Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - The Blade Itself

Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

26 reviews

lashette's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was better than good but not amazing? I am intrigued to see where this is going. No one is really likeable, but everyone is either relatable or understandable. I was into the story from the beginning though we are dropped right in, no explanation whatsoever. Following seemingly random people for no reason. But each character is written in a compelling way. I'm not burning with the uncontrolled desire to know what happens next but I am interested to know. Also, boy is this violent. Mind the trigger and content warnings. Some of it is towards the main characters and some of it by them. All are morally grey at least. Definitely could've done without all the fatphobia.

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loganjana's review

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adventurous dark slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

As a standalone, this book is nothing but a character study, and the characters don't have much growth considering it's five hundred pages long. Five hundred pages of exposition for a story I am frankly not overly interested in continuing. Logen is this book's saving grace, as is the juxtaposition between him and Glokta. I am perhaps giving it the benefit of the doubt with rating, assuming it's all worth it down the line. Given all that, is a fascinating exercise in character- and (arguably) world-building. Unfortunately, I could write an essay on the seeming afterthought of the relatively flat female character(s). Again, I've been told this gets better. We'll see.

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cgrays's review

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4.5

Vividly written, with an interesting world and characters. It's not for the faint of heart, however, and I think the harsh and pessimistic setting is too much to thoroughly recommend it to everyone. I enjoyed it, but I don't think I could ever read it again.

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mikariah's review

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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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netflixismyroommate's review against another edition

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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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strawberrypinch's review against another edition

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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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mmefish's review

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adventurous dark funny slow-paced

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

3.0

What I liked:

Glokta and his crew. Terrific.
How insufferable Jezal is.
Very accurate portrayal of one's personal struggles.
Humour.

What I didn't like:

There's only 2 female characters (neither is a main character), both with minimal development.
Too much "sucking on gums".
The book is at least slightly racist. The only slaves we see (so far) are black, the southerns portrayed as savages, and one of the (few) characters with dark skin behaves like an animal. She literally hisses, wants nothing but to kill, jumps on tables to claw someone for no particular reason, described as to smell like piss, etc. She was a slave, not raised by wolves. Really unnecessary.
Taking in consideration that it was written in 2006, reading multiple times that someone (a man) "fought/shrieked/cried/behaved like a girl/woman" was still a bit frustrating.
Overexplanation. For example:

[Someone is getting whipped] Ferro twitched and winced at the sound, and her back began to tingle.
Where the scars were.
Almost as if she'd been whipped herself.

Or:

Dewy old eyes peered up and down. "Yes?"
"Inquisitor Glokta."
"Ah, from the Arch Lector?"
Glokta frowned, surprised. "Yes, that's right." They cannot be half so cut off from the world as they appear. He seems to know who I am.

This happens multiple times throughout the story. We get it.

Either way, I kinda see where this is going, and I can't say I like it. Plot is definitely the weakest thing about "The Blade Itself".

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marthadude's review against another edition

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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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the_one_krissy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

Okay, now I can finally scratch "read an Abercrombie book" off my bucket list. Did I like the book? Yes. Did I still have issues with it? Oh yes. Do I now get what all the fuss is about? Not really, not yet. Do I intend to continue with this series? Definitely, but I'm not in any particular rush to do so.

The feeling I got from this book was that it was setting up the scene for something bigger, and that was pretty much it, although the audiobook seemed to last forever and a day (the narrator did an excellent job, though, so I can't say I minded all that much). It introduced the main characters, but didn't give them a whole lot to do (yet, I'm guessing). It did some world-building but still left me rather confused as to what's where and what it has got to do with anything. As a matter of fact, if the writing and dialogue hadn't been so engaging, I'd probably have been bored to tears at some point.

Fortunately, the prose was very good and I loved the dialogue. The characters... Glokta grew on me against my better judgment and Bayaz is interesting, but at this point Jezal is a whiny brat who deserves to get his ass kicked, Ferro is just plain crazy, and I'm indifferent about Logen. They're all pretty interesting folk, though, and I'm hopeful I'll grow to enjoy them more in the sequels.

Where was the female representation, though? Ardee and Ferro were the only women of any consequence in this book, and that is not saying a lot, because one of them is relegated to the role of Jezal's manipulative love interest only, and the other does not have anything else than fighting and revenge in her life. I'm hoping to see some improvement on this front, too.

Another thing that I wasn't all that enthused about were the fight scenes. Some people hate reading romance - I tend to space out and doze off when presented by a blow-by-blow account of a fight. I do not care, please just get on with it.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, and I believe that the series gets better like I've been told. I can see there's potential, plus I really did love the dialogue and Glokta's seething sarcasm.

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apiecalypsejen's review

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adventurous dark funny medium-paced

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

The First Law trilogy is my favourite of the two trilogies that take place in this world. The characters are definitely flawed, each of them in their own way with not one of them being clear or free of some kind of barrier or encumbrance to you calling them your "favourite" without some reluctance or guilt (aside from

possibly Brother Longfoot

). This story sets up the next two books, which means it is a lot of establishing of relationships, characters, and the basis for the

journey/war

that comprises the second book. It's a great story about men in their 20s, and how they can be hardheaded and too arrogant, and where that can take them, as well as has two excellent and deep woman character in Ferro and Ardee.

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