Last Argument of Kings

At last I come to the final installment of the excellent First Law trilogy. We finally see how our 'heroes' end up, whether their quests were all in vain, or whether they can save themselves in one last bloody blaze of glory. In doing so can they actually become better people? But what you need to know is that debts are called in, war horns sound, and with fire and steel we come to the Last Argument of Kings!

From the First Law wiki

As the ending to a trilogy, I couldn't really ask for better. The characters have their important arcs wrapped up, the many mysteries which the series are, mostly, answered. The fact that it leaves us with an open ending for the future while bringing the main trilogy to a satisfying conclusion is part of what makes it such a stand out work. 

We have our main cast, Luthar, West, Glokta, Ferro, Logan and Dogman as they have survived war, treachery and pointless quests. Each has risen, or fallen, in the world and learned to take stock of their new surroundings. Some of that though is bloody difficult. And emphasis on bloody. I will endeavor to be brief to avoid any spoilers because this series really deserves to be read in full. Needless to say though, the quest in the west has ended, the Siege of Dagoska is over and the war in the North is still bleeding on! There's scores to settle across the Circle of the World.

The interesting highs that a few characters reach are well worth watching. It makes for some very, very satisfying turns of events. I quite enjoyed how the little things each book added up over time led to this fiery conclusion which worked so well. I liked the action, the tension, and the true pulse pounding terror I felt at parts of the story. No punches were pulled here.

Like any good author, Abercrombie severely raised the stakes across the entire trilogy, no less in the last acts of this story. Every time you thought he might have run out of surprises he throws more at you. I found myself being pleasantly (and unpleasantly) surprised at how the story ended up turning out. There were some betrayals I didn't see coming (or even remember before this re-read), a few fun twists, and some overall great scenes in both terms of action and revelations. The churning chaos behind the scenes is almost as fascinating as what we see on screen as the players begin stepping out of the shadows and various pieces begin to click together in your head.

Then of course he just doubles down on the action. The blood runs red in this piece, and I really felt the viscera flowing alongside the heroism and pointlessness of war here. It locked in a sense of powerlessness the powerful might feel at the top as well as showing how much a bird's eye view of events might not offer us as much control as we think. The great ending set piece battle really drove that home and I was amazed at how well Abercrombie orchestrated it.

Having finally reached the end of the trilogy, I couldn't be more satisfied with my re-read, and really recommend the events of the First Law trilogy to lovers of fantasy.