Joe Ambercrombie books (The First Law Trilogy)

He's become one of if not my favorite fantasy authors. His books are gritty, and darkly funny at times. Where he really shines in my opinion are his characters. They're all (mostly) fleshed out, and you find yourself caring about them. Even the dispicable ones (like an unrepentant torturer, or the drunken mercenary.) Have you guys read anything by him? If so what do you think?

 

I've read all his books, he's one of my favourites.
I think it's hilarious that his "nicest" characters are a torturer and a schitzo psychopath, and yeah, he does characters SO much better than most authors these days, I got a little sad each time one of Ninefingers band died off.
His "young adult" series is surprisingly good too, a bit lighter than the First Law books but only a bit.

 

I'd considered checking out his young adult series, but never got around to it. I just got his book of short stories, how is it? I'm waiting to read it until I finish reading the series again, I'm on "The Heroes" right now.

 

Sharp Ends ? It's fucking awesome, does a real good job of filling in a lot of the blanks in peoples background stories and such.
I did the same actually, read them all through again so I'd appreciate the new tales better, It works, a lot of the characters are fairly minor ones I would have forgotten otherwise.
I was reading his blog the other day and apparently he's finished a rough draft of the first book of the new trilogy, I think he's hoping to have it out early next year.

 

Yeah Sharp Ends. I didn't know he was doing a new trilogy. That's good. I have at least one fantasy book to look forward to. Lord knows G.R.R. Martin is never going to fucking finish Winds of Winter. I'd ask you who your favorite characters were, but if you're like me you can't choose favorites (although Ninefingers comes close.)

 

That's another good thing about Abercrombie, he actually keeps to his schedules and churns out 1 book a year like a real author (not mentioning any names GfatlazyfuckRRMartin).
I'd probably say Ninefingers was my favourite, he's just a guy who tries his best and fucks up a lot.
Who also happens to be a raving psychotic ...

 

I really like how Ninefingers and the Bloody Nine are basically two personalities. He does a good job of playing the differences between the two. The character development is great with all the characters. They really evolve through out the series. With actual concrete changes, that are realistic to the stories.