Is 'A Little Hatred' Part Of A Series, And What Is The Reading Order?

Absolutely, 'a little hatred' kicks off the 'Age of Madness' trilogy, and it's set in Joe Abercrombie's gritty First Law universe. While you can enjoy it solo, reading the original 'First Law' trilogy first makes the experience richer. The order goes: original trilogy, then the standalones ('Best Served Cold', 'The Heroes', 'Red Country'), before starting 'A Little Hatred'. The book's industrial age setting brings new conflicts, but old faces appear, and their histories matter. New readers might miss some nuances, but Abercrombie writes it so you won't feel lost. The sequel, 'The Trouble With Peace', follows directly after.

I recently dove into 'a little hatred' and was thrilled to discover it's part of Joe Abercrombie's larger 'Age of Madness' trilogy, which itself is set in the same world as his earlier 'First Law' books. The reading order matters if you want the full experience, but you can technically jump in here if you're okay with missing some background. For the complete picture, start with 'The Blade Itself', then 'Before They Are Hanged', and 'Last Argument of Kings'. These set up the world and characters that reappear in the 'Age of Madness' books. After those, the standalone novels 'Best Served Cold', 'The Heroes', and 'Red Country' add depth to the universe before you hit 'A Little Hatred', 'The Trouble With Peace', and 'The Wisdom of Crowds'.

What makes 'A Little Hatred' special is how it builds on decades of in-world history while introducing new protagonists. You'll catch references to past events that hit harder if you know the backstory. The industrial revolution themes feel fresh compared to the earlier medieval focus, showing how Abercrombie's world evolves. Characters like Savine dan Glokta carry legacies from their parents' generation, making prior knowledge rewarding but not essential. The book stands on its own with its brutal battles and political schemes, but longtime fans get extra layers from recognizing how far the Circle of the World has come since the original trilogy.

I see a lot of debate, but the order is clear. 'A Little Hatred' is Book 1 of The Age of Madness. To fully appreciate it, read the First Law trilogy, then 'Best Served Cold', 'The Heroes', and 'Red Country'. Those three aren't side stories; they're the engine that drives the world forward. They cover about fifteen years of history, showing the aftermath of the first trilogy's wars and the seeds of the coming revolution.

When you start 'A Little Hatred', you're meeting the children of the previous era. Their parents' wars, compromises, and sins are the bedrock of the society they live in. The factories are built on old battlefields. The unions are formed by veterans of meaningless wars. The political schemes are refinements of older, cruder betrayals. If you skip the middle books, you miss the cause-and-effect that makes this world so bitterly coherent. Abercrombie is a historian of his own fictional world, and the standalones are the essential archival records.

It's the start of The Age of Madness, which is a sequel trilogy to the First Law series. For the optimal experience, you should read the preceding six books first. That's the original trilogy and the three standalones. The standalones are particularly important because they cover the years between the two main series and introduce you to the state of the world. 'Red Country', for example, gives you essential context for certain characters' later appearances and the expansionist mood of the Union.

If you skip ahead, you'll miss the profound impact of seeing characters you knew as young, idealistic, or vicious now aged, bitter, and in power, dealing with their spoiled and frustrated children. The central theme of the new trilogy—generational conflict and the failure of progress—only works if you have that baseline. You need to have witnessed the old wars to understand why the young are so desperate for change, and why the old are so desperate to stop them. It's a magnificent, bloody family drama on a continental scale.