I think The Blade Itself pays off. In an attempt to not spoil things, the first book is mainly "getting the gang together." The second is "the gang goes into action," and the third is "the giant climax."

Of the three standalone novels, "Best Served Cold" is probably the best and an entertaining read. However, without having read the original trilogy, you'll likely be a bit thrown off by many of the names and events referenced and have a couple of plot points of the trilogy spoiled for you.

I am currently very high on the First Law series, but I will admit I first read The Blade Itself almost six years ago and did not like it. But I think if you take book one as table setting and let yourself get into book 2, the merry crew of Glokta, Logen, Byaz, Jezal, Ferro, Collem, and all the rest will give you an unforgettable story.

I read the entire first trilogy and didn't enjoy it. There kind of becomes a plot, but I wouldn't say there's really a grander purpose to it, mostly just a series of events that develop which allow the characters to be displayed. If you like the characters and want to see more of them then keep going. But if you want a strong plot to develop then you might want a different series.

I know people love Abercrombie, but I was completely turned off by this first trilogy so I don't know if you can start with his later stuff.

The most disappointing part of the first trilogy for me was that the story makes references to a series of epic events which happened in the past. If that story would have been written into it's own series I think it would have been much more interesting than what we got.

As for Andy Weir, the Martian was also good. There's enough content that the movie couldn't cover to make it still enjoyable if you've already seen it.

'The blade itself incites to deeds of violence."

"Conquest is the last argument of kings"

Basically, the whole trilogy is a meandering shitshow of people who have risen to the level of their incompetence. It came off, to me, as "See? Power bad. If your have power, you abuse it. Everybody feels crappy but nobody talks about it and that's the way it is."

There is some degree of.. ..not realism, but.. ..grit? There are some good, earthy moments. But plot.. ...not really, other than that power is bad.