Talk:The First Law

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Books

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The following are reference ideas for The First Law. Click [show] for details.

The following reference(s) may be useful when improving this article in the future:

The First Law trilogy
- Landon, Justin. "The Joe Abercrombie First Law Trilogy Reread". Tor.com. Retrieved 21 September 2021. (Contains 50+ articles that could be cited as sources for in-universe information.)

Standalone novels
- Hogan, Ron (6 September 2011). "Firsts In Fantasy: Joe Abercrombie's Best Served Cold". Tor.com.
- VanDerWerff, Emily Todd (17 March 2011). "Joe Abercrombie: The Heroes". The A.V. Club.
- Alexander, Niall (7 February 2011). "The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie". Strange Horizons.
- Alexander, Niall (13 November 2012). "The Good, the Bad and the Joe Abercrombie: A River of Blood Runs Through Red Country". Tor.com.

Age of Madness trilogy
- Wolfe, Gary K. (2 February 2020). "Gary K. Wolfe Reviews A Little Hatred by Joe Abercombie". Locus Magazine.
- Shurin, Jared (17 September 2019). "Joe Abercrombie's A Little Hatred: A Book at War With Its Past". Tor.com.
- Hopkins, Eloise (15 September 2020). "The Trouble With Piece by Joe Abercrombie. Review". British Fantasy Society.

Contextual Nationality

Are we certain that the Union resembles the British Isles? To me it seems more reminiscent, in terms of its culture and whatnot, to the Roman Empire or other Mediterranean civilisation, and a lot of the names seem rather Germanic. To me, the North seemed more like Britain, abeilt ancient Britain (and, as a British person, my opinion carries some amount of weight). I am seeing a lot of parallels to support my argument - for instance, the section of the North occupied by the Union, Angland, is not only similar in name to England, but the modern-day English are (largely) descended from invading Germanic tribes. Its not definitive by any means, but still. Further comments on the subject would be appreciated.

I agree that the Union more closely resembles something like the Holy Roman Empire than the British Isles, in any case the statement has no basis. Also whilst the book does have a 'medieval' flavour, the Union itself is more like a renaissance culture without gunpowder; the size of the sailing ships, the art of fencing, the use of massed pike formations in military operations, the prevalence of full plate armour, architecture etc.

What we need to do is find third party reviews to cite as sources. Master z0b (talk) 22:24, 2 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Expansion

I am looking through other more developed articles about fantasy/fiction trilogies/series to determine the best way to expand out this article without having to create subpages for each book (although that is an option). Most seem to have a sections that detail an overview of the plot, information about the fictional setting, and characters. Because the settings of the novels are detailed and interesting in their historical echoes, I think it would be worthwhile to highlight them. In addition, this is one of the more popular books to deal with the questions that emerged during the "War on Terror" and issues surrounding torture and morality, a "theme" section might also be relevant. Behemothing (talk) 12:48, 24 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

You seem to be doing a great job improving the article. Your section divisions seem appropriate, and I agree a themes section should be created. --Odie5533 (talk) 21:53, 24 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Please add basic information about the plot

I'm really missing the plot. Could anybody please start to describe what the basic story is about? 84.152.59.70 (talk) 23:37, 28 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Issue still active. Plot description is non-existent. Instead the page focuses on the inspiration for the name of the books (which should be in its own section). Baylorborn (talk) 07:01, 29 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I am currently reading the series and will add plot information as appropriate. Finnigami (talk) 19:21, 8 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

"Abercrombie's works Best Served Cold and Heroes have been recommended by author George R.R. Martin."

This is unsourced.

Individual Book Pages

Abercrombie is one of the few fantasy authors of his stature who does not have individual wiki pages for each of his books. He's written nine very popular full-length fantasy novels and not one of them has a wiki. Look at Pierce Brown, Sanderson, and others, and you'll see that each of their books has a page with an intro, cover art, a side panel with bibliography info, a plot summary, a development/writing history of some kind, and some sort of publication/reception section.

I can't for the life of me figure out why nobody has done this with Abercrombie. He's sold millions of these books. Seems like an oversight. 38.75.6.194 (talk) 00:38, 7 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Bibliography

Abercrombie is a quite prolific author and this page lists some but certainly not all of of his published works. I'm not sure if it would be better to list his entire bibliography on this page, create a separate page for his bibliography, or separate pages for his individual books (or at least the more notable ones). In any case, the current incomplete state of the page is clearly not an option. Any thoughts? Andyharbor (talk) 04:04, 4 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Wiki Education assignment: Writing in Digital Environments

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 13 January 2026 and 1 May 2026. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): RJBOYKIN (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by 1974TB (talk) 14:55, 9 April 2026 (UTC)[reply]