Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Before They Are Hanged

amazing follow up to the first book. I enjoyed this one a lot more, especially because of the character development of Jezal and Ferro (kinda). West went from me liking him to cheering him on to me being disgusted by him and I love it (get your misogyny checked tho, you're being insufferable).

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garrpla's review

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adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

From The Blade Itself spawns Before They are Hanged- a novel worthy of being its successor in the sense that it succeeds in almost every aspect that The Blade Itself was lacking.

Further development into the characters reveals a softer side of them, even those such as Jezel who I originally despised! It is also significantly darker and more violent than the previous novel, though the action for me added to the entertainment.

Before They are Hanged truly starts and continues to shape the direction of the trilogy, though the ending is not what we readers expect.

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lostkorok's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

An improvement over the first book, with more stakes and a bit more of the mysterious past disclosed to the readers.

Yet I feel political intrigues could have been better developed; some characters were removed without having had sufficient importance to the reader to actually care for them, the implications of their disappearance later explain by the author through other characters' dialogues. Not a good way to make one feel the stakes, or to connect with the situation.

There's also some sexual relationship starting in this book that feel a bit abrupt in their flourishing, as if they were written just for the sake of adding them, and not because character development or plot really built up to them (in my opinion).

All in all, still a good read, better than the first book I feel, but still short of a 5 for what I expected of this genre.

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atalea's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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casualk's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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broke_buiscut's review

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adventurous dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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rheagoveas's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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chrisb913's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I loved almost everything about this book. We continue on our journey following all our multiple pov's including (my favorites) Glokta, Logen, and The Named Men. Abercrombie continues to provide such a gritty dark world yet somehow incorporates so much humor into his writing. I was chuckling throughout this entire book. There is a bit more of a plot in this book than there was in book 1, so you are finally (kind of) understanding what the whole overarching plot for the series is but imo this continues to be a more character driven storyline.

Honestly the only thing holding this back from being a 5 star series is the absolute lack of depth to the women. Ferro is better in this book but is still really being played up as the angry woman trope. The other two women (1 introduced and the 2nd was recrurring) were again used only for plot points and did not really have much depth or personality outside of being love interest for men. I have heard that Abercrombie's women start getting better in the first standalone Best Served Cold, so we will see.

Overall, I am enjoying this series and I am excited for book 3!

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