Before They Are Hanged
core novel 2007 First Law World
Record
| First published | 2007 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.36 (234,161 ratings, collected 2026-09-11) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9781591026419 |
Synopsis
The second novel in Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy is told across three parallel plotlines. Inquisitor Sand dan Glokta investigates the mysterious disappearance of a colleague amid growing political unrest, Colonel Collem West faces a military campaign as King Bethod's newly unified Northmen threaten the city of Adua, and Logen Ninefingers journeys alongside the wizard Bayaz, the escaped slave Ferro Maljinn, and the vain Jezal dan Luthar to the edge of the known world in search of something that may help turn the tide of the growing wars. As the Union fights on two fronts, against Bethod in the north and the Gurkish Empire in the south, each plotline edges the characters closer to the deeper manipulations behind both conflicts.
Where it sits
- Universe: First Law World
- Series: The First Law (trilogy) core; position 2 of 3 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Joe Abercrombie
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series The First Law (trilogy): position 2 of 3: previous The Blade Itself (2006) · next Last Argument of Kings (2008)
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Abercrombie
- https://www.grimdarkmagazine.com/grimdark-classics-review-hanged-joe-abercrombie/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_First_Law
← First Law World dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.