Reviews with content warning for Violence - The Blade Itself

After a slow month without much reading, I finally decided to bite the bullet and give the First Law series a try, since I heard so much about how amazing the characters are. I was a bit skeptical however since I am someone who usually values the story more than anything and I also heard that the first book doesn't have much of a plot, it's more of a setup. After finishing it now, I think there's definitely merit to that criticism since the book does end on a 'to be continued' way with no big payoff and I can see people finding it anti-climactic, even disappointing perhaps. When I think of the overall plot, there isn't much to remember at all either, especially considering the length of the book.

With all that said, I have come to realize something very much to my surprise. Say one thing about SurDiablo, say he didn't give a damn about the bloody plot! It's a book where nothing mind-blowing happens for the most part and I still really enjoyed it from top to bottom. I loved pretty much all of the characters in this and even those I didn't love, like Ferro, I still really really enjoyed their pov. I loved being in their shoes, their dialogue, their interactions with each other, the mystery, and the ever-present bleakness, combined with the dry humor. This is one of those rare books where I never felt bored at any point whatsoever and was always so tempted to get back to reading immediately. The descriptions never overstayed their welcome and I found the overall story more than interesting enough, but what mainly drove my interest was obviously the characters themselves. I found myself wanting to continue reading just to see what would happen to them, not concerned about story advancement at all. Heck, I can confidently say that I could read Glokta playing chess with his practicals and talking about random stuff for 3 hours and I wouldn't be bored at all. Suffice to say he's also my favorite character, closely followed by Logen the 'Bloody' Ninefingers. I have never felt so invested in characters like this before, except in Wheel of Time but that was a 14-book series, while this is a trilogy where I have read only one book so far.

Another thing that caught me off-guard is how damn funny it was, regardless of being known as a major grimdark novel. It made me laugh several times, while not taking away the suspense or emotional impact. I cringed whenever

Glokta tortured someone or felt pain climbing stairs, I seethed when the gang lost Forley, I found my heart sinking and pretty much needed a break after reading West's chapter where he abused Ardee.

All these characters had been or continue to be assholes and their internal thoughts and external dialogue seamlessly blend together. They are flawed people with questionable morality and I still find myself being fascinated by them, even loving some of them, which is a testament to the author's amazing, realistic characterization. If this was a cinematic universe, I would say the closest comparison would be a Tarantino movie, with engrossing dialogue and raw violence. If this was the 'weakest' book in the series, I am really hyped to read the rest of them and I would recommend this series to those who love grey characters. :)

Content Warnings

maxsebastian's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

The Blade Itself is a solid beginning to what I imagine will become an incredible story. While mostly character setup, the first entry in The First Law shows incredible character promise, providing unlovable perspectives that you somehow can't help but root for. I was particularly fond of Logen Ninefingers and Sand Dan Glokta. The Blade Itself also sets up some interesting magic, politics, and world that I am hoping will pay off in future entries. The humor is also worthy of praise. Glokta is at times hilarious.

Content Warnings

mikariah's review

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

midnightrose_reads's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

The Blade, Itself is the first book in the First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. There’s several main characters you meet in the story: Logen ‘Ninefingers’ a well known fighter from the North, San Dan Glokta an Inquisitor and torturer, & Captain Jezal dan Luthar a would be fencing champion. Throw in the wizard Bayaz, First of the Magi and his less than competent assistant, and a woman named Ferro with a strange magical ability and you have a VERY colorful cast of characters!

This first book is incredibly character and world-building focused. Wildly funny at times as well. Can’t wait to continue on with the series!

Content Warnings

mikarala's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

This book doesn't have a plot, and it drove me crazy.

Let me clarify: things do happen in this book. There's some action, some notable events. We have multiple characters whose storylines even converge. But essentially, this was an entire book of exposition and set-up. We end the story with our characters about to leave and go do things. An entire 515 pages dedicated to basically just setting up the next book in the series. I appreciate that tension needs to build over the course of multiple books with a series, but personally, I still need each individual book to have a plot. The fact that tension only rose by maybe 10% over the course of this whole book (and mostly in the last 50-75 pages or so) made it a very frustrating reading experience. So much of the book just felt like we were following the characters through mundane bullshit.

For example, an absurd amount of storytime is dedicated to Jezal's fencing training, and his crisis over whether or not he should bother to dedicate himself to it. I can get onboard with the fact that this is Jezal's inner conflict for the first half of the book or so, but the book spends an inordinate amount of time on his actual training and daily life as a soldier, which does nothing other than establish character. Unlike something like Harry Potter, where the training part at least contributes to world building (with significant lessons often becoming plot points), there's nothing else going on in these chapters. It feels like it's designed to make you lose interest. Truthfully I spent most of Jezal's and Glokta's chapters wishing I had finished them so I could read from Logen's POV again, because I did actually enjoy his chapters a lot. I'm not sure if it's because there was generally more world-building in his POV, or because it definitely feels like he's central to the plot (however obscure that plot actually is), but I did have a better time reading them for sure.

Ultimately, I'm going to continue reading as I purchased the whole trilogy and the end of the novel leaves you with enough curiousity about what's happening that I'm inclined to continue, but the fact that this book didn't seem to have its own individual story made it a really frustrating reading experience for me. I'm hoping that pays off in the later books, at least.

Just a last note on the grimdark aspect of this story: it is a dark, bleak, and violent fantasy world, but perhaps because the prose was somewhat detatched from a lot of the gore and didn't tend to linger on it, I didn't find the level of gore unbearable (and this from someone who is actually quite sensitive to that kind of thing!). In general, even though Abercrombie's writing kind of left me wanting more a lot of the time, I did appreciate the relative briskness of the prose style and found it made it easier to read 500+ pages of a story that basically didn't have a plot.

Content Warnings

netflixismyroommate's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

cybergoths's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

ratat0sk42's review

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

More...