Last Argument Of Kings – Joe Abercrombie
A good end to the trilogy.
While the second book had a little of that annoying marking time of your garden variety trilogy thing happening, this does not.
Bayaz had been lurking (and smirking) around in the first couple of novels, and now you see what he has really been up to all this time, as all the events and people come together.
The Union has problems on two fronts – Bethod and his Northmen, which is a problem for the Dogman, Logen and West. Then there is serious rumour of a Gurkish invasion, and here is where Glokta’s double (and death) dealing comes into play.
If a fair few of them weren’t funny, the constant asides to himself in italics would get annoying to read, but Abercrombie mostly pulls this off.
With the prospect of killing lots of Gurkish, Ferro is happy to stay around. However, an old fashioned army and navy is not their only problem, given Bayaz has some enemies of his own ilk.
Perhaps darker than the rest, with a couple of open threads for if he wanted to produce another story or two.
4 out of 5
