Reviews tagging 'War'

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

39 reviews

mikariah's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The world is nothing special (yet), mainly a list of names and references that make me imagine a somewhat more Westeros-esque shaped landmass of medieval Europe analogs (there is a place called Angland and a shapeless and unknowable 'North.' I mean, come on). If you're coming into it expecting something groundbreaking on that front, you'll probably not find it. Of course, there are many more books in this world, and I can't speak for what they all add to it. However, I found that the worldbuilding included enough things that kept it interesting enough for the story's purpose.

Because the thing that really sells this book for me is the characters.

And I can accept a LOT if the characters are great, which I believe that these are. Now, I'm a little biased because 'just-a-little-too-fucked-up' is exactly how I like my characters in the morning. Exactly. They are all problematic faves. Even the least terrible of them have some mess they're going through, and it sucked me in, which is good because there is not much plot to speak of. Yet.

The prose is straightforward and practical. Perhaps a little too much at times, and I wished there was less psychological distancing in the flow, but overall it read quickly and painlessly.

As a side note: the content warnings aren't necessarily expressing some sort of validation within the text. The characters are just... well, they have problems. And they experience problems.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Domestic abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Ableism, and Classism

Minor: Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism, Rape, Slavery, Vomit, War, and Xenophobia

netflixismyroommate's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

This book does what it sets out to do: tell a medieval fantasy war story. It’s just not attempting anything particularly original. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Blood, Sexism, Classism, Torture, Gore, Ableism, War, Misogyny, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Slavery, Genocide, Mental illness, Colonisation, and Cannibalism

Minor: Kidnapping, Terminal illness, Racial slurs, and Religious bigotry

cybergoths's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death, Murder, Torture, and Violence

Minor: War, Domestic abuse, Slavery, and Racial slurs

ratat0sk42's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Anyone who like complex characters, gallows humour, and dark, gritty fantasy will love this book.

It has smooth and easy to read prose, and lots of style with a surprisingly funny edge to its narration. Every single character has depth and motivations that make you unsure if they're the good guy or the bad guy at any given moment.

One thing some people may take issue with us that the book doesn't really have much of a plot in the traditional sense, not much actually happens but I found the characters tso engrossing I didn't mind at all. 

Another thing of note is that the book is part of the First Law trilogy, which is less three stories that fit together than one big story cut into thirds, as such it doesn't really end, it just flows into the next book. If you read this book, you're in for the long haul. it's a damn good  though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Chronic illness, Violence, War, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Physical abuse, Murder, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual content, Colonisation, Body horror, Blood, Xenophobia, Trafficking, and Cannibalism

Minor: Death of parent, Alcoholism, and Grief

strawberrypinch's review

adventurous dark funny lighthearted tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny, Fatphobia, Kidnapping, Torture, Suicide, Domestic abuse, and Cursing

Minor: Child death, Alcohol, Bullying, Classism, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Trafficking, Colonisation, Cursing, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, War, Xenophobia, Confinement, Death, Excrement, and Vomit

singalana's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Death, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Medical trauma, Xenophobia, Vomit, Dementia, Kidnapping, and War

Minor: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Excrement, Animal death, and Toxic relationship

mattitanskane's review against another edition

While masterfully written the paint by numbers political fantasy story wasn't able to hold my attention enough to get me invested in a new trilogy. Skimmed through the remaining pages and read a synopsis of the rest of the trilogy online.

I found Logen's character arc compelling and would have enjoyed reading more of it but sadly the story kept introducing more and more characters with increasingly mundane storylines.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Torture and War

Minor: Sexism, Cursing, Slavery, Cannibalism, and Alcohol

theliteraryhooker's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: War, Fatphobia, Vomit, Ableism, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism and Racism

marthadude's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I feel like I can't really review the book on its own merits since it's part of a trilogy, but it's an excellent start to a larger story. It's more character heavy than plot heavy, but the characters are really fascinating. I'm very eager to start on book two and to see where things go.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, War, Violence, Torture, Slavery, Sexism, Racism, Murder, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Death, Blood, Cursing, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Ableism, Vomit, Physical abuse, Excrement, Fatphobia, Animal death, Cannibalism, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Sexual content

vaxis's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Few writing choices annoy me more than onomatopoeia as dialogue that is then tagged as what the onomatopoeia was. Lots of "'Ugh,' he  groaned" and "'Ssss,' she hissed."

Very slow paced book. 

Overall pretty good especially for a debut. I like it, I had fun with it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Police brutality, Racism, Blood, Violence, Death, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Slavery

Minor: Homophobia