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bookbelle5_17's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
By: Joe Abercrombie
I’m new to Grim Dark fantasy and I loved this one. There are two sides, Northerners and Southerners, who are war with each other the once the new king Bethod has inherited the throne from his father. We have a handful of main characters who are brought together by the first Magi Bayaz and he has plans for these people who has brought together. Logen “Ninefingers’ is known as the “Bloody Nine” and is trying to run from his violent past, but it’s about to catch up to him. Jezal dan Luthar is arrogant and selfish made a captain in the army just because of his status. He desires glory and accolades, but will his ego be enough for him to be a good soldier. Glokta, the inquisitor can only find pleasure in doing the dirty of government, rooting out traitors, but his faith in his work is shaken and he starts question things.
The threat of war is a shadow looming over the characters as they go about with their lives. A slow building of tension happens throughout the novel though the characters are unaware and just want to meet their personal goals. The hatred between the Northerners and Southerners provides a look at prejudice. Both go by their narrow-minded beliefs The narrative spends most of the time having the reader learn about the main. We go back and forth between Logen, Jezal, and Glokta seeing how each think and what they’re experiencing. I enjoyed Glokta and Logen’s parts the best, especially since it is hard being in the head of Jezal. He is just such an ass believing he is so much better than everyone else. Glokta follows orders, but what he thinks is the opposite. He’s sarcastic and mocking of everyone but keeps to himself. I’m curious as to what lead to him getting to him losing all his teeth and why his leg was injured. The writing is blunt and doesn’t shy away from the gory details. It is very graphic with Glokta’s torture scenes and the fencing scenes with Jezal. Even though, I didn’t like being in Jezal’s head the fencing scenes were cool. Bayaz creates an intriguing dynamic, because I feel like you don’t know if he has good intentions. I don’t know if I trust him, but he’s charming. He’s also a character that you can sense is dangerous.
Graphic: Classism, Misogyny, Body horror, and Gore
Moderate: Domestic abuse
coulro's review
- 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
Graphic: Death, Blood, Violence, Gore, Cannibalism, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Murder, Torture, War, Body horror, and Animal death
kottman's review
- 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
4.25
Moderate: Torture, Murder, and Sexism
Minor: Domestic abuse
kylieqrada's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Torture
Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, and Slavery
Minor: Cannibalism, Rape, and Vomit
13octopus's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and War
Moderate: Ableism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexism, Torture, and Xenophobia
Minor: Cannibalism, Death of parent, Excrement, Infidelity, Rape, and Trafficking
rainydaydayreams's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Torture
Moderate: Domestic abuse
will_foster's review
- 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
Moderate: Domestic abuse
tinyelfarcanist's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Well-developed characters kept me wanting to read, but for the most part I wasn't sure where the story was going. ("spoilers": Nowhere.)
The main POVs are by these characters:
Logen Ninefingers has just lost everything. He doesn't have time to mourn, just to survive.
Sand dan Glokta is a horrible human being. He has suffered enough to still inspire some sympathy.
Jezal dan Luthar is an arrogant and narcissist noble. His story was the one I found the most engaging.
It fails the Bechdel test as the only two (relevant) female characters never meet. One of them was my favorite and I can't wait to read more about her.
I loved and loved to hate the characters. This book is just the setting up of the world and characters, but I'm definitely invested in The First Law world.
The Blade Itself is, as the inquisitors would say:
'Excellent,' said Glokta brightly.
'Excellent,' said Severard.
'Etherer,' said Practical Frost.
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Ableism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, and Slavery
Minor: Cannibalism and Vomit
blakethebookeater's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The perfect example of how to do a grim dark fantasy novel: dark and also funny as hell.
The Blade Itself follows three main POVs (with some other minor ones sprinkled throughout): Logen, Jezal, and Glotka.
Logen is a warrior who formerly fought for the newly declared King of the North, Bethod. Now he’s on the run from Bethod’s men and dealing with the creatures encroaching on the North known as the Shanka. As he finds himself wandering, he’s drawn to the First of the Magi...the mysterious man known as Bayaz.
Jezal is a pretentious prick. And everyone knows it except for him. He is a fencing prodigy and is training for the big tournament where he’s expected to win for the Union. His balance is thrown off however, when his good friends Major West’s sister Ardee arrives and begins to challenge everything he thought he knew.
Glotka is an Inquisitor. And he’s very good at asking questions. Having survived his own torture as a prisoner of war, Glotka is familiar with how to make someone talk...with the right instruments of course. When he’s tasked with uncovering a mystery in the Union, Glotka and his two Practicals must follow the clues to its bloody end, no matter how many twisted bodies they have to leave in their wake.
Joe Abercrombie is absolutely masterful with his character work. Each character has such a distinct voice (this was helped by the stellar audiobook whose narrator literally crafted a unique voice for *every* character), and this was one of the few books where almost every character on the page felt fully fleshed out and realized. I felt like I had truly stepped into a fully formed world and was excited with every single chapter that I read.
This is primarily a character-driven book, but that doesn’t mean it has a plot. The plot unfolds slowly and steadily; there wasn’t a single moment where I wasn’t invested in what was going to happen next. I would go on long drives just to fit in another chapter, or two, or three.
And yes this book is obviously setting the stage for what is to come in the next two books but the setup was enjoyable as hell. I’m so impressed with this book and so invested in these characters and this story. These characters are all pretty much various shades of awful, terrible people...but they are so relentlessly entertaining to read about that I was rooting for them even so. I cannot wait to see where Abercrombie takes these characters and their stories next!
*quick note as to why I gave this 4.5 stars instead of a full 5: so because these characters are bad people, and we’re in their heads for their POV chapters, it can be uncomfortable at times. Something that I did notice happen quite a number of times was the way that fat characters were described. It made me very uncomfortable to see these characters all be shamed for their weight, how much they ate, and other terrible stereotypes about fat people. Now I believe this is because of the CHARACTERS’ prejudices and their descriptions and NOT the author’s. But it happened enough times to make me uncomfortable. I really hope that in the rest of the series there might be other POVs that aren’t so harsh in their judgment of these characters and it will be able to reinforce that it was just these few characters’ prejudices and not the author’s.*
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Fatphobia, Slavery, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Ableism, Cannibalism, Child death, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, and Vomit
podanotherjessi's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Characters: 8
Plot: 6
Setting: 7
General Appeal: 7
Writing Style: 9
Originality: 8
Ending: 7
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Cannibalism