Steven Pacey is incredible and this universe by Abercrombie just keeps getting better

I wanted to like this book. I love the 1st law Trilogy. I feel that trilogy is what all Grimdark authors will be compared to. I even enjoyed the preceding stand alone BEST SERVED COLD.That being said I didnt like this book at all. I DNF'd a little more then 1/2 way through. Bottom line was I just didn't care about any of these characters, of which there were many. Most of them I had to constantly go back to figure out who this person was. In many cases i didnt even know who was on which side and really what the hell they were fighting about... A hill? Additionally the only 2 characters that pulled me in which was Bayaz, and Ishri, were dangled in front of us in the beginning of the book and then are not heard from 1/2 way through. This was a miss for me

the narrator is probably the best I've ever heard. His range in character voices is unbelievable. His pace and spirit taking voices is enthralling. It's impossible to imagine anything better. I am a big fan of this series. It seems to me that this is the least interesting story. It's a tale of a battle being fought in the northern country of Abercrombie's "circle of the world" told from point of view of different characters. Unlike the other stories we don't have a lead protagonist to follow on a journey of change. It seems that despite all of the conflict none of the characters experience any personal drama that affect their development. Still a very entertaining listen. I love the stories that come from this world especially being read by Stevn Pacey.

I cant get enough of the world of the First Law. I hope Joe Abercrombie has some new Series on the way.