in the same fictional universe.

The works differ from classic fantasy in the style of the Dungeons & Dragons universe primarily through the restrained use of fantasy elements and the lack of a clear separation between good and evil. The series also received great praise for its well-crafted characters.

The world

In the course of the plot, the characters visit different countries, some of which are only mentioned, but not - or only visited in the standalone novels. The different areas are grouped almost in a circle around a sea, so that the known world is also known as the Round of the World , the three continents (the north, in the west the continent with the old empire and in the south Kanta with the empire of Gurkhul) and several large ones (such as Midderland, Styria, Suljuk and Thond) and smaller islands.

• The union is a (formally federal) amalgamation of Midderland, Starikland, Angland and the city protectorates Westport in Styria and Dagoska on the southern continent of Kanta. The individual sub-kingdoms have limited self-government by the respective Lord Governor and are represented in the so-called open council (a kind of aristocratic parliament). The Union is ruled by the senile King Guslav V, but due to his inability to act, actual power comes from the Closed Council, which only includes twelve leading figures in the government (such as the Lord Chancellor, the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces, the Supreme Judge and the Supreme Court royal inquisitor).
  • Midderland is the heartland of the Union and is home to the capital Adua. It is a relatively large island that is roughly in the middle of the so-called world circle
  • Angland is a larger peninsula and geographically belongs to the northern continent (north of Midderland), but politically it has been part of the Union for quite some time, which not only results in cultural heterogeneity, but also conflicts between the Union and the Northmen. In Angland there are also penal colonies run by the Inquisition.
  • Starikland is located on the western continent (west of Midderland) and thus borders on the old empire, the capital is Rostod .
• Gurkhul is a powerful empire on the southern continent of Kanta with the capital Schaffa . The empire has absorbed its smaller Kantian neighbors and is ruled by Uthman-ul-Dosht, who, however, is also under the influence of the Prophet Khalul. In the north of the continent, the city of Dagoska lies on a peninsula and thus shares a border with the empire of Gurkhul, which lost a war against the Union a few years before the bookshop opened.
• Strictly speaking, the north is a separate continent north of Midderland, but in the Union it is mainly the sparsely populated area north of Angland to which the Northmen lay claim under their first King Bethod. Little more than primitive barbarians in the eyes of many of the Union's inhabitants, the Northmen often fought one another until Bethod united them under his rule.
• Styria is a divided country (a very large island east of Midderland) with a multitude of warring city-states, based on Renaissance Italy, and is the setting of the standalone novel Blades of Vengeance .
• The Old Empire in the west was once the center of the civilized world. The first cities of mankind emerged in the valley of the Aos and the great empire was ruled from the magnificent capital Aulcus. After a catastrophe and the ensuing civil wars, however, it long left its prime and has been dangerous to travel to ever since - a sign of this is that there were at times 16 emperors at the same time. Nevertheless, the empire can still mobilize considerable resources; after it was largely reunited under Emperor Goltus in the standalone novel Blood Blades , the Union meticulously avoids incidents with the imperial troops.

action

Two wars form the background to the plot: King Bethod opens the first by invading Angland from the north, whereupon the Union sends troops there. The second moves up from the south, there Uthman-ul-Dosht wants to incorporate the city of Dagoska into the kingdom of Gurkhul, so that the Union threatens a war on two fronts.

War blades

Logen Neunfinger, the most feared man in the north, is separated from his friends in a fight with the non-human Shanka. Believing her dead - like she was him - he sets off south. He meets Bayaz, the first of the Order of the Magi, who takes his pupil Malacus Quai and Logen to Adua for an unknown task. There he wants to take his seat on the closed council again, but has to prove beforehand that he really is the legendary Bayaz who left Adua centuries ago. He does this by opening the sealed house of the Creator in Adua, and on this occasion he also takes a box from there. In addition, against his will, Jezal dan Luthar joins the group, a noble officer who, through Bayaz's secret magical help, has won the annual sword fighting tournament and actually wanted to set off north with the Union army to drive Bethod out of Angland. Ferro Maljinn, a runaway and vengeance-filled slave from Gurkhul, and Brother Longfoot of the Order of the Wayfarers complete the group and prepare for a journey west.

