Last Argument of Kings was published by Gollancz in 2008, concluding The First Law trilogy. The title (the Latin phrase ultima ratio regum — traditionally engraved on cannons) announces the novel’s concern with the relationship between power and violence, and its conclusion that they are, in the end, the same thing.
The novel brings every storyline to its conclusion: the Gurkish invasion of the Union, Logen’s final confrontation with his past in the North, Glokta’s political maneuvering in the capital, Jezal’s unexpected elevation, and Bayaz’s revelation of his true nature and purposes. Every resolution subverts expectations: heroes don’t triumph through virtue, villains don’t fall through wickedness, and the revolutionary changes that seem to occur at the plot level are revealed as cosmetic — the same power structures reassert themselves with different faces.
Bayaz’s unmasking as the trilogy’s true antagonist — not the demon, not the Gurkish emperor, but the supposed mentor figure — is Abercrombie’s most devastating critique of the fantasy genre. The wise wizard who guides the young hero turns out to be a manipulator pursuing his own ancient vendetta, indifferent to the human cost, and everything the other characters thought they were doing freely was in fact orchestrated.
The epilogues are brutal: characters return to their original states or worse, having learned nothing, gained nothing, and lost whatever capacity for growth they might once have possessed.
Collecting Last Argument of Kings
First edition (Gollancz, London, 2008): Cloth binding, dust jacket.
Market values:
- First UK edition in dust jacket: $40–$120
- Signed first edition: $80–$200
- Complete First Law trilogy set (first UK editions): $150–$500
- US first (Pyr, 2008): $20–$50