Before They Are Hanged

Glokta arrives in Dagoska to run a city besieged by the Gurkish and find out what happened to the previous inquisitor, who vanished. He hunts traitors, bargains with whoever he can and holds the walls longer than anyone expected. In the North, the war against Bethod goes badly: Colonel West tries to save Prince Ladisla's army, and the Dogman and his crew fight on their own. Bayaz leads Logen, Jezal, Ferro and others across the Old Empire to the edge of the world in search of the Seed. The trip breaks Jezal's face and his pride, and Logen and Ferro grow close. In the end, Dagoska falls, Glokta returns to Adua, and the relic is not where Bayaz expected.

1. Behind the scenesForgive, but later

   The title comes from Heinrich Heine: we should forgive our enemies, but not before they are hanged. Part one opens with an epigraph from the German poet.

   source ↗
2. ReferenceThe Great Leveller

   The first chapter is called The Great Leveller. The name came back in 2015 as the title of the omnibus collecting the three standalones.

   source ↗
3. ReferenceDagoska from another angle

   The siege of Dagoska gets another point of view in the story Hell, in Sharp Ends.

   source ↗
4. Behind the scenesTwo US publishers

   The trilogy first came out in the US from Pyr. Later Orbit, which already published the standalones, put out its own editions.

   source ↗