Author Allen M Werner

Time to sing the praises for a wonderfully dark epic fantasy book series. Several years ago, I read these three books and fell instantly in love with its rich, gloomy themes and detailed characters.
There is intrigue and humor, twists and magic, torture and war.
If you’re looking for anything glowing, angelic, wholesome and righteous to read, you will have to look elsewhere.
In The First Law Trilogy, everyone is flawed and has tragic backgrounds, protected secrets and/or malevolent behaviors. You seriously can’t point at anyone in this tale and call them a ‘hero.’
This is an imaginary but troubled world filled with equally troubled people, and they are just trying to make a living and find their way through life until, as Logen Ninefingers would say, they go back to the mud.

Once you’ve got a task to do, it’s better to do it than to live with the fear of it. That’s what Logen Ninefingers father would have said. So he planted his free foot firmly on the rock face, took one last breath, and flung himself out into empty space with the strength he had left.
– The Blade Itself

Recently, I picked up the Chirp audio versions of all three books
1. The Blade Itself
2. Before They Are Hanged
3. Last Argument Of Kings

Narrator Steven Pacey does an exceptional job bringing voice to these amazing characters, some of these voices haunting, especially that of Sand dan Glotka.

It had taken Glotka a long time to develop the least painful method of descending stairs. He went sideways like a crab. Cane first, then left foot, then right, with more than the usual agony as his left foot took his weight, joined by a persistent stabbing in the neck.
– The Blade Itself

I will warn you now, I’m going to brush upon things I want to brush upon in this review and I may reveal some spoilers, so if you are interested in reading this series and don’t want to learn any of its marvelous secrets, I’d advise you stop reading this post now.
I hope those who do read this and have not read the series, will be intrigued enough to read the books no matter what. They are well worth the investment of your time.

‘Confess, Rews,’ Glotka whispered softly, ‘and put a painless end to this regrettable business. Confess and name your accomplices. We already know who they are. It will be easier on all of us. I don’t want to hurt you, believe me, it will give me no pleasure.’ Nothing will. ‘Confess. Confess. And you will be spared. Exile in Angland is not so bad as they would have you believe.’
– The Blade Itself

While Logen Ninefingers is one of my favorite characters, and one of the main characters, a barbarian from the north, a Named Man, a feared man, a man without any friends, not real friends, not people he can trust, Sand dan Glotka is notoriously unscrupulous. And Glotka is as friendless and feared as Logen is but for completely different reasons.

In this complex world filled with some detailed cities, nations and past events, the Union is supposedly the learned and civilized center of the universe. Everyone beyond the Union’s borders is considered uncivilized, barbaric and potentially an enemy, even those they have treaties with.
No one really trusts anyone and as things play out, you will understand why.

Sand dan Glotka was once a handsome, dashing, military man, quick and agile with the sword, a champion and ambitious to rise in rank. He made the ladies swoon. Everything seemed to be working in his favor. The future was bright.
And then, seeking foolish glory, he led a charge against the Gurkish and was taken prisoner.
The proud and reckless man, still in his thirties, was reduced in the prison, tortured and mistreated for two years, left with pieces of him removed, twisted and broken. A disfigured wretched creature that no one wants to look upon. With few opportunities left to his crippled mangled body, Glotka becomes an inquisitor in the King’s Inquisition.
And the inquisition in this dark tale is as evil and as twisted as any inquisition you’ve ever read about.
Inquisitors, like Glotka, have Practicals at their beck and call, men and women who wear black outfits and hoods that go nearly everywhere with them. Practicals do much of the heavy lifting and grunt work for them.
Glotka has two chief Practicals to begin with, Frost and Severard. They are easily identifiable goons, loyal to their awful craft, willing to do everything and anything they are instructed to do, helping the inquisitors carry out the worst forms of torture.
And the details of the tortures will sometimes make you wince.
Before torturing people, Glotka often questions himself. Why do I do this? Why would someone who has been tortured, want to torture others?
But in the end, Glotka acknowledges that he lost any virtue he ever had in the prison and now as a blight, he carries on doing whatever awful thing needs to be done just because he is living, and this is his life. No remorse. No mercy.
Glotka has no one to go home to at night, no one but a servant. Glotka only drinks soup and lives in constant pain, his ordeal in the prison torturing him still. There’s no reason to keep living, but living he must.

Logen Ninefingers, on the other hand, a barbarian often referred to as the Bloody Nine, has known war, combat and death most of his life. We learn that he once had a wife and children who were killed by a rampaging horde of Shanka, a barbaric ape-like creature.
In his part of the world, Angland and north, Logen earned a fierce-some reputation by winning ten single combats.
Being a Named Man in the north is important. Logen defeated other Named Men and some of them, those he let live, became part of his crew although trust among such a crew was always hard to come by.
Dogman. Black Dow. Harding Grim, Tul Duru Thunderhead, Forley, and Rudd Threetrees.
At the beginning of The Blade Itself, Logen and his crew are attacked by Shanka (Flatheads). Logen is separated from the others and miraculously escapes and survives, but just barely. He believes his crew have all gone back to the mud.
The author, however, follows Logen as well as his former crew’s journeys. The crew have not died. In fact, they believe it is Logen who has gone back to the mud.

