Before They Are Hanged continues exactly where The Blade Itself finished, following the same group of characters. I am not going to go into each character's individual storyline because, one there are so many the review would be too long, and two I don't want to spoil anything but each storyline is engaging and I didn't feel bored reading one POV and hoping to get to another characters which I enjoyed more, all characters go through exciting challengers and show real growth as people which I loved to read.
Joe Abercrombie has rightly received a lot of praise for his character work, I raved about it in my first review, but what I think goes slightly under the radar is how good a storyteller Abercrombie is. His pacing of this book in particular is masterful, keeping you engaged and eager to read on whilst also going slow enough to allow the characters room to grow.
Also his world building is incredible. In this book we learn more about the history of the world, mainly through the Bayaz storyline and Abercrombie gives enough history to flesh out the world whilst avoiding slowing the story down.
This is a fantastic continuation of the story, that builds on the characters introduced in the first book, and moves the plot forward to what I feel is going to be an amazing ending.
If you haven't read The Blade Itself because you were wondering if the rest of the trilogy was good, then do not fear. If you have read The Blade Itself then definitely pick up this book, I don't think you will regret it.
