Joe Abercrombie

War may be hell but for Monza Murcatto, the Snake of Talins, the most feared and famous mercenary in Duke Orso's employ, it's a damn good way of making money too. Her victories have made her popular - a shade too popular for her employer's taste. Betrayed, thrown down a mountain and left for dead, Murcatto's reward is a broken body and a burning hunger for vengeance. Whatever the cost, seven men must die.

Her allies include Styria's least reliable drunkard, Styria's most treacherous poisoner, a mass-murderer obsessed with numbers and a Northman who just wants to do the right thing. Her enemies number the better half of the nation. And that's all before the most dangerous man in the world is dispatched to hunt her down and finish the job Duke Orso started...

Book 1 in the World of the First Law series.

Prince Yarvi has vowed to regain a throne he never wanted. But first he must survive cruelty and the waters of the Shattered Sea. Gathering a strange fellowship of the outcast and the lost, he finds they can do more to help him become the man he needs to be than any court of nobles. But even with loyal friends, Yarvi’s path may end in tragedy. Book one in series.

Princess Skara has been left with only words. She must conquer her fears and sharpen her wits to a lethal edge if she is to reclaim her birthright. The deep-cunning Father Yarvi has made allies of old foes and stitched together an uneasy peace. But now the ruthless Grandmother Wexen has raised the greatest army since the elves made war on God. And when Mother War spreads her iron wings, she may cast the whole Shattered Sea into darkness…Book three in the series.

Thorn is a girl touched by war. Desperate to avenge her dead father, she lives to fight. But she has been named murderer by the very man who trained her to kill. Fate traps her in the schemes of cunning minister Father Yarvi, crossing half the world to find allies against the High King. Will Thorn forever be a tool in the hands of the powerful or can she carve her own path? Book two in series

They say Black Dow's killed more men than winter, and clawed his way to the throne of the North up a hill of skulls. The King of the Union, ever a jealous neighbour, is not about to stand smiling by while he claws his way any higher. The orders have been given and the armies are toiling through the northern mud. Thousands of men are converging on a forgotten ring of stones, on a worthless hill, in an unimportant valley, and they've brought a lot of sharpened metal with them.

Over three bloody days of battle, the fate of the North will be decided. But with both sides riddled by intrigues, follies, feuds and petty jealousies, it is unlikely to be the noblest hearts or even the strongest arms that prevail.

Book 2 in the World of the First Law series.

On the battlefields of the North, the next generation of would-be heroes rushes to make the same bloody mistakes as the last.

While the age of the machine dawns, the age of magic refuses to die. One might glimpse the future, through the curse of the Long Eye, but changing it is another matter altogether.

The chimneys of industry rise, the cities seethe with opportunity, and even kings must kneel before the new power of the banks. But in the slums, anger is brewing, and soon it will boil over with a rage that all the money in the world cannot control... 

Book 1 in the Age of Madness series.

Shy South hoped to bury her bloody past and ride away smiling, but she'll have to sharpen up some bad old ways to get her family back, and she's not a woman to flinch from what needs doing. She sets off in pursuit with only a pair of oxen and her cowardly old stepfather Lamb for company. But it turns out Lamb's buried a bloody past of his own, and out in the lawless Far Country, the past never stays buried.

Their journey will take them across the barren plains to a frontier town gripped by gold fever, through feud, duel and massacre, high into the unmapped mountains to a reckoning with the Ghosts. Even worse, it will force them into alliance with Nicomo Cosca, infamous soldier of fortune, and his feckless lawyer Temple, two men no one should ever have to trust...

The past never stays buried...

Book 3 in the World of the First Law series.

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, the 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…

Sharp Ends combines previously published, award-winning tales with exclusive new short stories.

Unrest worms into every layer of society.

The Breakers lurk in the shadows, plotting to free the common man from his shackles, while yesterday's heroes nurse grievances and noblemen bicker for their own advantage.

The King of the Union struggles to find a safe path through the maze of knives that is politics, only to see his enemies, and his debts, multiply.

The old ways are being swept aside, but those who would seize the reins of power will find no alliance, no friendship, and no peace, lasts forever.

Book 2 in the Age of Madness series.

The Breakers and Burners have seized the levers of power, the smoke of riots has replaced the smog of industry, and all must submit to the wisdom of crowds.

With nothing left to lose, Citizen Brock is determined to become a new hero for the new age, while Citizeness Savine must turn her talents from profit to survival before she can claw her way to redemption. Orso will find that when the world is turned upside down, no one is lower than a monarch. And in the bloody North, Rikke and her fragile Protectorate are running out of allies... while Black Calder gathers his forces and plots his vengeance.

The banks have fallen, the sun of the Union has been torn down, and in the darkness behind the scenes, the threads of the Weaver's ruthless plan are slowly being drawn together...

Book 3 in the Age of Madness series.