By the end of Before They Are Hanged, I realized Abercrombie's core idea with this series is subverting fantasy novel tropes. He indicates this early on in The Blade Itself with the sheer brutality of the violence and how grounded he keeps each physical sensation. The characters break bones, scrounge in the mud, and burp. My brother and I even joked about the number of times Abercrombie uses the word "gurgle."
But these relatively small choices hint at the direction of the larger plot, which, by the end of Before They Are Hanged, isn't all that much clearer. All you really know by the end is that one war is brewing, another is well on its way, and our characters are no closer to finding a peaceful solution. They may, in fact, have made a huge mistake.
Subversions continue throughout the book. The wise leader of the circle of the Magi is quick to snap at others, is frequently out of commission due to his use of magic, and is so obviously hiding something that other characters frequently call him out on it. The other Magi we meet are even worse. Our heroes have similarly severe flaws, and their growth trajectory seems far from linear at this point.
If you can't tell, I'm really liking this series. I think its edginess dates it a bit to the mid-2000s, it was originally published in 2007, but it's well worth a read.
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