A Trade of Blood vs Before They Are Hanged: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Fantasy
A Trade of Blood
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INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Detective Ana Dolabra must prove a condemned man’s innocence and confront a terrifying magical technology in this fantasy-mystery from the author of The Tainted Cup, winner of the…
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Before They Are Hanged
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The second novel in the wildly popular First Law Trilogy from New York Times bestseller Joe Abercrombie.  Superior Glokta has a problem. How do you defend a city surrounded by enemies and riddled with traitors,…
Side by side
The verdict
- Readers rate A Trade of Blood highest: A Trade of Blood 4.6 · Before They Are Hanged 4.4.
- Before They Are Hanged has the widest readership — 232893 ratings behind its score.
- Before They Are Hanged runs the darker storyline; A Trade of Blood stays the lighter read.
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How to choose
Scores by source
| A Trade of Blood | Before They Are Hanged | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 4.6 (9007) | 4.4 (232893) |
| Hardcover | 4.5 (133) | 4.3 (1545) |
| Apple Books | 5.0 (200) | 4.5 (942) |
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Reception
| A Trade of Blood | Before They Are Hanged | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 9007 | 232893 |
| Editions | 1 | — |
| Film adaptations | — | 1 |
| Want to read | 34507 | 68038 |
| Reading it now | 3509 | 8899 |
| Written reviews | 2106 | 12274 |
| Wikipedia attention | 2163 | 38432 |
| Pages | — | 581 |
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Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: A Trade of Blood or Before They Are Hanged?
A Trade of Blood has the higher combined reader rating across sources (A Trade of Blood 4.6/5, Before They Are Hanged 4.4/5).