Lamb falls easily into the role of the Man with No Name as he plays a pivotal role in a frontier town torn apart by two feuding gangs like in A Fistful of Dollars, with one of the faction’s leader being another favourite from Abercrombie’s previous books. More specifically, it seemed to me that Mr Abercrombie was paying homage to spaghetti westerns by Sergio Leone. There are cattle drives, prospectors participating in a gold rush, and raids by indigenous natives who take trophies of their victims by cutting off scalps ears. I could tell that Mr Abercrombie was having a ball of a time playing with Western tropes. This kicked off an epic chase by Shy and Lamb across the country to rescue the children, and in their journey, it became increasingly obvious that Lamb is not the man Shy thought he was (though longtime First Law fans would immediately recognise this particular very large, very strong and very scarred old Northman). Red Country is set in the Near Country and Far Country west of Starikland, but functionally, they represent the lawless frontier region of the American Wild West-so yeah, this book is Mr Abercrombie writing a western, yee-haw! The story follows Shy South who lives on a farmstead with her cowardly stepfather, Lamb, when a band of outlaws burned their farm down, murdered an old family friend, and kidnapped her two younger siblings. Sharp Ends, which was published after Red Country, is a delightful collection of short stories which explores the backstories and fates of multiple memorable characters which appeared in all of Mr Abercrombie’s books, with a connected series of chapters following the compelling (and oft hilarious) adventures of the thief Shevediah and the muscleheaded, comically horny Javre as they Forrest Gumped their way through many major events in the First Law world.
The Heroes is a multifaceted military story which succeeded in giving depth to both sides of a conflict while also digging deeply into the very concept of heroism itself. Best Served Cold was a powerful revenge fantasy set in the Italy of the First Law world. It was high ideals, even, and low methods.īy this point, I have read all the standalone books between Mr Abercrombie’s first First Law trilogy and his second First Law trilogy, and my esteem for this author only grew ever higher.
It was violence divorced from conscience or consequence. It was bad luck, incompetence, and stupidity.
It was selfishness and carelessness and waste. It was small men with their small acts and their small reasons. Not cackling demons plotting in the darkness beyond the world. Not sneering Emperors with their world-conquering designs.
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