Reviews with content warning for Torture - The Blade Itself

Discussion of The First Law: https://youtu.be/102HBqnE2u0.

Potentially mildly unpopular opinion incoming: The Blade Itself was just fine... to reasonably good in places. 😆 It was good enough, at least, that I'll read the rest of the trilogy (and also drawing pairs up nicely with audiobooks so there's that lmao).

Prose and narration:

It was... fine. I didn't notice anything particularly noteworthy about it, good or bad, so that's that. I agree with the reader consensus that Steven Pacey does a really good job narrating this story. However: he did way too many different accents across different geographical areas, in the sense that it made the world-building feel even worse than it was.

World-building:

Speaking of which: the world-building was garbage, sorry not sorry. Just generic as fuck 'fantasylandia' stuff that left me without any real sense of place or culture (or magic really). I'm aware The Blade Itself is the first book in a trilogy, but even still... what there was, in terms of world-building, was very poor for the first entry in a fantasy series. And yes, I'm aware world-building isn't supposed to be First Law's forte. In fact, that's the reason I'd initially decided not to read it, but damn my ex and his recommendations I guess. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Theming:

Nothing of substance to report so far.

Character work:

Okay, so this is supposedly First Law's selling point. I'm not a character-driven reader, but once gain damn my ex and his recommendations I guess, and also I can still enjoy good character work in fiction, if I can connect to it somehow. What I got in The Blade Itself was, well, just fine, to reasonably good. But it certainly didn't blow my mind or anything, though with this specific aspect I will give the series the benefit of the doubt until... let's say I'm through with book two.

I guess I found Glokta somewhat interesting (a disfigured character with chronic pain, alright, though he also felt like a less engaging attempt at a Tyrion Lannister-type character), and I kind of liked Bayaz (Gandalf with extra spice), because... wise old wizards with sass appeal to me for whatever reason. Jezal can get fucked. Logen and his experience of cultural clash (such as it was) offered a bit of comic relief, but otherwise didn't really make me feel anything. And Ferro was... ugh. I'm sorry, I just couldn't with her French accent, it was so cringe to me. 😭 Oh, actually I kinda liked the West siblings as well – too bad they were secondary characters!

Seriously though, I can't help but think: "yeah, no, ASOIAF did it better, even if I only consider A Game of Thrones". 😅

Plot and pacing:

Okay, so... no offence, but once I figured out the premise of The Blade Itself essentially functions as 'The Fellowship of the Ring but edgy subverted grimdark' (and honestly it wasn't even that dark), it felt too obvious to me. Like it was laid on a little too thickly, in a way? And I didn't particularly vibe with that. But it wasn't bad either, so eh, whatever. The pacing, however... just, why was this book 650 pages? The Blade Itself conceptually works as a take, of sorts, on Fellowship, sure, but practically speaking it feels like one giant prologue. Set-up, of this kind, that near exclusively focuses on characters – most of which I didn't truly care about – does not agree with my brain, let me tell ya'.

And then, it did that thing wherein stories bumble forward at a snail's leisurely pace, only to end up going: "fuck it, YOLO", in their penultimate and/or final segments. Wow, that escalated quickly... struck again. But I will say this: whilst I didn't find Abercrombie's writing particularly funny – despite many fan's assertions that First Law is often very freaking funny indeed – that last segment featured a scene that was so absurdly 'extra' with its violence, it had me in stitches.

So first we had Logen going berserker mode in Ferro's company, that was one thing. But then... we had Bayaz strolling buck naked out of the bath, going all: "YOU SHALL NOT PASS! MY PATIENCE IS AT AN END!", and exploding a bruv with a finger snap. Them bitches went SUPER SAYAN, gah dayum! 🤣

Content Warnings

carlack7'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? It's complicated

4.25

It took me to about 40% to really start to enjoy reading this book. But once I got acquainted with the characters, and stopped trying to figure out who is "good" or "bad" and realized they might all be a mix, the book really picked up!
I read the first book to appease my husband, but I will continue to read the trilogy because I want to know what happens to each of the characters! I think I'm honestly interested in finding out what happens in each of the storylines!

Content Warnings

bitter_critter's review

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dark slow-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I did not enjoy this book. It came highly recommended and seemed interesting, but I should have DNF'ed 50 pages in. I'm used to books that take some time to meander towards the good stuff but the good stuff didn't come until the last 30 pages and by then it feels cheap. I spent the first 350 pages "giving it a chance" and the last 150 finishing it so I don't have to pick it up again.

There is a decently thick line between characters that are morally bad or questionable and characters that are just unlikeable. I found Logen and the Dogman kind of interesting but every other character whose POV we can read was boring and flat.

Maybe it's something you would like and could connect to, but this fell flat for me.

Content Warnings