#the age of madness

[firstlawincorrectquotes]

Leo: Wtf am I gonna go to therapy for??? So I can pay money just for some bitch to tell me I'm gay? To find out I'm gay and in the closet? To help me discover that deep down I'm a gay ass homosexual man? Lmao pass. Miss me with that shit. I'm straight. I am straight

#the first law #joe abercrombie #tflicq #the age of madness #leo dan brock

[xserpx]

The new Glokta POV in The Great Change (and Other Stories) is genuinely, actually stupid cute. Sand dan Glokta. Being cute. Damn it Abercrombie, stop making me feel things!!

#the first law #joe abercrombie #sand dan glokta #the great change #the age of madness #and then i remember what happens and i stg every abercrombie hug comes with knives #you can never have too many 🥲

[artbyandia]

Crown Prince Orso

#the first law #the age of madness #orso dan luther #joe abercrombie #fanart #traditional art #watercolors

[konmatfl]

Oh, and we saw.

#foreshadowing seven books in advance? I’m here for it #the first law #last argument of kings #the age of madness #the wisdom of crowds #joe abercrombie

[wizardnaturalist]

just finished the trouble with peace and my number 1 hope for wisdom of crowds is that orso learns that there is a middle ground between "forge nobly and blindly ahead to my goals" and "just do whatever my councillors say because clearly I cant fight them".

orso clearly does care about his people and has notions about what is right and wrong, but he is also so easily discouraged when he fails. was he outmaneuvered by his council? yes, but in his first truly sticky political situation as king, and through that, he learned that the people meant to advise him cannot be trusted to put justice over personal gain. after that, the lesson he took was that clearly he does not actually have the power to simply decree what he wishes.

from here he could go two directions. 1. concede that certain evils are necessary to rule, and thats just the way things are so he might as well accept them. or 2. learn the rules of the game and make his goals known in any way he can. learn to outwit those trying to outwit him.

orso definitely came into himself somewhat on the field of battle. that was probably the first time he took proper control of the situation and had it work out the way he intended. and with a newly repentant sabine in his company again, he may now have the edge necessary to make #2 a real possibility

#the age of madness #joe abercrombie #the trouble with peace

[smalltownfae]

How much do we have to pay Abercrombie to give us at least one Jappo short story? The guy had one single chapter and yet I love him.

#the first law #the age of madness #jappo mon rogont murcatto #joe abercrombie

[namethief]

Orso really is the saddest wettest meow meow and I get it now

#a little hatred #the age of madness #orso #prince orso

[ode-to-fury]

Unpopular opinion maybe but I dud not like the end of the wisdom of crowds

#like i like the resolutions he has for everything #it makes so much sense for glokta to have masterminded it and savine would act like that #and despite my visceral hatred for leonault dan brock i love his character progression #but orso my poor baby orso he was just a puppet just like his dad god i love him he was geuinely a good dude #but the book just sort of stops??? #like where is the rest??? #shovers was smiling tho which means i was smiling #shivers #and rikke my best friend gotta love the northern gang #but yeah it just stops sort of? like it feels like it cuts off almost in the middle of a sentence lol #anyway #joe abercrombie #the age of madness

[beeblackburn]

Top 5 blorbos? 💖

Thank you, @xserpx!

FitzChivalry Farseer (Realm of the Elderlings) - One of, if not the best Fantasy Protagonist out there, how I love to bully him for his poor-ass choices and cherish him for his better ones. How I love to peel away at his layers, but also lose my brains to incomprehensible noise at just wanting to slap him and hug him and tell him it's all going to be okay, and he'll have a very unconventional family by his side, beloved by so many he won't let close.

Sansa Stark (A Song of Ice and Fire) - There are literally whole passages and chapters burnt into my brain from how many times I've reread her material. Easily one of my favorite female characters in fantasy, just this excellent, fleshed-out take on this classic princess, stuck in the tower, kept by captors in shining armor or with handsome locks of hair, but never losing her idealism in the face of abuse and adversity behind closed doors. I keep coming back to the series, mostly for her. She's worth it, despite what everyone in her surroundings thinks and says about her.

