Joe Abercrombie

3 universes Last reviewed 2026-08-20

Joe Abercrombie was born on December 31, 1974, in Lancaster, Lancashire, England, and studied psychology at the University of Manchester after attending Lancaster Royal Grammar School. He began his career making tea at a television production company before working as a freelance film editor, a job that gave him the free time to write his first novel. He is best known for the First Law trilogy (2006-2008) and its sequel trilogy, The Age of Madness (2019-2021), as well as the young-adult Shattered Sea trilogy (2014-2015) and the 2025 novel The Devils. His young-adult novel Half a King won the Locus Award for Best Young Adult Novel in 2015, and his novelette Tough Times All Over won the Locus Award in 2014; he was also a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2008. In 2025, James Cameron's production company acquired film rights to The Devils, with plans for the two to co-write the screenplay.

Universe(s)

Books

• The Blade Itself (2006) · First Law World Core Canon
• Before They Are Hanged (2007) · First Law World Core Canon
• Last Argument of Kings (2008) · First Law World Core Canon
• Best Served Cold (2009) · First Law World Core Canon
• The Heroes (2011) · First Law World Core Canon
• Red Country (2012) · First Law World Core Canon
• Half a King (2014) · Shattered Sea Core Canon
• Half a War (2015) · Shattered Sea Core Canon
• Half the World (2015) · Shattered Sea Core Canon
• Sharp Ends: Stories from the World of the First Law (2016) · First Law World Expanded Canon
• A Little Hatred (2019) · First Law World Core Canon
• The Trouble with Peace (2020) · First Law World Core Canon
• The Wisdom of Crowds (2021) · First Law World Core Canon
• The Great Change (And Other Lies) (2023) · First Law World Expanded Canon
• The Devils (2025) · The Devils Core Canon

Aggregate across all universes

These are separate, unrelated universes; the totals below are plain sums of already-published per-universe facts, never a blended or averaged score across them. See each universe's own figures above.

• Total Core Canon books across all universes: 13 books
• Award recognitions across all universes: 5 (2 won, 3 nomination)

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