Matt reviewed Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie
Last Argument of Kings and The First Law trilogy
4 stars
Content warning Super Spoiler filled thoughts
Finished this trilogy a few days ago, and have been thinking on it. My first thought was "That's it?? That's how you're ending it? The good guys didn't really win, everything's a mess. No happy endings" but the more I thought about it, the more it grew on me. None of the good guys were particularly good. Maybe The Dogman. Was he the only good character that made it to the end? I loved most of the characters though, especially Logen and Ferro. But man, Logen was messed up. Was waiting for some revelation about his beserker murdery side, which seemed quite supernatural, but no. The whole trilogy is a series of shitty people doing shitty things. The ending could be considered a good one, in that the invaders were crushed, the kingdom saved. The big baddies were cannibals after all - they can't be considered the good guys, but, were they really bad? Gosh it's so murky and bleak but also points of light and defiance.
The conclusion sits on my soul like a stone, and I need to think on it more.
i.e. I think I loved it?