Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

32 reviews

wyabook234's review

adventurous dark emotional funny tense 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Trafficking, Child death, and Domestic abuse

Minor: War, Misogyny, and Child abuse

bluejayreads's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

3.75

I didn’t pick this book up entirely by choice. For Valentine’s Day, my local library did a “blind date with a book” promotion where they wrapped the books up in paper and just put a few facts about them on the front. I love the concept (I appreciate anything that gets me to try new things), so I knew I had to try one. Eventually I picked this one, and here’s all I knew about it until I got home from the library and opened the wrapping: 

 

This is where the blind date with a book concept really comes in handy, because I had actually looked at this book on the shelf previously and decided it didn’t look interesting. The back cover introduced way too many characters and not enough plot, and it seemed like it was going to be very unclear what was actually going on and maybe a little dull. But since I had been convinced to check it out, I figured I might as well read it. 

First of all, Joe Abercrombie is clearly a very good writer. This book was extremely well-written, and despite how many things are going on, it’s balanced well, and though the place is slow, it never gets dull. I did not find myself eager and enthusiastic about reading this story as fast as possible, but I also never considered putting it down. It seems strange to call a book full of as much death, violence, and bloodshed a pleasant reading experience, but it was – not slow or dense enough to lose interest, not enthralling enough to get me truly invested in anything that happened or anyone involved, no protagonists I disliked but also none I really loved. (Actually, while they were perfectly fine to read about, every protagonist was a terrible person in their own way.) I had quite a good time reading but didn’t get emotionally involved. It was the violent fantasy version of casual reading. 

But then I finished it. And my husband asked if I liked it. And I realized how difficult of a question that actually was to answer. Because, as previously mentioned, I did have a good time reading it. And there were lots of really interesting aspects. Glokta’s experience of existing in a disabled person in a world that’s built for able-bodied people was intense and quite well-done. Bayaz’s wizardly shenanigans were entertaining and I liked that the history of the magic system was part of the story. And though it was violent, the violence never felt excessive or overdone, except in a way that made it clear that violence is always a tragedy, despite how the people who benefit from it may try to reframe it. So for that, it was good. 

But then we come to the struggle that I really have no idea what was going on, plot-wise. There are a lot of point-of-view characters. There’s Logen, Jezal, and Glokta, as mentioned on the back cover. Despite being on the back cover, Bayaz isn’t a point of view character. There’s also the Dogman, a member of Logen’s old warrior band. And there’s Farro, who doesn’t get introduced until a third of the way throught the book, and who is 98% rage by volume, mostly feral, and whose primary goal in life is to commit as much murder as possible, with or without provocation. So there’s a lot of people running around doing things. But none of those things really coalesce into a plot. Glokta is doing his job; Jezal is shirking swordsmanship training and falling in love; Logen is tagging along after Bayaz, who definitely has plans but isn’t sharing them; the Dogman is traveling with the warrior band; and Farro is trying her best to commit a lot of murder, but is mostly being guided to somewhere by a magical old guy who also has plans but isn’t sharing them. There’s also two brewing wars, some internal politics driven by people who definitely have goals (but again, no indication as to what those are beyond “I want power”), a subplot with a swordsmanship contest that didn’t seem to have a point, and mostly just a lot of little things happening with no overarching plot or even protagonist goals. Farro’s story didn’t even meet up with any of the other characters until the last few chapters. And almost everybody felt like they were wandering through the story with no real goals or interest in doing much beyond live their lives. The only primary character who seems to have any sort of motivation or goal that could drive a plot is Bayaz – and as I said, he’s not telling. 

This whole book really felt more like the setup than a story in and of itself – which is a very strange choice, considering that this book is over 500 pages long and there’s only two more books in the trilogy. (Although there are a bunch of standalone books, a second trilogy, and some short stories in the same world, so who knows what the thought process was here.) At the very end, something happened that felt like the inciting incident of an actual plot. So perhaps things will actually happen in the next book. I’m on the fence about reading it, though. On one hand, The Blade Itself was a perfectly fine read. On the other, it wasn’t any better than “perfectly fine”, and if the next book is anywhere close to this length, that’s an awful lot of pages to commit to when the story doesn’t even have an identifiable plot yet. I don’t regret the time reading this one, if for nothing else than exposure to something I wouldn’t have voluntarily picked up otherwise. But I don’t think I’ll be voluntarily seeking out book two, either. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Blood, Violence, Animal death, and Murder

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Domestic abuse, Classism, Sexism, War, Torture, Vomit, and Gore

Minor: Excrement, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Body horror, Slavery, Cannibalism, and Rape

Animal injury, physical abuse (one scene, plus mentions of it happening in the past), unreality

luis_vieira's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Murder, Violence, Domestic abuse, Gore, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Blood, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Cursing, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Slavery, Colonisation, Toxic relationship, Classism, Xenophobia, Confinement, Grief, Racism, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Abandonment, Cannibalism, Kidnapping, Vomit, War, Dysphoria, Alcohol, Rape, and Sexual content

cecilie26's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I found this book very entertaining. It’s the first time reading anything in this genre and am already loving it. 
The author makes the characters thrilling and even though some of them isn’t the best of people you still like them very much. Though I have one character (Ferro) that I don’t like. I think it’s more writing of her than her, if that makes sense. 
Or maybe I just isn’t a fan of characters that is that intent on violence as she is. And hates everyone. It makes kind of sense from her background, but still misses some context to why she is as she is, besides what we already have been told. 
Love Logen and inquisitor Glokta. Otherwise everybody is very well written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, War, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Slavery

Minor: Cannibalism and Rape

carlack7's review

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!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Gore, Animal death, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury

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

the_night_reader_'s review

dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Sexism, Physical abuse, Chronic illness, Torture, Excrement, Grief, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Colonisation, Blood, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Violence, Slavery, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Murder, and Medical trauma

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

lashette's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

 This was better than good but not amazing? I am intrigued to see where this is going. No one is really likeable, but everyone is either relatable or understandable. I was into the story from the beginning though we are dropped right in, no explanation whatsoever. Following seemingly random people for no reason. But each character is written in a compelling way. I'm not burning with the uncontrolled desire to know what happens next but I am interested to know. Also, boy is this violent. Mind the trigger and content warnings. Some of it is towards the main characters and some of it by them. All are morally grey at least. Definitely could've done without all the fatphobia. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Misogyny, Blood, Violence, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Trafficking, Sexism, Death, Classism, Animal death, and Ableism

midnightrose_reads's review

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!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Cursing, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Death, and Alcohol

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism, and Child abuse