Reviews with content warning for Violence - The Blade Itself

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

97 reviews

cgrays's review

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.

Content Warnings

georgiatust's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

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

4.25

too much glokta and jezal, not enough ferro and logen!!

Content Warnings

josiah17's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark tense slow-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

4.5

This was great. The prose is wonderfully readable and fluid. The book starts very character focused with extremely well realized characters. Every POV is engaging. The plot is not the most captivating, but that doesn't matter when you write characters and dialogue like Abercrombie can. However, the plot does pick up near the end and there's a sense of direction for where this story is headed. And I'm very intrigued.

I also love the world Abercrombie has crafted here. It subtlety mysterious, and it feels vast and grand in scope, which is always something I want to feel when immersed in a fantasy world.

I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of Abercrombie's works in the First Law universe. He's instantly a new favorite author.

Update 11/6/23: I keep going back and forth with this decision, but for now I'm bumping to 5 stars. It's abundantly clear I love this trilogy even more as time passes.

Update 12/30/23: Back down to 4.5. or a 4.75. idk, it's excellent just not 5 stars for me.

Content Warnings

foxmulders's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious 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

3.75

i had fun but i am not super into trilogies that dont have much pay off within each book… this whole book felt like a lengthy exposition. love logen and bayaz tho.

Content Warnings