The royal inquisitor Sand dan Glokta (once a celebrated fencer and war hero, a physically broken man after his return from Gurkish captivity) is meanwhile busy tracking down traitors within the Union, which also leads to the dissolution of a powerful traders' guild. Before his suicide, Glokta announced that the bank of Valint and Balk was behind all the betrayal, but Glokta was not allowed to investigate further in this direction on the instructions of Archlector Sult, his superior. Instead, he should first convict Bayaz of cheating, which fails because Bayaz is actually who he claims to be. The inquisitor is then sent to Dagoska to clear the city of traitors and defend it against the advancing troops of Gurkhul.

Collem West, a non-noble officer and friend of Jezal dan Luthar, receives a visit from his sister Ardee. However, since he is considered a capable veteran and comes from Angland, he is called upon to prepare for war and has no time for them. So it happens that Ardee befriends Jezal instead and the two fall in love. West becomes violent towards his sister when he learns about it, since because of the difference in class there can hardly be any connection between Ardee and Jezal - a dilemma that also troubles Jezal. Before West sets off north with the army, he asks Inquisitor Glokta, an old friend from the last war against Gurkhul, to take care of Ardee in his absence.

Logen's friends meanwhile want to warn Bethod about the humanoid Schanka, even though the king of the north wants them dead. The growing Shanka threaten to stab the north in the back, while the north is waging a war against the Union in Angland. One of Bethod's sons receives the news without taking it seriously, and kills the messenger, Logen's friend Forley. Thereupon the remainder move further south under the leadership of Rudd Dreibaum to fight together with the Union against Bethod.

Fire blades

Bayaz, Quai, Logen, Ferro, Jezal and Brother Longfoot make their way west to the so-called Edge of the World. To do this, they have to cross the Old Empire, which is shattered by constant civil wars, and repeatedly encounter violent resistance. Jezal is badly injured in a skirmish, Bayaz uses magic to bring himself to the brink of death, but ultimately they survive. Thanks mainly to Logen's camaraderie and the adversity they are all exposed to together, the group grows together a little over time. Bayaz tells the others what he is looking for on the edge of the world: He wants to get the seed, a stone from the other side, which is also the source of magic. It was hidden there a long time ago, and the Magus wants to use it to face the Prophet Khalul - another Magus - and his servants. For this he needs lodges who can talk to the spirit who guards the stone, and Ferro, who is partly of demonic origin and therefore the only one who can touch the stone. To keep the semen, Bayaz needs the box he got from the house of the Creator. When they reach their destination, however, they find that the seed has been exchanged for a simple stone. They are disappointed on the way back.

To the north, Logen's friends join the Union Army, which splits up to put Bethod into battle. The incompetent Crown Prince Ladisla has been given his own command so that he can be given the credit for the successful war. However, he lets himself be lured into a trap by Bethod, his army is defeated, and together with West, the Northmen as well as Pike and Cathil, two blacksmiths from a penal camp, he flees towards the other Union troops. On the way, Ladisla tries to rape Cathil and is then killed by West. The Union Army can finally put Bethod to battle, in which Rudd Dreibaum and Cathil die, but not achieve a clear victory, because Bethod receives support from the Shanka. The Dog Man becomes the new leader of the Northmen who fight for the Union.

Meanwhile, Inquisitor Glokta is busy preparing Dagoska for the defense against Gurkhul and finding the traitor responsible for the disappearance of his predecessor. He succeeds in the latter, but the murderer is not a real person, but a eater: Khalul and his servants eat human meat in order to acquire superhuman abilities, so the murderer simply ate Glokta's predecessor. Gurkhul's troops eventually attack the city, but for a long time fail to take it. When the situation became hopeless, Glokta was ordered back to Adua, where a little later the only remaining son of the king was murdered. The very obvious lead leads to an envoy from Gurkhul who came with an offer of peace after the fall of Dagoska, but is now being executed. Glokta wants to know the truth, however, and continues to investigate until a representative of the Valint and Balk bank forces him to quit - the bank had financially supported Glokta in Dagoska, which made it possible to defend the city for so long that he is now indebted to them .