Vick dan Teufel (The First Law) - My broken sweetheart. This unbelievably tormented soul, broken down by the system grinding her up and feeling the only way to endure the cruelty and trauma done to her is through being the boot against the necks of people like her once, only to still have a flickering flame of humanity deep down. She managed to grip my heart from the get-go, and she never let go as she peeled away more layers of her self-delusion and repression of trauma, only to realize sometimes, all a person can do is not settle for what they're given, and instead reach for what they want. That last line of hers lingers in my heart.

Black Calder (The First Law) - I'm always terminally Black Calder-brain poisoned. I just love the journey he took from being a spoiled twat whose first impulse at being given a message is to cut off the messenger's head and send it back to his comrades, to a slippery schemer snake who slithers across political campfires and battlefields without his head nailed down, yet can't slip past his own heart in the end, to an embittered, yet determined father who'll torch most his ambitions, sell his very soul, just to protect and save his son at the very end.

Geder Palliako (The Dagger and the Coin) - Oh gods, this utter trash baby. I want to slap him and his pathetic flaws, so attuned to fascism and the banality of evil that comes with it, this up-jumped fool elevated to too high a castle in the sky, this fucking warmonger who would murder a political prisoner out of spiteful rage and wage violence in the name of making world peace and not think through the implications. Yet, he's also such a mew-mew, so curious about the world, just wants peace and quiet to read his books, just wants friends and will settle for people who just don't treat him like shit. Both virtues and vices so intertwined in the same person, unable to be divided so finely. Which is what's so great and terrible about him.

#realm of the elderlings #a song of ice and fire #the first law #the age of madness #the dagger and the coin #robin hobb #george rr martin #joe abercrombie #daniel palliako

[xillionreblogs]

Leo dan Brock ghost acted Ken

My only thought after watching Barbie

#the first law #the age of madness #leo dan brock #xilliontalk

[firstlawincorrectquotes]

Leo: Who else here thought Jurand was my boyfriend?

Leo: Jurand put your hand down.

#the first law #joe abercrombie #tflicq #the age of madness #leo dan brock #jurand

[xserpx]

He wasn’t a lion, he was a scared little boy who didn’t want to die. But it was too late to listen to Mother now.

— A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie

#the first law #leo dan brock #my sweet little idiot lion child ❤️🦁 #joe abercrombie #the age of madness #a little hatred #rereading the fight with stour and fhakdkaldka #tfw you're rooting for both the people fighting to the death #i love the hooks of 'words to live by' and 'by the dead' in that chapter #also stour is hot there i said it don't talk to me about his soul patch it's not there if i refuse to imagine it #also when leo sees 'jurand wincing as if he felt every wound himself' 🥲 i need a lie down

[luckspren]

I'm finally reading the Age of Madness trilogy. I just finished part 4 (so basically part 1 of The Trouble with Peace) and I looove it. I'm trying my hardest to be normal about the series, but my god. Abercrombie is definitely an auto-buy author for me. On the one hand I want to take my time with the rest of the trilogy and on the other hand I can't wait to read more. I am legitimately nervous about where some of those storylines will go.

While I wasn't exactly worried about not liking the trilogy (beause I heard many readers apparently prefer this one to the first trilogy and so far Abercrombie hasn't let me down), next-generation books can be kinda tricky for me, especially if the characters from the books before are still around. But I really like the new pov-characters.

