The second instalment of The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie continues where the first, The Blade Itself, left off. Before They Are Hanged is in many ways the classic middle volume of a fantasy trilogy: the characters have been established in the first volume, along with the overall plotlines; the second volume gives the characters room to breathe and develop, and we find out more about the story arc, while leaving plenty of scope for the concluding volume.

So far, so typical, but what makes Abercrombie’s work so different from average fantasy fare is the characterisation. The characters that we follow are all, nominally, on the right side, but that does not make them good people: Abercrombie may be the first writer to have a professional torturer as a central character – and a sensitively portrayed one at that. Inquisitor Sand dan Glotka is a former war hero who, after being tortured by the Ghurkish, becomes a torturer himself. He is sent to the Union’s outpost of Dagoska to strengthen its defences in the face of a looming Ghurkish invasion. There, he devotes his resources to rooting out traitors, discovering the fate of his disappeared predecessor and, when the siege starts, taking command of the defences. Despite his use of violence and intrigue to achieve his ends, Abercrombie’s third-person point-of-view writing style shows him in a suprisingly sympathetic light, with an engagingly wry sense of humour.

Meanwhile, a party of misfits accompany the First of the Magi, the apparently ageless Bayaz, on a quest to the edge of the world. The point-of-view switches between three characters: the vain, selfish young army officer Jezal dan Luther; the fearsome but introspective Northman Logen Ninefingers, aka The Bloody Nine when his berserker rages overtake him; and the female warrior Ferro, emotionally scarred and unwilling to trust her companions. This dysfunctional but deadly group makes the Fellowship of the Ring look like a Cub Scout camping trip, but their shared hardships cause unlikely bonds to develop between them, and Luthar especially becomes more likeable for it.

Lastly, in the Union’s Northern province of Angland, a bunch of battle-scarred Northmen are resolved to assist the Empire against their countryman Bethod after he decides to invade. We follow Dogman, Rudd Threetress, Harding Grim, Tul Duru Thunderhead and Black Dow – and a wonderful, bickering bunch of old sweats they are too. In company with the Union army officer Major West, they endure great privations and begin to discover that Bethod has more on his side than just his army.

Abercombie’s writing style is punchy and down-to-earth, but it does not stop him from being able to effectively describe his world. He generally keeps the chapters short, which with three storylines on the go keeps the pace up and the pages turning. His approach to his characters’ inner voices does not slow things down, either. He is not a world-building fantasy writer in the mould of Tolkein, Jordan or George R.R. Martin, but that makes these books very much more accessible than weightier fantasy tomes.

This book confirms Abercombie’s status as a fresh new voice in the fantasy world, and I can’t wait to read the third volume – look for the review of Last Argument of Kings here on Bookgeeks very soon.

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