Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

12 reviews

klamstrakvr's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-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

4.5

50 pages of fluff could’ve been shaved off, hence the 0.5 star drop, but there truly aren’t characters like Abercrombie’s characters. 

I appreciate sticking to buildup work in this one, instead of attempting to make it a perfectly balanced book. It’s heavy in many senses but the prose is free from clumsiness and pompousness which both tend to plague the genre.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Blood, Gore, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, and Torture

Minor: War, Slavery, and Trafficking

alexkendall's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Ableism, Blood, Gore, Death, Violence, and Torture

Minor: Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Slavery, Bullying, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Alcoholism, and Classism

beknoel's review against another edition

The book is written very well...but it's just not my cup of tea. I am very uninterested in Logen and his plot with the wizard. I LOVE Glokta, ok? I almost want to keep reading just for Glokta's sake, but my husband has read this whole series and told me

that Glokta never gets a romance plotline and that he ends up in a friendship-based marriage.

Ambercrombie... give the people what they want. 🤨 We want Glokta to f**k. When he had that dream

where he killed annoying Jezal and licked his blood off of Ardee's face

I was like 🥵🥵🥵. THAT is the book I want.

Also. I TRULY hate Jezal 🙄🙄🙄

To summarize: Abercrombie is a coward and won't let Glokta f**k. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Misogyny, Alcoholism, Sexism, Fatphobia, and Torture

nerdkitten's review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Animal death, Alcohol, Torture, Physical abuse, Murder, Sexism, Alcoholism, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Ableism, Confinement, Deportation, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Slavery, Trafficking, Vomit, Xenophobia, Excrement, Fatphobia, War, and Body shaming

Minor: Slavery, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Cannibalism, Child death, Rape, Sexual assault, Colonisation, Grief, Police brutality, Child abuse, and Genocide

eh1736's review

dark funny tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racism and Domestic abuse

Minor: Alcoholism

ratat0sk42's review

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

theliteraryhooker's review

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

fsm's review

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, War, Violence, Torture, and Gore

Moderate: Alcoholism

laine37's review

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

2.0

This book very quickly and effectively portrayed characters, such that a reader could get a good grasp on them swiftly. It was impressive and certainly the book's strongest facet. However, the book then doesn't do much with these established characters, they just stumble about through the plot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Physical abuse, Dysphoria, Body horror, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcohol, Blood, and Alcoholism

atalea's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Animal death, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, and Body horror

Minor: Slavery