Can this AP be cut short?

I know it is not the optimal solution but could this AP feasibly he stopped early at the end of any of the volumes?

It doesn’t seem like you could just do 1 given how it ends? But what about only playing 2 or 3 books?

I guess the problem is that the reveals in 3 plus the creation of the grey maidens in 2 mean you can’t really just leave the Queen situation unresolved...

I ask primarily because I would like to play this but have never completed an adventure path and so was wondering if there are reasonable “jumping off” points like in some other APs

Its going to depend on how the PCs want to deal with things. It is very feasible that a group of PCs might flee the city after book 3 with the intent of never coming back rather than doing any of the other campaign stuff. That was very nearly what happened with my group.

If you're looking to have the PCs actually resolve the matter, then at the end of Book 3, they should find the Senseschal who has the evidence he needs to get the city/council/laws whatever on his side against the Queen and have a brief assault on the castle. You can take some of the encounters from the last book and delevel them and cut the sunken fortress out.

You'd have to introduce Sabine a bit earlier if you still want her heel-face turn, but books 4 and 5 are 'find out how to stop the Queen's effective immortality and acquire said thing' when I suppose you don't actually need that if you just throw her in jail or whatever. Assuming level appropriate fights, the PCs can stop her at the end of book 3 if that's what you want.

It can't be cut short easily. Basically, the first three books are very coherent, and belong together. After the third book, you could try and depose the queen politically, but you know she is too powerful. So the next two books you search for something to break her power. In the last book you come back - powered up - and try to defeat her.

I agree with Kasoh, the PCs could either just leave Korvosa after book 3, or you could run a toned-down assault on the castle with her present (but obviously weaker). You'd need to make the crown less powerful then.

Another option, at least story-wise, would be to skip books 4 and 5. They don't really add a lot to the overarching plot (except for Mantis and Maiden, if you're playing the anniversary ed.), just provide some backstory on Kazavon. In that case, you could either scale down the 6th book level-wise, while still using the whole book (except for the artifact they need), or you could do a time-skip, breeze over how they got the sword and what they found out, and just level them up to 15 instantly to take on book 6.

Another option, at least story-wise, would be to skip books 4 and 5. They don't really add a lot to the overarching plot (except for Mantis and Maiden, if you're playing the anniversary ed.), just provide some backstory on Kazavon. In that case, you could either scale down the 6th book level-wise, while still using the whole book (except for the artifact they need), or you could do a time-skip, breeze over how they got the sword and what they found out, and just level them up to 15 instantly to take on book 6.

You could also just skip Books 1 through 4 and run Books 5 and 6 as Shoanti heroes doing their ancient duty against Kazavon. You'd need to start at fairly high level, but some people are OK with that.

You could also just skip Books 1 through 4 and run Books 5 and 6 as Shoanti heroes doing their ancient duty against Kazavon. You'd need to start at fairly high level, but some people are OK with that.

Or include book 4 but present it as a challenges that the PCs have to succeed at to prove that they're capable enough to go up against Kazavon. (And maybe you could replace the Red Mantis with rivals of the PCs that want to embarrass them / cause them to fail.)