The second novel in the First Law trilogy splits the cast across three campaigns, none of which go as planned. Bayaz leads a small group - including Logen, Jezal, and Ferro Maljinn - west across the edge of the map in search of a weapon from the Age of Heroes. Glokta is sent to hold the besieged city of Dagoska against an overwhelming Gurkish army, with insufficient troops, uncertain loyalties, and the usual bureaucratic obstructions. And West marches north with the Union army to relieve a fortress under siege, discovering that military command bears little resemblance to military theory. Abercrombie's middle volume is where the series' moral complexity fully emerges - characters change, and not necessarily for the better.
