Within the fantasy genre, he seems well known as the current authority on the (seriously labeled, humorously adopted by him) 'grimdark' genre.

If you like that, you'll probably loveBest Served Cold and The Heroes. He's got the trappings of a debutante in The First Law, but those two books show an experienced designer at work.

There's something Tarantino-like about him, as applied to fantasy fiction. An ability to confer personality through changes in writing style is probably what truly sets him apart from other fantasy authors, though. Above all, he is able to tell when a character has no stories left to tell, and usually sets them aside in favor of a minor character from a previous fiction.

When Steven Erikson and George Martin do it, it sometimes seems arbitrary, a reminder to the reader that it's a shitty world where shitty things happen, and they are often taken out of the plot by death or worse.

It feels more (I'm not sure if the denouement of the First Law might allow this to make more sense, or reveal it to be an old impression that does not match reality- it's definitely the case in his more recent adult books) natural in Abercrombie's books, and I don't doubt that feeling is entirely deliberate. I have an impression that he's a writer that doesn't leave much to chance, artistic whim, or fits of inspiration.