- 2025-11-02 *
The Trouble with Peace is the second book in Joe Abercrombie’s Age of Madness trilogy, and so far it’s lived up to the quality of his heavily-praised First Law series.
As is always the case with Abercrombie, we get a compelling cast of heavily-flawed characters who are all trying to bend a dark and gritty world to their own whims—with plenty of chaos that comes from those decisions.
The first third of the book felt a bit slow, but around the 30-40% mark things begin to speed up quickly. I thought this was Abercrombie’s most tightly plotted book so far…
- 2025-11-02 *
The Trouble with Peace is the second book in Joe Abercrombie’s Age of Madness trilogy, and so far it’s lived up to the quality of his heavily-praised First Law series.
As is always the case with Abercrombie, we get a compelling cast of heavily-flawed characters who are all trying to bend a dark and gritty world to their own whims—with plenty of chaos that comes from those decisions.
The first third of the book felt a bit slow, but around the 30-40% mark things begin to speed up quickly. I thought this was Abercrombie’s most tightly plotted book so far, which is one of the main critiques of his first novel (and perhaps the First Law trilogy as a whole).
There’s tons of political intrigue as different players in the Union fight for more power and society reckons with an industrial revolution that brings immense wealth to a few and brutal conditions for the many.
Abercrombie’s action sequences are as brutal and visceral as ever, and his character work remains strong throughout. The political chess game, scheming and maneuvering was my favorite aspect of this book.
I found myself liking some characters a lot more in this book compared to the first (Orso, Rikke and Clover) and really rooting against others (Leo and Savine) in the best way. Whether you like them, hate them or are indifferent (Vick still doesn’t move the needle much for me) all of the characters are distinct and feel like their decisions have a real impact on what happens in the world.
Overall: 60
- Characters: 65
- Prose: 60
- Plot: 65
- Worldbuilding: 55
I use the 20-80 scale to rate things.
Highlights
- Vick knew all this, of course. She made a great deal of effort to go into every job well informed. But she preferred to keep her knowledge to herself whenever possible, and let others imagine themselves the great experts.
- “I know. But if you’re furious whenever the Closed Council does something infuriating, you’ll be furious all the time. Rare anger can be inspiring. Frequent anger becomes contemptible.”
- Bayaz only smiled wider. “Recognising one’s own ignorance is the first step towards enlightenment.
- “If it cannot be helped then stop complaining. Be Orso the Stoic.”
- “I have come to believe… that the heart of a society… is revealed in its prisons.”