Inquisitor Glokta, a crippled and increasingly bitter remnant of the last war, is a former fencing master who has become an exceptional torturer. He is trapped in a distorted and broken body, yet he remains focused on spending his days torturing smugglers.

Captain Jezal dan Luthar, a nobleman and stunning officer, leads a life of excess by cheating his friends at cards. Vain, superficial, selfish, and self-absorbed, his greatest challenge is getting out of bed in the morning to train with obsessive and boring old men.

Lodge Ninefingers, a notorious warrior with a bloody past, will soon wake up in a hole in the snow, with the plan to end a blood feud with Bethod, the new king of the Northmen, once and for all – ideally by simply running away. But as he discovers, old habits die really, really hard.