The Last Argument of Kings

During the reign of the French King, Louis XIV, the cannons were inscribed by his order with “Ultima ratio regum” or “The Last Argument of Kings.”  This is also the title of the final book in Joe Abercrombie’s First Law  trilogy.

I discussed this series after having read the first two books.  I loved the series, I recommended it and I figured that was pretty much the end of it.  But the third and final book was so incredible that it has increased my respect for the series exponentially. 

If I had any problem with the first book, the sequence of events felt a little preordained.  The gathering of heroes for a quest by a wizard felt a bit cliché, even if those heroes were far from typical.  But I take it all back.  None of it is cliché.  Instead, it explodes the clichés, tears apart what we think of as a fantasy series.

First of all, it’s a wild ride.  Some plot developments I surely saw coming.  Others totally took me by surprise.  But nothing felt like a twist for the sake of being a twist and nothing felt unrealistic.  It’s wonderful to see a series wrapped up so well in three volumes.  It is dark and bleak, surely.  But it is also satisfying.

There were times I cheered, times I laughed out loud, times I was stunned, and times I was freaking frozen - unwilling to turn the next page for fear of what I would read (page 501 is an example if you’re curious).  That’s an accomplishment by the author.  But that’s not even my favorite thing about this series.

A few really minor spoilers from old books (not Last Argument) after the jump…

It’s all about the characters.   Ah, but let me get a nitpick out of the way…I did not think Ferro’s character was as well developed as the others.  Beyond that, these characters are absolutely amazing and the interaction between them doubly so.  What’s more, they are eminently human.  They change, they grow, they take steps forward and also steps back.  They struggle (or don’t struggle) with very difficult choices.

This mix of very human characters and gray morality is something I feel will revitalize the fantasy genre.  When I was younger I liked the escapist fantasy of a good hero battling evil and winning against the odds.  But today I enjoy more realistic characters and a less clear-cut division between right and wrong.

Back in the day, it seemed like every book I read had purely good heroes.  Sure, some were unlikely (Bilbo Baggins) or questioned why fate had chosen them for this role.  For a time it seemed like every novel featured someone from our world transported into a fantasy realm.  But they were inherently good people.

Of course, then there were books in which the hero is somewhat dark (say Vlad Taltos) or a rogue, but they essentially remain static and essentially do the “right” thing.  I also started to read more books where good people have to make dark choices (see, e.g. Fitz in the Farseer series).  This was more interesting, but series such as A Song of Ice and Fire have taken the blurring of right and wrong to another level, as well as showing us characters who do evil deeds but still seem human and still have the potential to change.  I’m not saying this is a totally new development.  If I recall, Thomas Covenant committed a deplorable act and yet changed over the course of the series and that was written in the 70’s (my memory of the series is admittedly vague).    But with Martin it seems like the purely good characters are uninteresting (we never get a Robb Stark P.O.V. and he could be considered the most classic “hero” in the series).  But he shows us the humanity in the darkest of characters and shows us that people are complicated.  Not only do the good guys not always win, sometimes it’s hard to tell who the good guys even are.

What happens in Abercrombie’s series is even more unusual (yet painfully real).  Even within this trend he breaks clichés.  Sometimes people may change into “better” people in one situation but end up backsliding when in familiar territory.  Sometimes people truly improve themselves and want to do good but it just doesn’t matter.  I could say a lot more about this but I’m not spoiling it. 

Another interesting development in fantasy is playing with the reader’s perception of things.  We might know something happened but not know the motivations behind it.  To use Martin again as an example, we know Jaime killed a King.  This isn’t a spoiler or a mystery - he is introduced as the Kingslayer.  There’s no question it happened…but why did it happen?  Was it for good?  Evil?  Neither?  Whose view of the events do we believe?  Does the motivation really matter anyway or just the end result?  Abercrombie likewise makes us wonder who we, as readers, can trust and who we agree with.  And that’s a very different feeling than your typical fantasy novel.

I was an English major and I could see people in seminars discussing and arguing about the characters and “truth” in this book for weeks.  I don’t think that will actually happen since genre fiction is looked down on, but it could.  It’s interesting in a lot of ways traditional fantasy isn’t but it somehow manages to succeed as fantasy as well.  

I know Abercrombie didn’t start this realistic movement or trend in fantasy.  But I think he really delivers on some of its potential.  Obviously, being innovative, realistic or anything else means absolutely nothing if your writing sucks.  But Abercrombie is a compelling writer.  This novel, and the entire series, is an amazing accomplishment and I hope people recognize it as such.  Thanks to Karn and his stalking ways for recommending this series…I don’t think I would have picked it up otherwise.