Some thoughts and speculations under the cut:

So far I like the pov of Rikke and Orso the best. I do really enjoy the other perspectives too, though. Broad is probably the one I am least interested in right now

Rikkes prophecy... so up to the lion eating the wolf the events have already happened. So next comes the lamb eating the lion and we already know that Orso is the lamb. With the civil war brewing I have no reason to doubt that. So the question is who the owl represents. I guess the owl is often associated with wisdom, so maybe we are supposed to think that Bayaz wins it all again? Given that every other animal in the prophecy is connected to a member of the next generation though, I think the owl will also be one of them. Savine already likened herself to a snake, so I don't think it's her, even though she has a claim to the throne. So I think it's either Rikke or Jappo who we haven't really met yet, but Styria has to come into the plot sooner or later

(I haven't really considered Vick, Clover or Broad for the owl, because I read the animals/characters in the prophecy more as stand-ins for the nations they lead. Broad also already has the bull as an animal motif and so far Vick and Clover have no real power by themselves, so I just think it's unlikely, at least at this point in the story)

Leo is soooo doomed. It's amazing how he never learns from his mistakes. I don't actually dislike his chapters, but he is a very aggravating character to read about. He is so easily manipulated, I'm sure I still feel bad for him, when his downfall inevitably comes.

also with his colossal mommy issues I still can't quite tell if he's bi and in denial or gay and in denial. Either way, he's definitely into Jurand who I already feel bad for. Like I'm worried about Leos entire friend group. I feel like they are doomed by association. But not only is Jurand the only voice of reason in that group that nobody ever listens to, I also can't see Leo reacting favorably if his feelings ever come to light. Obviously Leo is married now, but I don't think even the friendship would survive, what with Leos pretty severe internalized homophobia. Also there was a moment in A Little Hatred where I thought Jurand may have something going on with Glaward (I think that's his name...definitely something with a G), because it's specifically mentioned that they spring apart when Leo runs through the camp after Rikke has her fit, so I thought maybe a little jealousy would move the plotline along, but that didn't happen. But maybe the Leo/Savine marriage reveal finally will ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Civil war is definitely coming and as I said before, I think Leos side will lose. Right now Orso seems in a worse position with everyone hating him. But Isher and co. seem to bank on the fact that Leo has allied himself with Stour who I can easily see betraying Leo. I don't know, I just think Leo will regret the decision to leave him alive. He should really listen to the women in his life but obviously he isn't gonna

I don't really know how things in the North will progress, now that the Dogman is dead ( :((( ). There is no chance in hell that Rikke will agree to an alliance with Stour and probably she's still pissed at Leo, so I guess she will rally the men (or at least a faction of them) behind her somehow... but the protectorate is also sandwiched between them and that seems like a terrible position to be in on her own.

Also I wonder if Styria will sweep in right after the Union weakens itself by infighting. Or maybe one of the sides will try to ally with Styria. Again that seems more likely for Leos side, buuut...Orso is half styrian and while Terez would fucking hate it, I could maybe see him giving up his claim to Styria entirely in his search for possible allies? He already didn't want to be king of the Union, I don't think he wants Styria. That would certainly be a twist regarding the tensions between the Union and Styria. But then again I don't now how that would fit into Vicks current storyline.

I am suspicious of everything. When Selest told Leo she wouldn't have missed his wedding even if Bayaz locked her in the House of the Maker I immediately went: Tolomei, is that you?? That's maybe more of an easter egg, but I am still pretty intrigued how and when the Bayaz plotline will come more to the forefront.

Jezal died (or was murdered?) and I'm being so brave about it. All in all not surprising. But I was so sure he would be assassinated at the end of the parade for Leo and Orso that I actually got my hopes up that he would at least survive book 1, only for the last chapter title to punch me in the gut. I literally started 2024 with reading his death. At least he died not knowing that his children had an affair.

