"Before They are Hanged", Joe Abercrombie

[igenlode]

This definitely is darker than its predecessor, The Blade Itself. Glokta has not one but two men under flag of truce killed, the first less disturbing than the second, and the torture gets rather more explicit. West, who was the one unambiguously honourable and straightforward character in the first book, reveals an unhappy darker side (and becomes a Named Man in a way he would prefer not to have happened), Rape is for some reason The One Unforgivable Offence (even with a woman who has already spent years routinely putting up with it?), and the Dogman becomes chief under less than happy circumstances. Even Bayaz the mage and his hapless apprentice start to look murkier (I was frankly wondering why anyone would take on such an apprentice earlier!) And Jezal gets himself disfigured and nearly killed -- though he does get to put up a decent showing in his first battle, for which I was glad. I've always had a soft spot for Jezal, probably because the narrative is potentially so stacked against him -- he isn't 'grimdark', he is just *callow*, which audiences tend to find much more unforgivable.

The book is also very good, and just as much compulsive reading as the first. However I would rate it lower purely on the subjective grounds that the author has made multiple uses of a trope I always disliked, that of characters investing a vast amount of effort and sacrifice into a goal that is then simply ditched or else discovered to be useless -- it may be realistic, but as a reader I want suffering to be worth something. But that simply affects my enjoyment and in no way reflects the quality of the work.