Sharp Ends: Stories from the World of the First Law
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Sharp Ends: Stories from the World of the First Law Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Joe Abercrombie (Author), Steven Pacey (Narrator), Hachette Audio (Publisher)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 5,026 ratings
Editors' pick Best Science Fiction & Fantasy
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Sharp Ends is the ultimate collection of award-winning tales and exclusive new short stories from the master of grimdark fantasy, Joe Abercrombie.

Violence explodes, treachery abounds, and the words are as deadly as the weapons in this rogue's gallery of sideshows, backstories, and sharp endings from the world of the First Law.

The Union army may be full of bastards, but there's only one who thinks he can save the day single-handed when the Gurkish come calling: the incomparable Colonel Sand dan Glokta.

Curnden Craw and his dozen are out to recover a mysterious item from beyond the Crinna. Only one small problem: No one seems to know what the item is.

Shevedieh, the self-styled best thief in Styria, lurches from disaster to catastrophe alongside her best friend and greatest enemy, Javre, Lioness of Hoskopp.

And after years of bloodshed, idealistic chieftain Bethod is desperate to bring peace to the North. There's only one obstacle left - his own lunatic champion, the most feared man in the North: the Bloody-Nine….

For more from Joe Abercrombie, check out:

The First Law Trilogy

The Blade Itself

Before They Are Hanged

Last Argument of Kings

Standalone Novels in the First Law World

Best Served Cold

The Heroes

Red Country

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  1. Listening Length
    11 hours and 49 minutes
  2. Author
    Joe Abercrombie
  3. Narrator
    Steven Pacey
  4. Audible release date
    April 26, 2016
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Hachette Audio
  7. ASIN
    B01DWED05C
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 11 hours and 49 minutes
Author Joe Abercrombie
Narrator Steven Pacey
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.com Release Date April 26, 2016
Publisher Hachette Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B01DWED05C
Best Sellers Rank #7,963 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#27 in Fiction Short Stories
#56 in Science Fiction Anthologies (Books)
#57 in Action & Adventure Short Stories (Books)

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
5,026 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Ryan
5.0 out of 5 stars Say One Thing for Joe Abercrombie...
Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2016
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…say he’s a sharp end.

Joe Abercrombie, the self-styled “Lord Grimdark” took the fantasy world by storm in the mid-2000s with his First Law trilogy. Part epic fantasy, part satirical deconstruction of Lord of the Rings, and part black comedy, the trilogy introduced us to Abercrombie’s snarky, endearing, and at times utterly horrific menagerie of characters. It will make you laugh, it will make you blanch, and in the end it will leave you with complete emotional exhaustion.

The term “grimdark” is a tricky phrase. It means different things to different people. Abercrombie writes a dark world, true, but the moments of genuine beauty and the goodness that human beings are capable of shine through that much brighter for all the muck and grit that covers things. The Circle of the World is a place where being a good man or woman is very hard. But people still try. Sometimes they fair, sometimes they succeed, but the struggle is what makes you root for them. Words like “good” and “evil” often have no place as value judgments in Abercrombie’s world. To paraphrase Logen Ninefingers, sometimes it’s just a matter of where you’re standing.

In addition to the First Law trilogy, Abercrombie wrote three stand-alone novels set in the same world, bringing his unique Tolkien-meets-Tarantino flavor to the revenge story, war story, and frontier western genres. Sharp Ends is a collection of short stories that’s pans across his entire First Law timeline, the first coming before the beginning of The Blade Itself, and the last taking place after the end of Red Country. We see some old familiar faces, and are introduced to some new ones as well. These stories have the same combination of comedy, tragedy, violence, and brutality that makes Abercrombie’s other work so brilliant. The cast of characters is diverse, and real in such a profound way that I honestly don’t know how he manages to keep pumping them out.

Sharp Ends is the best fantasy collection that I’ve read since George R.R. Martin’s cross-genre anthology, Rogues (which also featured Abercrombie’s Nebula Award winning story, Tough Times All Over). In addition to Tough Times All Over I also have to praise A Beautiful Bastard, Made a Monster, and Some Desperado, though all of these stories are worth the price, and all of them have their own sharp ends…
63 people found this helpful
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Just A Guy
4.0 out of 5 stars Some Wheat, some Chaff
Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2020
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At it's best, this book is a fun interweaving of short stories into the fabric of Abercrombie's First Law (and "World of...") novels, which I'd recommend reading through The Heroes before tackling this. Some seem to have been written to give Joe some pre-history on some of his characters, while others let us see events we've already seen through new eyes. Some of these stories involve the same repeating set of characters in various short adventures, some the characters from the other books in little vignettes, and some are just set in the same world but don't intersect the books very much.

I'd rate two-thirds of the stories (especially the ones with the thief and the warrior-priestess) as good to excellent. The remaining third are just okay. There's a fair amount of humor in most of these stories, but some are just grimdark and one, in particular (the courtesan in the Best Served Cold intersection) is just sad, sad, sad.

