Books › Before they are hanged
Before they are hanged
784 pages
A mud-spattered, blood-soaked journey where the only thing sharper than the steel is the biting gallows humor.
What it feels like
Reading this feels like marching through freezing mud with a group of people you despise, only to realize they are the only ones keeping you alive. The narrative moves at a brisk, relentless clip, dragging you through a grim, war-torn landscape where traditional heroism goes to die. It is a deeply cynical yet incredibly entertaining experience, anchored by visceral prose that shifts seamlessly between brutal action and laugh-out-loud dark comedy. The atmosphere is thick with dread, political backstabbing, and the sheer exhaustion of survival. It will absolutely delight fans of grimdark fantasy who prefer their characters morally bankrupt, their battles chaotic and unglamorous, and their dialogue sharp enough to draw blood.
- Mood
- bleak
- mud-spattered
- tense
- grim
- Tone
- cynical
- darkly comedic
- gritty
- wry
- pragmatic
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- moral ambiguity · futility of war · burden of leadership · survival at all costs · corrupted heroism
- The writing
- Visceral and sharp, driven by distinct, heavily internalized character voices and laced with biting gallows humor.
- The arc
- Transitions from reluctant, bickering alliances to a sobering, cynical acceptance of a brutal and unforgiving world.
- Who it's for
- Readers who love their fantasy grim, their heroes deeply flawed, and their dialogue dripping with sarcasm and wit.
Content notes
- graphic violence
- torture
- gore
- profanity
- war trauma
About the book
Superior Glokta has a problem. How do you defend a city surrounded by enemies and riddled with traitors, when your allies can by no means be trusted, and your predecessor vanished without a trace? It’s enough to make a torturer want to run – if he could even walk without a stick.
Northmen have spilled over the border of Angland and are spreading fire and death across the frozen country. Crown Prince Ladisla is poised to drive them back and win undying glory. There is only one problem – he commands the worst-armed, worst-trained, worst-led army in the world.
And Bayaz, the First of the Magi, is leading a party of bold adventurers on a perilous mission through the ruins of the past. The most hated woman in the South, the most feared man in the North, and the most selfish boy in the Union make a strange alliance, but a deadly one. They might even stand a chance of saving mankind from the Eaters. If they didn’t hate each other quite so much.
Ancient secrets will be uncovered. Bloody battles will be won and lost. Bitter enemies will be forgiven – but not before they are hanged.
Description from Open Library.
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