Before They Are Hanged (The First Law, #2)
The characters were still scumbags, but I found myself actually feeling affection for them, which probably means that Abercrombie is doing a good job, but I still feel that I can't really fully pass judgment on this series until I've finished it. I can't see where it's going, which is a good thing, but it also makes it difficult to evaluate. Before They Are Hanged has much more movement on the plot front than its predecessor, and much much much more character development, but I'm still not entirely sure what it's accomplished, other than to be completely surprising (and bloody and disgusting and weirdly moving) at every turn.
Part of me is tempted to scoff at Abercrombie's willful shunning of epic fantasy cliches (and then turning them on their heads), but the world is so fully realized and amazingly detailed, and the characters so vividly painted that at times I can hear them talking like they're in the room with me, that I just can't. I do, however, retain the right to call the whole thing crap if book three doesn't bring it all to a satisfying close.