Which Joe Abercrombie Book Is The Best Starting Point For Newcomers?

Since The Fires of Alira one thousand five hundred years ago, dragons have lived separate from the other races in Midgar. They rarely make contact with others, unless in terms of conflict. Eleonora is the descendant of the dragon sovereign, and will one day assume the throne of the Perilous Horde herself. The horde, despite years of murky conflict, forges an alliance with the human kingdom of Samirya located in the northern region. It is no longer a matter of petty bickering. Now, with the eve of a Great War looming over them, both groups lives depend on a truce. As conflict thickens and land disputes grow increasingly more bitter, the chieftain of the Perilous Horde makes a final desperate move to unite the two worlds: the dragons will send an ambassador to protect the humans capital city of Mimmgar from the oncoming invasion. And who should be that ambassador be but Eleonora? Eleonora just hopes to complete that task quickly so she can return home, but soon finds that the humans are nothing like she expected. Forming an unforeseen connection with the human king, and becoming captivated by a young blacksmith, she begins to question everything she's ever known and learns that her homeland may have some terrible secrets of its own. Book one of A Dragon’s Legacy.

The first book in a series about Gods, Godesses, treachery and betrayal. Follow the main character as she learns her strengths and fights to restore the balance of light and dark.

Manolya Kara’s world is defined by what is missing. Her mother is gone, her father is an unreadable stranger wrapped in dangerous secrets, and now, the woman who raised her is losing her only sister to an unnatural disappearance. As the small Turkish coastal town of Akyaka descends into panic over a legendary creature that judges the guilty, Manolya is forced into a war she didn't know existed when she opens an antique box she was never meant to touch. The result? Guided by a snarky demon from the fall of Constantinople bound in the form of a cat, Manolya uncovers the Hellblades: rubied scimitars that bleed red light and force monsters into the open. Swept into the dangerous obsidian dimension, Manolya and her cousins must train under a ruthless weapons master and learn to fight alongside a demon, or become the next victims sacrificed to the darkness.

War is coming, and this time it is more than personal. For generations, the Stormborn lineage has carried one story like a scar, the former Draconis destroyed their empire and left their bloodline in ruins. The Red Alpha grew up on that story. He was raised on it. Fed with it. Every lesson, every battle, every scar carved one belief into him, when the Draconis rises again, it must be put to death. But fate has a cruel sense of humor. Because the new Draconis is Lyra. She doesn’t fully understand what she is yet. She only knows she’s being hunted. Villages are being wiped out. Borders are closing. The wolf clan are preparing for open war. The vampire council is divided, each elder with their own hidden agenda. And somewhere deep within the forbidden forests lies a power that could either protect her or expose her. The Red Alpha knows more than he admits. He knows what the last Draconis did. He knows secrets about Lyra’s blood that even she doesn’t know. And he is not just preparing for battle. He is preparing revenge. As the Blood Eclipse approaches, alliances will begin to crack, previous betrayals will surface again, and the truth about the former Draconis will threaten everything. Because this isn’t just history repeating itself. This is unfinished hatred. And when Lyra finally steps into the fire, the world will learn whether she is their salvation... Or the final mistake.

The protagonist of this story is a young adult fan of classic dice role-playing games; suddenly the protagonist awakens in a world of magic and fantasy in the body of the final Boss of a magical castle; Accompanied by his loyal Generals, the protagonist will experience the greatest adventure of his existence using the title of Witch-king as his middle name.

In a world dominated by a ruthless empire, Nia Wolfsong, an Omega survivor of a border massacre, has spent years hiding in the shadows, driven by vengeance and a desire to dismantle the empire that destroyed her village. Her mission: to bring down the emperor and everything he built. But when she crosses paths with Ash Ravenspine, a former general of the empire who has been manipulated and twisted by the very forces Nia despises, everything she believes is put to the test. Ash, once a loyal soldier, has spent years fighting for an empire that turned him into a weapon. Betrayed by his own, he is forced to confront the darkness of his past and the man he has become. Together, Nia and Ash form an uneasy alliance, navigating a world where loyalties shift and survival is the only certainty. As the rebellion against the empire grows, Nia and Ash must face not only the empire’s wrath but their own fractured pasts. Love, betrayal, and revenge intertwine as they fight for freedom—knowing that every victory might cost them everything. In a battle for a new world, who will survive, and at what cost?