Haunted by his past, wanting in part to be a better person, Logen Ninefingers, who has the rare ability to speak to spirits, travels south to begin a strange adventure with Bayaz, the First of the Magi, and Malacus Quai, the Magus’ apprentice.

We later learn what really haunts Logen throughout all three books is the Bloody Nine.
When Logen becomes enraged and death is near, the Bloody Nine comes alive inside of him, a berserker of sorts, an evil force that calls itsel death, compels Logen to kill, to kill everything.
The berserker is great as long as it is pointed the right way. In combat, anyone and everyone that gets in the Bloody Nine’s way, dies. The Bloody Nine can’t and won’t differentiate between foes and friends. It’s all the same to the berserker’s rage.
Logen doesn’t really remember in detail what the Bloody Nine does but he knows, after it is over, he has killed a lot of people, women and children also. And Logen will be left to answer for it. Those seeking vengeance for a murdered loved one is too many to count.

Logen charged at the axe-man with a roar, aiming the spear at his heart. He brought his axe up in time to nudge the point away but not far enough. The spear spitted him through the shoulder, spun him round. There was a sharp crack as the shaft snapped, Logen lost his balance and pitched forward, bearing Boil-face down into the road. The spear point sticking out of his back cut a deep gash into Logen’s scalp as he fell on top of him. Logen seized hold of the axe-man’s matted hair with both hands, pulled his head back mashed his face into a rock.
– The Blade Itself

The best part to Logen’s character for me, is that he acknowledges to himself what he is the berserker although he doesn’t like it. He doesn’t like what he as the berserker has done, but it is what it is, and he is who he is, and others just have to deal with it if they want to be near him. Some seemed to have put their grudges aside to walk with him. Most have not.

Another barbarian in the north named Bethod, whom Logen was once allied with and fought for, has crowned himself King of the North and with the aid of a witch named Caurib, is invading Angland and threatening the Union.
Logen’s former crew, seeking direction and purpose, concerned about the Shanka horde, first decide they should try to warn Bethod about the approaching Shanka horde. Their attempt fails and goes all wrong and they end up pushing south. They figure they might try to join up with the Union and fight Bethod if the Union will have them. Their options are low. Bethod knows they are alive and out there and the Named Men of the north who have joined Bethod would love to kill them.

“Shit!” shouted Dogman, jumping up from the fire all of a sudden. “There’s fucking Shanka crawling all over us! And if we get through with them, there’s always Bethod to think on! We’ve a world full of scores to settle without make more ourselves! Logen’s gone and Threetrees is second, and that’s the only say I’ll hear” He did some jabbing with his own finger, at no one in particular, then he waited, hoping like hell that had done the trick.
“Aye,” grunted Grim.
Forley started nodding like a woodpecker. “Dogman’s right! We need to fight each other like we need the cock-rot! Threetrees is second. He’s the chief now.”
It was quiet for a moment, and Dow fixed the Dogman with that cold, empty, killing look, like the cat with the mouse between its paws. Dogman swallowed.
– The Blade Itself

Logen, in the company of Bayaz and Quai, travels to the capital of the Union, Adua. Logen has never seen a civilized city like this before, the sheer size and grandeur leave the barbarian awestruck.
They are soon joined up here by a vicious, untamed female character from the south with demon-blood, Ferro Maljinn.
Ferro is another of my favorite characters. Like Sand and Logen, she is friendless and feared. She is also very angry, hissing at everyone like an animal.

She hated gardens. She hated cities altogether. Places of slavery, fear, degradation. Their walls were the walls of prison. The sooner she was gone from this accursed place the happier she would be. Or the less unhappy, at least.
– The Blade Itself

Ferro was once a sex slave of Uthman who was son of the Gurkish Emperor. Uthman was now the Emperor of the Gurkish, and called himself Uthman-ul-Dosht.
The only thing Ferro wants out of life now is vengeance. She wants to kill the Gurkish. All of them.
Short, thin, quick like a wasp, and stealthy, her skin dark, Ferro is recruited reluctantly by a Magi named Yulwei.
Yulwei leads Ferro through the desert and saves her from Eaters, those who have broken the second law, and eat flesh. Eaters are magical beings and are extremely difficult to kill, fast and unemotional. Yulwei saving her is the only thing that compels her to come to Adua.

