Erica's Reviews > Last Argument of Kings

Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie
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did not like it

I left 4 stars for books 1 and 2, even though after book 3, I really wanted to dump all the books. It has been a while since I read any fantasy book and books 1 and 2 were a great reintroduction, or so I thought. Books 1 and 2 had great characters, action, and storylines. And I thought there was even some character development going on and general progress as far as the storyline was concerned. It all came crushing down with book 3. I understand that the author wanted to express the view that sometimes things just turn out badly and history repeats itself, but could there be ANYTHING redeeming about anyone of the characters? I felt like I completely wasted 2 weeks of my life reading these books, when all it needed was chapter 1 of book 1, with the ending line "and no matter what events happen in between, everyone will be exactly the same and everything will still suck at the end of the saga." I think of all the good books I could have read in the time it took me to read these three. What a waste of my time....
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Reading Progress

Started Reading
June 30, 2009 – Finished Reading
July 17, 2009 – Shelved

Comments Showing 1-4 of 4 (4 new)

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Christopher Yes, yes, and triple yes. Lets have characters evolve and grow and change for 2 and 9/10ths of a book and then what will be really cool and different is if I just all change them back at the end. Eff me, Abercrombie? No, eff you!


Joseph Ahn Exactly how I felt after reading book 3. I'm fine with dark endings, but forcing a dark ending to make some belabored point about how "things never turn out well" is self-indulgent and ridiculous. Not the least because that ending solely relies on Bayaz's own ridiculous level of power. Instead of showing that "the world is dark," all the book showed was that "Bayaz is an asshole." Complete waste of time...


Macie Cantrell I think the books were redeeming in a real and raw way. I think that's what made the trilogy so great to me. I think many authors are afraid to go where Abercrombie has and for that, I tip my hat. This man is the real deal and the author of a true grit fantasy trilogy I'll never forget.


Larry Uh yeah like Jezal is the same? West is the same? Bayaz? Uh not so affable. I think you tried to hard to create a theme for your review but it really holds no water whatsoever. Maybe you didn't like it but your reasons make no sense.


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