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The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

3 reviews

singalana's review

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adventurous dark funny 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

4.25

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maiagaia's review

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dark tense slow-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

(There’s a tl;dr at the bottom of the review, if you are so inclined.)

“History is littered with dead, good men.”

Characters

As many before me have said, and as many after me will doubtless say as well, Joe Abercrombie’s handling of character in this book is flawless. Every character, from the biggest to the smallest, is as complex and well-wrought as other authors hope their main character might be.

The main characters are not loveable thieves or charismatic cads. They are murderers and torturers and painfully human. (Except for Jezal, who is an insufferable twit, but even he has flashes of being a real human with real emotions.) One character in particular, who will remain nameless for the sake of possible spoilers, lulled me into believing that I had found The One Truly Good Character, and that illusion was shattered in a terrible way.

World-building

Abercrombie’s world-building is a distant second to his characterization. He throws around country and city names, mythic and historical figures, and geographic information that I’m sure will become relevant in later books in the trilogy, but on a first read-through, they were mostly meaningless.

As for the uniqueness of the world, that is also a bust. This is another medieval Europe-inspired fantasy world with “Northmen” who live in tribes, love fighting and violence, and are viewed as savages by citizens of “The Union.” (Vikings, they’re Vikings.) There’s a country called “Angland,” for god’s sake.

As harsh as that might sound, I really didn’t mind it. It was clear to me within the first quarter of the book that this was going to be about the characters and little else. That doesn’t bother me, but it might bother other readers. I wasn’t thrilled by the world, but that’s not a deal-breaker for me. If you are looking for a unique or fleshed-out world, this is neither of those things.

Plot

This is setup for the rest of the trilogy, and as such, it’s a lot of getting characters where they need to be for the next book. While reading, I had someone ask me what the book was about, and I honestly couldn’t tell them because there is very little in the way of plot. If you are a reader who needs a cogent plot, this is probably not the book for you.

Writing Style

Abercrombie’s style is nothing to write home about. It is economical and to-the-point. It makes for a relatively quick read, considering the book taps out at 501 pages (in my edition). Despite that, I still found myself dog-earing and underlining quite a few lines and passages.

He doesn’t use simplicity as a cop-out. Rather, his style allows certain lines to pack even more of a punch because they stand out against the straight-forwardness of the prose. He uses this in a couple of ways.

Repetition is the first one I noticed. Each character has certain things, mantras almost, which they repeat to themselves. The first time you read these thoughts, they reveal something about the character. By the end of the book, those phrases were breaking my heart on sight. Of course, they are used judiciously, so don’t worry about them becoming TOO repetitive.

The other way Abercrombie utilizes his prose to its fullest extent is including only a few flowery descriptions. It makes those descriptions pack more of a punch because you’re not expecting a break from the more straight-foward style. The best example I can give is near the end of the book. Early in the chapter, an action is described as being “slow as the sun rising,” and then at the end of that chapter, which is very eventful, another action is described as being “slow as the light fading at sunset.” I’m not kidding when I say that brought tears to my eyes. The simplicity of his prose allowed me to find that connection, which in the context of the events of the chapter, ratcheted up my feelings and my investment in what happened. And all it took was a handful of extra words.

Another bonus: I have the sense of humor of a dry sponge, but Abercrombie was able to pull a few laughs from me, which is more than most authors can say.

Conclusion

All in all, this was a great read for me. I enjoyed it all the way through, and I can’t recommend it enough to anyone who is interested in grimdark character-driven fantasy. The closest (and most obvious) comparison I can make is to George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. If you liked one, I imagine you’ll like the other. Keep in mind that this is a grimdark series, so please tread carefully and take note of trigger warnings if you are at all concerned about that sort of thing.

“The sort of place that might make a man nervous, if he was prone to nervousness. He might imagine unpleasant things in these chambers, just beyond the lamplight, and horrible acts taking place in the darkness… But we are not prone to nervousness. Perhaps we are the unpleasant things. Perhaps the acts are ours.”

TL;DR

Character: Some of the best I’ve ever read. Full fleshed out. Morally gray in the truest sense of the term.

World-building: Unoriginal and sparse but functional. Not something that bothered me because the characters make up for it.

Plot: Very little going on. This is set-up for the rest of trilogy, so we mostly follow characters to where they will need to be for the second book. Once again, it didn't bother me because the characters carry it.

Writing style: Simple and straightforward but still packs a punch emotionally.

In short, a great read if you’re looking for more character-driven stories and don’t need a rigid magic system or wholly unique world. Warning: do not take the grimdark label lightly. I’ll include trigger warnings below. Be careful.

Reread #1: This is even stronger on a reread probably because it's not plot-focused. The characters I thought were suspicious by the end of my first read were even more suspicious this time around. The characters my heart broke for broke my heart again.

Content Warnings

shadereads's review

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adventurous dark emotional tense slow-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

4.5

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