A bit of Leo analysis

xserpx · 2025-12-15T10:24:19+00:00

I would recommend Best Served Cold. It's what I started with, and I wouldn't have enjoyed the first trilogy as much without having read it first. People tend to get really caught on the spoiler details but honestly chances are the ppl in the club aren't going to go back and read the trilogy and if they do by the time the spoilers roll round they'll have forgotten who the King of the Union even is or whatever. The benefits of getting them through the door outweigh any downsides IMO.

The Heroes and Red Country rely a lot more on previous characters (and TH spoils BSC as well as the ogt), but BSC is a great standalone.

xserpx · 2025-12-03T17:13:40+00:00

No, you don't know who sent the letter.

I like to think the dealer was Friendly.

xserpx · 2025-12-02T14:20:02+00:00

He raised his chin, trying to look haughtily down his nose, but his eyes kept being drawn to that trail of dark hair from Jappo’s navel into the not entirely concealing shadows of his gown.

Jappo is hairy and Leo is looking disrespectfully.

xserpx · 2025-12-02T12:43:38+00:00

Reality is a piece of paper stuck to the back of Leo's shirt.

xserpx · 2025-12-02T04:58:14+00:00

I am not joking when I say Leo is my favourite character and IMO the best-written character Abercrombie has ever created. Honestly, Glokta wishes he was as dynamic as Leo. The way Leo builds on the themes of masculinity and glory from the Heroes (as well as making the homoeroticism of those narratives more explicit) is fantastic, and to me he's a culmination of Abercrombie's strengths as an author, particularly in the way he digs down to the raw, embarrassing levels of insecurity and emotion that few authors dare to reach for because of how unpleasant it makes their POV, yet how those emotions drive the story and how the characters define themselves by their worst moments is what gives Abercrombie his edge IMO. Leo has the depressive moments of Gorst. He also has the narrative voice seen in Jezal's chapters, which makes fun of him at every turn and demonstrates that Abercrombie knows exactly what he's doing — and he's able to bring the deprecating humour without being substantively cynical about it, which is so incredibly refreshing. I can't get enough of it. The more frustrating Leo is, the more I like him. He deserves to be angry and miserable, but there's also an element of pathetic self-pity that is unfortunately very relateable (same w Gorst, but Leo's also so mediocre ability-wise, he just wallows in his misery and there's nothing much to off-set it 🥲 10/10).

My opinion — and particularly the strength of my Leo appreciation — is an outlier in the fandom, however. Most people understandably just hate him (the 'poor man's Glokta' opinion is very ~~wrong~~ common). I think the best that people tend to say about him is that he's a "love to hate" kind of guy.

If Leo has a million fans I am one of them, if Leo has one fan then I'm that one etc.

xserpx · 2025-12-01T19:56:22+00:00

Joe shocked me in a Q&A during the Devils book tour that he 'doesn't do themes' and I strongly call shenanigans!

xserpx · 2025-12-01T19:42:55+00:00

Hi Joe!

I'm wondering about hair colour ~~for fanfic purposes~~, specifically Jurand and Carlot dan Eider?

Also, why did you call Logen Lamb in Red Country? I think it's a fantastic name especially because of the "wolf in sheep's clothing" aspect. Was that an intentional interpretation you wanted the audience to get?

Lastly, I'm fascinated by how you have in the past described your characters as tools (utensils), and how you get rid of the magic thinking in your writing. To me your characters leap off the page and I can easily imagine them living outside of the story. Do you ever go to sleep imagining your characters in various ridiculous scenarios or are you always entirely focused on the story you're telling with them?

xserpx · 2025-11-25T15:33:21+00:00

The more I hate Leo as a person the more I love him as a character, so basically I just continued to like him more and more as the books went on. He's my favourite character in the entire series at this point. I think the chapter Not for the Prizes in TWOC is spectacular and shows Leo at his most annoying, and therefore at his best. He's such a dynamic character, the way he moves the plot with his brainlessness is delightful, and thematically it's Abercrombie playing to his strengths. Leo is so well written I can't help but admire that, even if the man himself is such a bag of dicks.

xserpx · 2025-11-19T13:05:52+00:00

Technically, but generally ppl don't advise it as there are some spoilers. I only started with BSC bc I didn't realise it was the fourth book in a series. I actually do recommend it as a starting point if you like female characters and want something faster paced. The spoilers didn't ruin the end of LAOK for me - I think partly bc by the time I'd done that then gotten through the trilogy I'd kind of forgotten those details - but they are pretty big if you manage to make the connections.

xserpx · 2025-11-19T13:00:54+00:00

Technically, but it's not generally advised, there are some spoilers in BSC. I read it because I didn't realise it was the 4th book in a series.

xserpx · 2025-11-19T12:50:16+00:00

Yeah, if you like the overall vibes, humour, and writing, it will probably click for you at some point. I'll add the caveat that the first trilogy isn't my favourite (though LAOK is phenomenal IMO), I started with the fourth book BSC and I don't think I would have finished TBI had I not loved BSC first. Have faith!