Logen and Ferro are vastly different from most everyone else in Adua. Ferro, however, no matter how friendly anyone including Logen tries to be with her, wants to be friends. No one can be trusted, not even Yulwei. To her, everyone is a stupid pink.

Jezal dan Luther is practically Sand dan Glotka before Glotka was tortured.
Jezal is handsome and arrogant, a fine swordsman from a noble family. Like Glotka, everything seems destined for him, to rise and become someone important in Adua.
But Jezal is lazy and takes his talents for granted. He drinks and whores around. It’s almost as if he doesn’t want what is coming to him, although he enjoys the adulation and authority.
His life takes a turn when he is chosen to fight in a tournament and has to start training. He hates training.
Lord Marshal Varuz, who once trained Sand dan Glotka and Collem West to be champions, drives Jezal to be better than he is – and Jezal hates him for it.

Jezal would never win the contest. No one expected him to, himself least of all. So why not give it up, and go back to his cards and late nights? Wasn’t that what he really wanted from life? But then what would mark him out from a thousand other noble younger sons? He had decided long ago that he wanted to be something special. A Lord Marshal perhaps, and then Lord Chamberlain. Something big and important anyway. He wanted a big chair on the Closed Council, and to make big decisions. He wanted people to fawn and smile around him and hang on his every word.
– The Blade Itself

Collem West won the tournament previously but does not come from noble blood. Despite his skills and successes, he is still looked down on and frowned upon by nobility. To a certain point, Jezal and West are friends, and West spars with him in order to sharpen his skills. West wins all the time at first because Jezal simply won’t apply himself.

Collem West served with Sand dan Glotka when the charge was made and Glotka was lost. Nearly the same age, there is distance between them as Glotka holds a deep-seeded grudge for West, who he thought was his friend, not seeking him out when he returned to Adua. But friends are hard to come by in these books.
West has a fetching sister named Ardee. The West family were raised in Angland but with Bethod and the northmen on the march, Ardee is sent to Adua for protection. She doesn’t want to be here. She is impertinent and defiant and drinks to excess. She has no friends, not even acquaintances in Adua, and is not keen to make any.
Collem and Ardee argue and disagree quite often.
Collem is not pleased when Jezal takes an interest in Ardee, and Ardee and interest in Jezal. Both, however, are realists, and although Ardee hopes for the best in her often-drunken state, they know Jezal comes from nobility and he can’t be seen, nevertheless woo a girl like Ardee. Still they secret off together and have moments. Jezal makes stupid promises they both know he can’t fulfill.

Eventually the war comes calling and the troops are roused to go north and fight Bethod.
Collem West, concerned for his sister’s wellbeing while he’s gone, goes to his forsaken friend, Sand dan Glotka, and asks the crippled inquisitor to watch over Ardee and protect her in his absence. Glotka, in a strange move even for himself, agrees to do it.
Jezal dan Luther, having miraculously won the Contest, the mysterious First of the Magi having a secret hand in the outcome, is all set to push north and be a leader when he is pulled off the ship at the last minute.
The First of the Magi, Bayaz, want Jezal in his strange little party which is going to ride off to the end of the world in search of a mysterious seed. Jezal is not happy, but neither are the others in the party, Quai, Logen, and Ferro. Only Brother Longfoot, the Navigator, who never stops talking, is excited for this adventure.

From Arch Lector Sult, to the Guilds of the Mercers and Spicers, to the Bank of Valint and Balk, to Khalul, to Euz, to Kanedias the Master Maker, to the Agriont, to the magic from the Other Side, to Crummoock-i-Phail, to Practical Vitari, to Fenris the Feared, and Nicomo Cosca, there is such a rich tapestry to wrap oneself up in. I could probably go on and on with this review, but I have decided to stop here. I’ve expended myself and I don’t think I have revealed too many plot twists and secrets because much of what I stated happens in the first book only, The Blade Itself.
There is so much more to discover. War with the North. The foolish Prince Ladisla. Pike and Cathil. Salem Rews, Battle near Dunbrec. Gurkish attacking from the South. Dagoska under siege. Inside the Tower of Chains. More Eaters.

A black column was rising above the western end of the citadel. It seemed at first to be made of swirling smoke, but as West gained some sense of scale, he realized it was spinning matter. Masses of it. Countless tons of it. His eyes followed it upwards, higher and higher. The clouds themselves were moving, whipped around in a spiral at the center, shifting in a slow circle above them. The fighting sputtered, as Union and Gurkish alike gaped up at the writhing pillar above the Agriont, the Tower of Chains a black finger in front of it, the House of the Maker an insignificant pinprick behind. Things began to rain from the sky.
– Last Argument of Kings

I encourage everyone who has a taste for dark epic fantasy to read these three books. And if you get the chance, listen to them on Chirp. You won’t be disappointed.

Allen M Werner is the author of the epic dark fantasy The Crystal Crux