I enjoyed the first book in this series, "The Blade Itself", but was not captivated by it. I didn't go out and buy the sequel straight away as I might with another series, and was thinking about letting the series go... but ultimately I added it towards the end of my Christmas list. Therefore "Before They Are Hanged" came as an extremely pleasant surprise, improving greatly on the first book. This is probably the best fantasy book I have read in the last year, mixing a bit of David Gemmell's "Legend", a lot of humour, and some good old-fashioned questing in exotic locations. On the negative side, I do not enjoy the torture scenes at all and think they are over-the-top. However, on the whole, it's nice to have a "dark" fantasy that also has some escapism and adventure. So if you were unsure about continuing the series, I highly recommend giving it another go!