Quick Question about First Law world books!

[MrMischief]

Hey all, I'm reading the First Law trilogy right now and I was just looking around online at Joe's other books and saw that Best Serve Cold and Heroes was out. Can anyone tell me if those two books have anything to do with the First Law Trilogy and if so, what time are they set in?

I'm just trying to get a chronological mindset as to when those books take place in relevance to the First Law books.

Thanks!

 

[Heck Tate]

I haven't read Best Served Cold or Heroes yet, but from my understanding, they take place in the same world as the First Law trilogy and at roughly the same time, but the characters are completely different and they're considered stand-alones, meaning you don't have to read the trilogy to understand them (though I assume it would help).

 

[MrMischief]

I've read the summary for both Best Served Cold and Heroes. I can tell from BSC that it is in the same world, but takes place somewhere else, but I'm not sure of what time frame it's in.
As for Heroes though, it says that Black Dow is the king of the North, which has to mean it's after the First Law Trilogy...but I'm not sure Tis confusing.

 

[nixie]

Both books take place after The First Law Trilogy. Best Served Cold is next chronology.

 

[biodroid]

They are stand alones in the same world with slight references to the trilogy, I stand corrected as I have only read the first 2.

 

[nixie]

Yep spot on, there are slight references to the trilogy and also in Heroes there is some reference to Best Served Cold. Both books can be read as stand-alones and can be enjoyed without reading the others.

 

[MrMischief]

Ok cool, I'm just a stickler for reading things chronologically.

 

[Dead Riverdragon]

I think Best Served Cold is a couple of years after the First Law, and The Heroes something like 8 years after...

 

[biodroid]

I think you would get more from reading the trilogy first

 

[viZion]

Just finished The Heroes last night. I love these books. There's a lot to be said for just being damned entertaining instead of trying to be overly "epic" with 800 plot lines and twists like many other fantasy series.

Anyway, read them in order. First Law trilogy, then Best Served Cold, then The Heroes. Yes, you *could* read the latter two before the trilogy since they are standalone novels but you'd miss a lot of what's happpening. Basically, minor characters in The First Law trilogy end up becoming major characters in the next books so it helps to know what came before. The latter two also make many, many references to the trilogy.

 

[holyground]

You should read these books in order. As others have said, minor characters from the trilogy become major characters in the other books, and events that happen in the trilogy effect Best Served Cold, and BSC's events effect The Heroes. I have read each of the books twice and this world is amazingly rich and vibrant.