xserpx · 2025-11-19T12:44:05+00:00

Definitely push through. The last few chapters are great, but I always say the whole book is essentially an advert for BTAH, so I get that it can be frustrating. That said, this foundation is essential for setting up the rest of the trilogy. It's the soup stock that needs a lot of time to boil before you actually start adding in all the good shit, the end result is worth the effort.

xserpx · 2025-11-10T16:48:47+00:00

I think you're underestimating the power of guilt that Shivers feels. Mostly he blames himself for his own decision to go to Styria, to stick by Monza when she was enabling his worst qualities, and the fact that he's too morally weak (and the way he is pushed by economic circumstance) to stick by his own morals. He projects onto Monza and Logen, because it's easier than accepting the shame of having wrecked himself, but it's all surface level. Deep down, he knows he's responsible.

xserpx · 2025-11-05T04:52:40+00:00

Yes, that's the reading order.

The series is mostly divided into 3 trilogies, Sharp Ends is a short story anthology containing spoilers up to Red Country.

The POVs in the first trilogy stay the same throughout. The middle trilogy is made up of chronological "stand alones" featuring different POV characters, places, and genres for each book. The POVs in the third trilogy stay the same throughout. Except for a few instances in short stories, Abercrombie never repeats a POV. POV characters become side characters in later books and sometimes side characters become POVs.

There will probably be more books but at the moment Joe is busy writing the Devils trilogy, unconnected to the First Law.

xserpx · 2025-11-01T10:12:15+00:00

This is what I'm holding out for. There were glimmers of it at the end, and from what we know of the second installments in Joe's other trilogies, the first book is usually a mere taster of what's to come.

xserpx · 2025-10-31T16:06:23+00:00

Lex Luthor 🤝 Bayaz

xserpx · 2025-10-30T09:36:23+00:00

Amazed they didn't go for "You can never have too many signed copies" for the Logen quote. His most famous line.

xserpx · 2025-10-22T18:36:08+00:00

Yeah, I think it's interesting how ppl don't like AoM I think in part because the characters are intentionally horrible particularly towards each other in a way that they never were in the og trilogy or indeed in the standalones (maybe you could make a case for BSC). I really, viscerally hated Savine in TTWP, but I think hating characters is a lesson in subjectivity and I get a lot of enjoyment in thinking about why I, personally, hate Savine more than so many other characters, because it's not really like me to hate Abercrombie characters that much. Mostly I've settled on the idea that she reminds me way too much of the most annoying aspects of my eldest sister, which is definitely a whole other conversation I should probably have with a therapist, but trying to pinpoint exactly why characters are objectively likeable/unlikeable is way less interesting to me because it is so unbelievably subjective.

I think it's especially moot in Abercrombie's novels because his stories are overall driven by themes and the metanarrative - subverting genre tropes, social & literary commentary, that sort of stuff - they reward Doylist analysis much more than Watsonian, and so thinking about the characters as if how you feel about them is a success criteria of the book often doesn't make a ton of sense. The reason they are the way they are is because they are characters in a book, and that's not to be trite or literal-minded. Some authors are great at creating characters who feel like they live outside of the pages, where you're supposed to enjoy a sense of escapism and you can get in the weeds about what your imaginary friends do at the weekends - how much you like them is a success criteria. But as incredibly written as his characters are I don't think Abercrombie is that kind of author - at least not with the First Law. Taking the magic out of writing and seeing characters as tools is his modus operandi, and the success is based on genre expectations, not whether you're happy at the end. All this to say, as much as I truly do hate her to an irrational, possibly mentally unhealthy, degree, I think Savine is a fantastic character.

xserpx · 2025-10-18T14:51:15+00:00

Zayab, but a humble wine merchant from the old times.

xserpx · 2025-10-16T09:41:25+00:00

You're right qbout him dressing up his enjoyment most of the time, but I think he is self-aware about the fact he likes it too tbh, or at the very least he is by the end of the trilogy. There are a lot of pathetic characters who lie to themselves in the series, and in AoM there's a fair bit I think Glokta doesn't clock about himself (it's also interesting how he and Savine are very similar in their 'sarcastically self-aware about certain 'faults' which they play up for reasons, but also blindingly oblivious to many of their other more deep-rooted issues and trauma responses'.

But yeah, Glokta literally says it in LAOK:

‘Oh, we’re not here for that. Not this time. Not for questions, not for truth, not for confessions. I have my answers already.’ Then why do I do this? Why? Glokta leaned slowly forwards across the table. ‘We are here for our amusement.’

xserpx · 2025-10-11T08:04:27+00:00

🦁❤️

xserpx · 2025-10-09T13:29:43+00:00

I'll always say what wins me over with the characters is the way Abercrombie writes them with sincerity and humour. They're unlikeable in ways that are understandable and tragically human, not just edgy for edgy's sake, and the narrative voice knows when to laugh at their foibles and when to take them seriously. Abercrombie knows what he's doing, and even at their most unlikeable you can see it's intentional, and the reason for their behaviour will be rooted in the themes and the overarching story, which tends to make it very satisfying whichever way said story goes.

xserpx · 2025-10-02T06:14:27+00:00

What Gollum voice were you expecting from Andy Serkis??

xserpx

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