Acknowledgments
Four people without whom…
Bren Abercrombie, whose eyes are sore from reading it
Nick Abercrombie, whose ears are sore from hearing about it
Rob Abercrombie, whose fingers are sore from turning the pages
Lou Abercrombie, whose arms are sore from holding me up
And also…
Matthew Amos, for solid advice at a shaky time
Gillian Redfearn, who read past the beginning and made me change it
Simon Spanton, who bought it before he got to the end
Copyright © Joe Abercrombie 2006 All rights reserved
The right of Joe Abercrombie to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published in Great Britain in 2006 by Gollancz
An imprint of the Orion Publishing Group Orion House, 5 Upper St Martin’s Lane, London WC2H 9EA
An Hachette Livre UK Company
This edition published in Great Britain in 2007 by Gollancz
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 57507 979 3
7 9 10 8
Typeset by Deltatype Ltd, Birkenhead, Merseyside
Printed in Great Britain by Mackays of Chatham plc, Chatham, Kent
The Orion Publishing Group’s policy is to use papers that are natural, renewable and recyclable products and made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The logging and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.