Джо Аберкромби - A Little Hatred - Book One (The Age of Madness)

To the man with a thousand voices: Steven Pacey.

For keeping the wolf on the right side of the door: Robert Kirby.

To all the writers whose paths have crossed mine on the Internet, at the bar or in the writers’ room, and who’ve provided help, support, laughs and plenty of ideas worth the stealing. You know who you are.

And lastly, yet firstly:

The great machinist, Gillian Redfearn. Because every Jezal knows, deep down, he ain’t shit without Bayaz.

The Big People

Notable Persons of the Union

His August Majesty Jezal the First – High King of the Union.

Her August Majesty Terez – High Queen of the Union.

Crown Prince Orso – King Jezal and Queen Terez’s eldest and only son, heir to the throne and notorious wastrel.

Hildi – the crown prince’s valet and errand girl, previously a brothel laundress.

Tunny – once Corporal Tunny, now Crown Prince Orso’s pimp and carousing partner.

Yolk – Tunny’s idiot sidekick.

Arch Lector Sand dan Glokta – ‘Old Sticks’, the most feared man in the Union, head of the Closed Council and His Majesty’s Inquisition.

Superior Pike – Arch Lector Glokta’s right-hand man, with a hideously burned visage.

Lord Chamberlain Hoff – self-important chief courtier, son of the previous Lord Hoff.

Lord Chancellor Gorodets – long-suffering holder of the Union’s purse-strings.

Lord Marshal Brint – senior soldier and one-armed old friend of King Jezal.

Lord Marshal Rucksted – senior soldier with a penchant for beards and tall tales, married to Tilde dan Rucksted.

Colonel Forest – a hard-working officer with common origins and impressive scars.

Bremer dan Gorst – King Jezal’s squeaky-voiced First Guard, and master swordsman.

Lord Isher – a smooth and successful magnate of the Open Council.

Lord Barezin – a buffoonish magnate of the Open Council.

Lord Heugen – a pedantic magnate of the Open Council.

In the Circle of Savine dan Glokta

Savine dan Glokta – daughter of Arch Lector Sand dan Glokta and Ardee dan Glokta, investor, socialite, celebrated beauty and founder of the Solar Society with Honrig Curnsbick.

Zuri – Savine’s peerless lady’s companion, a Southern refugee.

Lisbit – Savine’s rosy-cheeked face-maid.

Freid – one of Savine’s many wardrobe maids.

Metello – Savine’s hatchet-faced Styrian wig expert.

Ardee dan Glokta – Savine’s famously sharp-tongued mother.

Haroon – Zuri’s heavily built brother.

Rabik – Zuri’s slight and handsome brother.

Honrig Curnsbick – ‘The Great Machinist’, famous inventor and industrialist, and founder of the Solar Society with Savine dan Glokta.

Dietam dan Kort – a noted engineer and bridge-builder, losing money on a canal.

Selest dan Heugen – an admirer and potential rival of Savine’s.

Kaspar dan Arinhorm – an abrasive expert in pumping water from mines.

Tilde dan Rucksted – the blabbermouth wife of Lord Marshal Rucksted.

Spillion Sworbreck – a writer of cheap fantasies.

Majir – an underworld figure, owing Savine money.

Colonel Vallimir – a failed soldier, now a junior partner of Savine.

Lady Vallimir – Colonel Vallimir’s tasteless wife.

Superior Risinau – the sweaty-palmed head of Valbeck’s Inquisition.

Lord Parmhalt – the somnambulant Mayor of Valbeck.

With the Breakers

Victarine dan Teufel – an ex-convict, daughter of a disgraced Master of the Mints, now striking a blow for the common man.

Collem Sibalt – leader of a cell of Breakers.

Tallow – a skinny young Breaker with a tragic face.

Grise – a Breaker with hard language and soft features.

Moor – a deep-voiced Breaker.

Gunnar ‘Bull’ Broad – an ex-Ladderman wrestling with violent tendencies, just returned from the wars in Styria, married to Liddy Broad, father of May Broad.

Liddy Broad – Gunnar Broad’s long-suffering wife, mother to May Broad.

May Broad – Gunnar and Liddy Broad’s hard-headed daughter.

Sarlby – an old comrade-in-arms of Gunnar Broad, now working in a brewery.

Malmer – foreman of the brewery, a leader of the Breakers.

Judge – an unhinged lunatic, the leader of the Burners.

In the North

Scale Ironhand – King of the Northmen. Brother to Black Calder and uncle to Stour Nightfall. Once a great warrior and war leader, now … not.

Black Calder – Scale Ironhand’s cunning brother, father to Stour Nightfall, and the real power in the North.

Stour Nightfall – ‘The Great Wolf’, Calder’s son, the king-in-waiting, heir to the North and famed warrior and arsehole.

Magweer – one of Stour Ironhand’s Named Men, carries a lot of axes.

Greenway – one of Stour Ironhand’s Named Men, expert sneerer.

Jonas Clover – once Jonas Steepfield and reckoned a famous warrior, now thought of as a disloyal do-nothing.

Wonderful – second to Black Calder, a Named Woman with a dry sense of humour.

Gregun Hollowhead – a Chieftain of the West Valleys, father of the Nail.

The Nail – Gregun Hollowhead’s son, a formidable warrior.

In the Protectorate

The Dogman – Chieftain of Uffrith and famous war leader, father of Rikke.

Rikke – the Dogman’s fit-prone daughter, blessed, or cursed, with the Long Eye.

Isern-i-Phail – a half-mad hillwoman, said to know all the ways.

Caul Shivers – a much-feared Named Man with a metal eye.

Red-Hat – one of the Dogman’s War Chiefs, known for his red hood.

Oxel – one of the Dogman’s War Chiefs, known for his poor manners.

Hardbread – one of the Dogman’s War Chiefs, known for his indecision.

From Angland

Finree dan Brock – interim Lady Governor of Angland and a superb organiser.

Leo dan Brock – ‘The Young Lion’, Finree dan Brock’s son, Lord Governor in waiting, and a bold but reckless warrior.

Jurand – Leo dan Brock’s best friend, sensitive and thoughtful.

Glaward – Leo dan Brock’s exceptionally large friend.

Antaup – Leo dan Brock’s friend, renowned as a lady’s man.

Barniva – Leo dan Brock’s friend, equivocal about war.

Whitewater Jin – Leo dan Brock’s friend, a jovial Northman.

Ritter – Leo dan Brock’s friend, easily led and with a weak-chinned wife.

Lord Mustred – an old worthy of Angland, with a beard but no moustache.

Lord Clensher – an old worthy of Angland, with a moustache but no beard.

The Order of Magi

Bayaz – First of the Magi, legendary wizard, saviour of the Union and founder member of the Closed Council.

Yoru Sulfur – former apprentice to Bayaz, nondescript but for his different-coloured eyes.

The Prophet Khalul – former Second of the Magi, now arch-enemy of Bayaz. Rumoured to have been killed by a demon, plunging the South into chaos.

Cawneil – Third of the Magi, about her own inscrutable business.

Zacharus – Fourth of the Magi, guiding the affairs of the Old Empire.

Also by Joe Abercrombie from Gollancz

THE FIRST LAW TRILOGY

The Blade Itself

Before They Are Hanged

Last Argument of Kings

Best Served Cold

The Heroes

Red Country

Sharp Ends

Copyright

First published in Great Britain in 2019 by Gollancz

an imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd

Carmelite House, 50 Victoria Embankment

London EC4Y 0DZ

An Hachette UK Company

This eBook first published in 2019 by Gollancz.

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Copyright © Joe Abercrombie 2019

The moral right of Joe Abercrombie to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.