Why read The Age of Madness by Joe Abercrombie?

Joe Abercrombie

Joe Abercrombie is known in the fantasy world as lord grim dark, and for good reasons: he writes worlds that are really dark with characters who either have very little redeeming factors or, if they are decent human beings, are forces to make horrible decisions.

He is particularly well known in the fantasy community as the author of The First Law world, which is made of a trilogy, called the First Law trilogy, and three stand alone novels. And Age of Madness adds to this incredible collection of stories and misery.

The First Law world

With the First Law trilogy (The Blade Itself, Before they are Hanged and Last argument of kings), Joe Abercrombie introduces iconic characters, from Logen nine-fingers, inquisitor Glokta and prince Jezal and more characters, including the master from beyond Bayaz.

The three stand alone novels, Best Served Cold (probably my favorite of all times), The Heroes and Red Country also introduced quite remarkable characters, or expanded on existing intriguing  characters, like Monza and Shivers.

All of these books have been page turners for me; I wanted to know more about this world, about the choices of the characters (and I could not wait to see Logen Nine-Fingers come out, making a difference in all circumstances, at the greatest peril for all the people around him. Yes, I understand that this does not make me a good person but seeing this alter-ego coming to life is one of the best things in these stories).

The Age of Madness

The Age of Madness (with its three books, A Little Hatred, The Trouble with Peace and The Wisdom of Crowds) takes place a few years after the events in this world and many things have changed. And some have stayed the same. This allows us to feel in a familiar place with a refreshing amount of novelty. For example, the characters: we still have access to beloved (is this even the term as we are talking about men who do horrible things for a living?) characters, such as Glokta and Jezal. Yet, were have new characters, from Rikke, to Leo and Savine. Perfect characters for this world, delightfully wicked and they fit perfectly in this unfair world.

Novelty

We are at the dawn of the industrial revolution and this colors the world in an interesting way; with this setting, a few are able make a lot of money on the shoulders of others, and there is a blatant disregard for the needs to the workers in the production areas, from it being dangerous to having inhuman work conditions, including underage workers.

This situation will inevitably brew rebellion amongst the abuser and against this system; the Breakers will go big about this problem.

Another element of novelty is the magic system. The First Law world is not great on magic; we know that there is Bayaz and his merry company of magicians, they have long lives and influence human affairs (including through human means, like banks). There has been the occasional use of magic but it was never the center of the story. There is a change in the story here; there is the use of what Abercrombie calls the Long Eye, the ability to see the future. It is glorious and I cannot wait to see it used in the next instalments.

What feels familiar

There are also the traditional issues that we have seen in this world in the past, from Styria and the north - especially the Northmen who are not part of the alliance with Anglandf, the Union - and the problems in the south with the Gurkish Empire, although there is very superficial information about what is happening in the south.

The Northmen causing problems are lead by a few known names, like Black Cauldron but we also have a new generation of people, like the Great Wolf, Stour.  They all have the same goal, to free the north no matter what.

We also know that there are still eaters (and we still do not have clarity whether Bayaz really is one of them or not; will we get an answer in this story?) and we might get a perspective that allows us to know more about these issues.

We also have mages meddling in the day to day activities and Glokta being terrified and warning Savine to avoid Valint and Balk at all costs. In fact, it feels that this is the only aspect that scares Glokta.

Conclusion

I cannot wait to continue in my adventures in Age of Madness. I have read A little hatred, the first book of the series and reviewed it (here): an easy 5-star rating!

Have you read any of the books of Abercrombie in the First Law series? If so, what did you like the most? Would you recommend the series? Also, if you did not read any book in The First Law series what are you waiting for?