I think that this is a must-read for Abercrombie fans, but don't expect too much. Some of these stories were never intended to be seriously published (appearing in fanzines and the like) and it shows. The best of them, though, are as good as Abercrombie gets.
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Mal A.
5.0 out of 5 stars Good backstories, unanswered questions.
Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2016
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As always, Abercrombie's writing is dark, brutal, and somehow hilarious at the same time. Many of these stories appeared in various anthologies , which was something of a disappointment to me as I was looking forward to all-new material. That said, I love some of the new characters and the fleshing out of some familiar characters, as well as the unexpected links made between characters that had never met before. It did give me some new questions, though. Mainly, there's a point where it says that Bethod "created" the Bloody-Nine but it doesn't say how. Glokta's story was frustratingly short...I was REALLY looking forward to details about his time on the Girlish dungeons :( But at the same time, I was ridiculously excited to see the reappearance of Murcatto, even if only as an aside.

One of Abercrombie's "failings" is that he has so many characters that are so interesting and so well fleshed out that I want to know the backstory of all of them. For example, I am dying to know the story behind Shenkt and his relationship with Vitari, and why he despised Bayaz so much. But c'est la vie.

This collection was entertaining, if far too short. I can only hope that Abercrombie keeps writing in the world of the first law now that he's done with his young adult series. He is still far and away my favorite grimdark author along with R. Scott Bakker (for entirely different reasons). Bravo! Write on.
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A. Fanning
5.0 out of 5 stars Great collection of short stories and scene vignettes.
Reviewed in the United States on May 18, 2020
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I loved this collection of short stories. This reads best if you are already familiar with the other books in Abercrombie's world of the First Law however. (The Blade Itself, Before They are Hanged, Last Argument of Kings, Red Country, The Heroes, Best Served Cold, etc.)

Some of these are short stories that stand alone by themselves. Others are just a scene from one of the books, but seen through the eyes of a peripheral character. I found these all delightful, remembering which story the familiar characters were from, or edifying as many of them fill in some back story or character development not shown in one of the main books.

If you have read some of the books, there are lots of familiar faces here, or new characters with the people, places and events of the books lending a backdrop for the action. If you have not read the books, this collection serves as a brief introduction to Abercrombie's vivid descriptions and gritty realism in a fantasy setting, hopefully leaving you wanting more.
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Gabriel Guandalini
4.0 out of 5 stars A good read to First Law fans
Reviewed in Brazil on February 3, 2022
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A very good book with good stories that complement the view around the main characters in the First Law series. Some of the short stories are a bit boring, but most are enjoyable.

However, is a book only for hard fans of First Law fans.
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m.h.
5.0 out of 5 stars great read.
Reviewed in Germany on March 29, 2024
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adventurous and enjoyable.
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Alessio Macignato
5.0 out of 5 stars Imperdibile raccolta di racconti
Reviewed in Italy on December 11, 2018
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Per chi ha amato una delle trilogie fantasy migliori di sempre, una raccolta imperdibile. Abercrombie dimostra di non avere perso nulla del suo inimitabile stile, regalandoci una straordinaria galleria di personaggi nuovi e conosciuti. In meno di trecento pagine da prova di una maestria e di una padronanza della scrittura che i vari Senderson, Jordan o Erikson si sognano di raggiungere nelle loro inutili, pompose e indigeste saghe.
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Perceptive Reader
3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but...
Reviewed in India on October 14, 2017
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Too much of a good thing can be bad.
No, it’s not one of those pearls of wisdom that arrive uninvited at your mobile via WhatsApp or some Facebook meme. It’s a realisation.
And the book under review can be considered as one of the shiniest cases corroborating aforesaid observation.
It began spectacularly with a story where an unlovable character dissects one of the most spectacularly nasty characters I have come across. Yes, I’m talking about Colonel Glokta, as he goes about doing his usual stuff. But these are the days before he had to leave his soldierly days, and the story had an edge about it that truly shines. I fell in love with the collection almost immediately.
Then came other stories, mostly about lovable, yet twisted & crooked characters, whom no sane person would allow under their roof unless the sharper end of a sword gets pressed to his or her delicate organs. All of them, and the characters portrayed therein, followed similar patterns, ending similarly, i.e. without much joy, and leaving sour taste of treachery and pungent smell of frustration at their wake.
As you can understand, love started getting lost first in routine, then became boredom, then became “Oh, God! When am I going to see the end of all these?”
Then it ended. Mercifully.
But not before giving me some alloyed pleasure.

So, the contents, for your benefit: -
1. A Beautiful Bastard
2. Small Kindnesses
3. The Fool Jobs
4. Skipping Town
5. Hell
6. Two’s Company
7. Wrong Place, Wrong Time
8. Some Desperado
9. Yesterday, Near a Village Called Barden
10. Three’s a Crowd
11. Freedom!
12. Tough Times All Over
13. Made A Monster

Therefore, humble submission, please read these books with ample spacing in-between.
And, if possible, stick to the ‘First Law’ novels. Glokta is, undoubtedly, a beautiful bastard. To read about his exploits, as he weaves magic using basic tools like torture, deception, blackmail etc. would guarantee that warm feeling which you get while handling things that can result in vicious cuts, but are so-so shining!
Recommended, with care.
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FZ
5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable
Reviewed in France on January 16, 2018
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J'ai adoré la trilogie The First Blade et stand alone. Ce recueil de nouvelles est plus qu'à la hauteur du reste de l'oeuvre.
J'avais hâte de retrouver les personnages connus mais les nouveaux se sont montrés encore plus attachants.
Comme toujours, les histoires sont pleines d'action et très bien écrites, et le livre lui-même est très beau, ce qui ne gâche rien.
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