King blades

A few months have passed since Bayaz and his companions returned to Adua. From there Logen makes his way north again, where he meets the dog man and his other friends who are still alive. The Union forces have now managed to drive Bethod out of Angland, but cannot achieve a final victory. The Northmen, reinforced by the still independent hill dwellers, are therefore supposed to lure Bethod into a trap and entrench themselves in a fortress. Bethod takes the opportunity to eliminate his main enemies in the north in one fell swoop and attacks. The Union troops are late because their commander suddenly dies and some time passes before Collem West is surprisingly appointed as his successor. However, Bethod manages to flee - in the course of the battle Logen kills his friend Tul Duru - and to surround him in the city of Carleon. Logen kills Bethod's new champion in a duel and then Bethod himself, whereupon he is proclaimed king. The Union troops are ordered back to Adua, some Northmen under lodges come with them.

Bayaz has now made sure that Jezal is in command of the troops that are supposed to end a peasant uprising. This succeeds without any problems and bloodshed, since the leader of the farmers is in reality a follower of Bayaz. Jezal receives a triumphal procession, at the end of which the king dies. The Open Council, the nobility of the Union, want to elect a new king, but Bayaz prevents this by announcing that the late king has an illegitimate son: Jezal. This becomes the new king.

Since the death of the heir to the throne, Glokta had been busy collecting votes for the election of the king through extortion, bribery and other means at the behest of Archlector Sult. Jezal's coronation destroys Sult's plans, but Glokta tries to find out if the story of Bayaz is believable. His investigations are stopped again by Valint and Balk, the bank even demands that Glokta spy on Sult for them.

Finally, Gurkhul's troops invade Midderland and quickly manage to completely encircle Adua before the Union army has returned from the north. Bayaz goes back to the Creator's house, followed by Ferro, who accidentally discovers the seed that was hidden there all along. This gives Bayaz a chance to kill Khalul's servants who invade the city in the wake of Gurkhul's army. He succeeds, but also devastates large parts of the city and kills numerous people. Many more then die from the influence of the seed, the sight of which is fatal to ordinary people. Logen's friend Grimm is killed by a eater during the fighting.

Gurkhul is expelled from Adua in the end, as West can also return in time with the Union Army. However, West eventually dies from the influence of the seed. Glokta becomes the new ore editor, in collaboration with Valint and Balk, who are actually behind Bayaz. He also marries West's sister to protect her. Since she is expecting an illegitimate child from Jezal, she would otherwise be in danger. Ferro has heard voices from the other side since the use of the seed and has superhuman abilities. She leaves Adua to continue to take revenge in Gurkhul. Jezal tries to be a good king, but is controlled by Bayaz, for whom the Union is ultimately just a tool in the fight against Khalul. Logen returns to the north, leaving the dog man behind as a kind of ambassador, where in the meantime the Black Dow, one of his comrades, has made himself king and tries to kill Logen. This then jumps out of a window into the river deep below.

