The Age of Madness

Say this for Joe Abercrombie: he tests himself.

Say this for Joe Abercrombie: he tests his reader.

Say this final thing for Joe Abercrombie: he's never dull.

Fantasy is all too often about preservation of the status quo. There is something inherently conservative about it in that sense. Pared down to its bare bones - and more of those later - pastoral good defeats industrial evil. JRR Tolkein has much to answer for in that sense. Modern fantasy has started to make moves away from this, but change - fundamental societal and technological change - hasn't really been tackled. Even the best modern fantasy - I'm looking at you, Winnowing Flame trilogy - harks back to preservation over progress.

There are, of course, exceptions. And, of course, Joe Abercrombie marks himself out as one of them. The self-appointed (with good reason, it should be said) Lord Grimdark has always challenged traditional fantasy tropes. In the bloody vanguard of the grimdark movement thanks to the First Law trilogy and its associated standalone novels, he has never been afraid to tackle fantasy conventions head-on. You root for the morally grey - or, in the case of the Bloody Nine himself, the out and out black and evil - in a world of questionable morals. Flaws are inherent in his characters. Idealism be hanged; sometimes literally. This is a world that doesn't dress itself up as perfect.

And, when all is said and done, why would you want to preserve a world like this? This is a world where the central nation, the Union, operates under an anti-democratic closed council. Opponents to the oppressive regime are persued by a secret police that uses the most brutal methods possible to preserve (that word again) power for the ruling few. What could be testing for the reader is how dark it can get. This is a violent world. TV Tropes actively describes it, in an understatement, as a crapsack world that actively makes decent people worse. No wonder the people in it hanker after a Great Change.

Abercrombie's writing ranks amongst the best the genre has to offer. This is a dark, depressing world, but it's leavened with humour - often black - that offers respite. We see regular use of catchphrases to build character. Characters' dialogue feels organic. The world-building is consistently superb, particularly as we see the reinvention of an established world. The writing is sharp and focused, with hardly a wasted world. For no other reason, every fantasy fan and writer should make sure they read at least one of his later novels.

If you're looking for pace, then perhaps the Age of Madness isn't the best place to start with Abercrombie's work. My own preference is for the relentless rhythm and power of the Shattered Sea trilogy when it comes to a relentless narrative thrust. And if you're looking for real focus in the characters, the First Law standalone Best Served Cold offers more. But if you want challenge, and ideas, and invention, the best thing to read is undoubtedly the Age of Madness, the third (second? Does a trilogy of standalone novels count as a trilogy?) trilogy in the First Law world.

Change has been in the offing before. Political consequences have always been inherent within the world. Civilisations rise and fall. But most importantly: things move on. Red Country, the final standalone after the First Law, laid the foundations for a revolution. An Industrial Revolution.

And that is where we pick up. Time has moved on since the first trilogy, as we return in earnest to Adua, capital of the Union, for the first time since Bayaz, First of the Magi, destroyed the Agriont to preserve his political experiment. Thirty or so years have passed. King Jezal, put on the throne by Bayaz himself, is nearing the end of his life, his hedonist delinquent son Orso completely unsuited to rule, while the Closed Council continues to rule with an iron fist. In many regards, this is familiar territory. Unchanging fantasy.

But wait. Those changes in Red Country - itself a pastiche of the western genre - are being felt in Adua. The chimneys of industry rise. We hear of canals and capitalism run amok. Iron rails begin to stretch out of Adua, snaking into the Union itself. Investments by the rich are offset by ruthless exploitation of the poor. Simplified, we see the exploitation of the working class through predictably brutal methods.

It is in this world that we see a collection of interesting - and inevitably flawed - characters. Savine dan Glokta, the ruthless daughter of Sand dan Glokta from the first trilogy, is an amoral investor, a manipulator of men, and noted beauty. At the start of the trilogy, she is engaged in an illicit - and inevitably explicit - affair with Prince Orso. Across the sea, in the North, we find Rikke, the Dogman's daughter, blessed, or maybe cursed, with visions of the future. We also find Leo dan Brock, the Young Lion, the closest we find to a hero at the very start of the series.

If that all sounds safe and easy, rest assured it doesn't stay that way as we navigate a fantasy Industrial Revolution and all it entails. I have missed out many characters who are met during the 1,700 pages or so of the trilogy, and it is these characters who offer much of the moral complexity of Abercrombie's writing. These characters mean it is never short of compelling.

And never short of challenging. Change is inherent in what Abercrombie tries to do. This is the work of a writer unafraid of stetching what is possible within the genre. We see many normal low fantasy traits - we have battles, rebellions, plenty of politicking - but we also see a Great Change akin to the French Revolution. Ideas leap off the page, and the extent to which Abercrombie tests the conventions of fantasy becomes apparent the more we progress.

Perhaps it is inevitable in a series of books this wide-ranging and dense. When I say hardly a word is wasted, this is one of the most tightly-written series you'll come across. In a less masterful writer's hands, the books could easily have been twice the length. What it does mean is that unless you're paying full attention, key moments can be missed. It also meant that at times it feels like the Age of Madness is trying to do too much.

That being said, it's always better to stretch both reader and writer than it is to stick with what is safe and secure. And although some aspects of the Age of Madness don't quite land, one way or another, it is still one of the most significant works in modern fantasy. It is a series fundamentally about change, and about people in that change, and it takes fantasy into - if not uncharted territory - territory that has hardly been explored before. On the fringes of the map we see the cartography of a modern master.

Say this for Joe Abercrombie: he's worth a read.