It's amazing that I actually felt kinda bad for Savine and Orso and that they couldn't be together. It's him not knowing why that makes the situation so frustrating. I am not sure how many people in the story know of her true parentage. Maybe she will tell him herself later in the story. I guess he has to find out somewhere down the line

Given her marriage to Leo, maybe they will even use her parentage to strengthen his cause, but for that to happen, Savine would have to admit it to Leo first and right now I don't see it happening. Also the affair with Orso already seems subject to gossip, so trying to use her parentage wouldn't help her reputation at all (and I think Leo would also react with disgust) and people would for sure doubt the parentage of her own child

Speaking of which, I'm also not sure if I am supposed to question the parentage of Savines child? There was mention that she had her period shortly before Leo came to Adua, but wasn't Valbeck also right before his visit? Given that there are no paternity tests in this world, I am guessing I have to take Savines thoughts on the matter at face value and it's actually Leos child.

Interesting how the national conflicts are also kinda personal because of the partner switch at the end of A Little Hatred. Given that they are married now, I think Savine will support Leo in his treason. Still think he's a bad investment so to speak. So maybe she will use her pregnancy to get back into Orsos good graces once her side is losing.

Clover killing Wonderful also was quite the gut punch. I literally went 'oh no' the moment Stour made the request, because of course he would do it.

I find the similarities between Clover and Vick pretty interesting (in the sense that they both are betraying people around them so easily, at least seemingly)... While I am probably supposed to think that Vick will defect to Styria, the scene with Vitari makes me believe that she might actually stay loyal to Glokta in the long run. Clover on the other hand mostly thinks about his own well-being...and I don't know, I feel like Stour should watch his back around him. If the right opportunity comes along to get rid of him, I think Clover would take it. I would certainly cheer him on and it would endear him to Rikke... so maybe he will end up in her camp.

Even with all my precautions about spoilers, I think I managed to get spoiled about the identity of the weaver. I can only hope that is something that gets revealed soon, so I can go into book 3 completely blind

There is so much more I could write about these books and I am not even really halfway through (I haven't even touched on the breakers/burners etc)...

There is not one pov-character that I can't see ending up as a villain. Even the ones that start out more genial like Rikke and Orso might change for the worse, but Abercrombie does a good job of making them all the hero of their own story, if that makes sense.

I also keep thinking about people who start reading First Law with the Age of Madness trilogy and how that changes the reading experience. Don't think I would recommend that, but things like the half-sibling-reveal probably hit harder.

#First Law #The Age of Madness #A Little Hatred #The Trouble with Peace #first law spoilers #age of madness spoilers #just realized that all my speculations relies on Rikkes prophecy #hopefully Abercrombie doesn't pull the rug out from under me in that regard #I guess I just have to read and find out

[unilateralis]

bro just smoke some chagga and chill the fuck out bro

#art #the age of madness #aom #rikke #the dogman #collem west #westdog #WHAT COULDVE BEEEEEENNNNNNN

[wizardnaturalist]

see, despite the Everything, I had hope that Leo's Forced Cognitive Restructuring would give him new perspectives on what kinds of people (all of them) deserve respect and recognition

but instead it's almost had the opposite effect. hes become embittered to his situation and is losing many of the traits that made him likable despite his character flaws. his honour, his devotion, his belief, have all been sanded away in the pursuit of becoming "stronger"

#still only on part 2 of twoc so no spoilers please #I was actually starting to like him for a little bit there when he started taking control of his life again #but now I just find him even more unpleseant #also savine should kick his ass for even Considering using their children for political gain #the wisdom of crowds #the age of madness #joe abercrombie #leo dan brock #it is taking me forever to read this book bcs I very much dislike a lot of it but thats. how im supposed to feel #the writing is spectacular and is accomplishing its job wonderfully but that still means that im averse to picking up the book #especially after particularly harrowing chapters

[smalltownfae]

Leo vs Orso in one of my favourite chapters of The Trouble with Peace.

Iconic how Jappo had one single scene and he became a favourite. I wish there was more of him.

#the trouble with peace #the age of madness #the first law #jappo murcatto #orso dan luthar #leo dan brock #sad to never see more of jappo and orso's friendship