Before They Are Hanged

Before They Are Hanged is a book that I have a hard time putting my feelings on into words. This book was certainly an enjoyable one, but I have some pretty major frustrations with it after my time spent with it.

But, let's start with the positives first, as those outweigh the negatives by a fairly large margin.
The characters are still absolutely stellar, much like they were in The Blade Itself, each PoV character having an extremely strong voice in their inner monologue, giving you a more defined feeling of who they were.
A
s per the last book, Glokta remains my favourite, and if he carries on this way in Last Argument Of Kings, he'll end the series as my favourite character. But, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Jezal, who earns the most improved award, this time actually having some semblance of a character arc, which is genuinely very entertaining to read, albeit rather tropey.

This is great, since in TBI, he was a bit of a tool, and his chapters could occasionally turn into slogs if it was just him pottering about. This time he feels like a centerpiece for his chapters, instead of something that we're forced to endure while he experiences other people doing things.
Logen's old band is also a standout in this book, despite their minimal page time, and I'm very excited to see more from them throughout Book 3

The expansions to the world in the book are also a joy. We get more of an insight into the North, though I do wish that we were able to see more of an advancement of that plot however, as barring one major event following a hike in the woods, there really wasn't much going on in the North.

The journey west was a really enjoyable romp, with some super enjoyable action sequences, and fantastic worldbuilding, both for the history of the world, and the magic system.

Then there's Glokta's journey to Dagoska to fend off the Gurkish hordes was my favourite part of the book however. I love politics in fantasy, so seeing court politics in the middle of a siege was really fun, especially with Glokta's sardonic running commentary. This combined with further insights into his personal history made this a really fun section for me to read.

Other than that, there's the same usual positives for First Law. The dialogue is tight, and at times out right hilarious, the prose is solid, and it's pacing is perfect. But I do have a major issue with the book.

Ending spoilers are gonna follow, so I recommend not reading past here if you're yet to read the book. 4.5 stars out 5, I highly recommend reading it.
Anyway, onto the mini rant.

Why was a huge portion of the book wasted on the quest for the Seed, only for it to mean literally nothing at the end. I genuinely felt a little robbed of my time after reaching that twist. I get it, Macguffins fucking suck. They're almost never done well, so this is a twisting of that trope. But my god, it wasn't done well in this book in my opinion. Obviously my feelings on this are subject to change depending on how LAOK handles the fallout from this, but this being pulled didn't make me all that desperate for book 3. I'm still going to continue, as I have heard nothing but praise for the ending, but holy shit, I hated the conclusion to that story, especially considering it was the one I was most interested in.