Characters

• Logen Ninefinger has a sinister and bloody reputation, but it is enough of killing now. However, he has to realize that it is not easy to shake off such a bloody past as his. As a former champion, he has won ten duels for Bethod, including against his current friends and henchmen: The Dog Man, the Black Dow, Rudd Dreibaum, Tul Duru Donnerkopf, Harding Grimm and Forley the Weakest eventually fell out of favor along with Lodge and have been since then Bethods enemies. Logen also has another personality : the bloody nine who takes control in extreme situations and, as a deadly fighter who knows neither pain nor mercy, kills everyone around him indiscriminately until the state of frenzy passes. Even Logen's friends and allies are not safe from the bloody nine.
• The dog man , so called because of his good nose, was once defeated by lodges in a duel and has followed him ever since. After Logen's supposed death, Rudd Dreibaum takes over the leadership of the group that sides with the Union in the war between Bethod and the Union.
• Bayaz , first of the Order of the Magi, is ancient and an important historical figure. Among other things, he was involved in the founding of the Union centuries ago, which he uses as a tool in his war against the Prophet Khalul. The magic is disappearing from the world, which is why he uses other means - such as the Union - to increase his power. For him, the end justifies the means, and he does not shrink from murder and major collateral damage if he considers it necessary.
• Sand dan Glokta was a young, confident colonel in the Union Army and winner of the annual tournament and came from a respected noble family. In the last war against Gurkhul, however, he was captured while covering the withdrawal of Union forces and spent two years of torture in the Gurkhi's dungeons before being released after the Union's victory. Crippled, permanently plagued by pain and shunned by all of his friends, he joined the Inquisition shortly afterwards and now tortures actual and supposed traitors himself. His assistants Frost - a huge, lisping albino - and Severard help him.
• Jezal dan Luthar is a narcissistic noble officer from a wealthy family and above all interested in fame and his own well-being - until he meets Ardee, the sister of his friend Collem West. Although he falls in love with her, at the same time he knows that a marriage with a non-noble woman is out of the question for him because of the difference in class and a relationship without marriage would damage her reputation. Having also learned about the adversities of life, he tries to become a better person but finds that his own persistent shortcomings and institutional barriers stand in the way.
• Collem West had to work hard to get an officer post despite his lack of nobility. He won the annual tournament and made a name for himself in the war against Gurkhul, but he also has a heated temper that sometimes makes him lose control and become violent, even against his own sister.
• Ferro Maljinn is partly of demonic origin and is only out to get revenge on Gurkhul. As a child she was enslaved, then cut her face to belittle her price, and finally fled. Until Bayaz had her brought to Adua and promised her revenge on Gurkhul with the help of the seed, she waged her own guerrilla war . She doesn't trust anyone, is harsh, violent and only seems to live for revenge, even if Logen temporarily manages to break through this hard shell a little. She has yellow eyes and extremely good eyesight, but is also completely color blind.

criticism

War blades received special praise for its characters, so "Abercrombie relies on the portrayal of fascinating characters in a network of relationships that is unparalleled in its complexity, but remains understandable for the reader at all times." Literatopia describes it as "a work that stands out from the uniform", which contains "very well elaborated and credible characters".

Fire Blades was rated similarly: "It was not the gripping descriptions of the battle and intrigues that fascinated me so much, but the drawings of the people and the fates that Abercrombie spread before my eyes." Other aspects were also emphasized: "One looks in vain for black and white painting in Abercrombie’s world" judged another criticism.

These strengths can also be found in royal blades. The third volume was also described as a "successful conclusion" to the trilogy, this even as a "masterpiece with interesting rough edges", which shows "how excitingly realistic, sarcastic and adventurous fantasy can be."

More books in The First Law Universe

After the original trilogy, three further novels were published with Racheklingen ( Best Served Cold ), Heldenklingen ( The Heroes ) and Blutklingen ( Red Country ), as well as a short story book with Shadow Blades ( Sharp Ends ), each with its own plot. Since 2019, the new trilogy The Age of Madness , consisting of A Little Hatred ( Magic Blades ), The Trouble with Peace and The Beautiful Machine has been released . Its action takes place around 30 years after the end of the original trilogy.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Carsten Kuhr - Fantastic Couch Reviews. Accessed August 18, 2014.
2. ↑ Angelika Mandryk - Literatopia Reviews.Retrieved August 18, 2014.
3. ↑ Carsten Kuhr - Fantastic Couch Reviews. Accessed August 18, 2014.
4. ↑ Angelika Mandryk - Literatopia Reviews.Retrieved August 18, 2014.
5. ↑ Angelika Mandryk - Literatopia Reviews.Retrieved August 18, 2014.

Web links

• First Law Wiki