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hoedini's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
hea0's review against another edition
5.0
"You have to be realistic about these things" - and this book is fantastic! The characters are awesome, and the writing is superb. I love Glokta. His sarcasm cracks me up.
I listened to the audiobook, and Steven Pacey did a wonderful job. His narration of Glokta is the best thing since sliced bread. It's one of the best audiobooks I've heard.
I highly recommend.
I listened to the audiobook, and Steven Pacey did a wonderful job. His narration of Glokta is the best thing since sliced bread. It's one of the best audiobooks I've heard.
I highly recommend.
alexhor's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
titanean's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This entire book is prologue. The characters don’t do much of anything but move around. They hey are very interesting characters however, and there are enough interesting threads left at the end to make me interested in how it continues. Will probably try book 2.
river24's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
4/5
History is littered with dead good men.
Joe Abercrombie's The Blade Itself is dark and gritty and spectacularly written. I've been eager to read Abercrombie's works for a while, I love grimdark books and so I've always heard great things about this one. I had no idea what an intelligent writer he is as well. Every character's voice is so unique, you can easily tell who's narrating a chapter after just a few sentences. It's such a talent to be able to characterise so instantly and so skilfully.
It's a very slow building book, things only really start to kick off at the very end. I've heard that people who've struggled with this book adore the others in the series, apparently the plot explodes in book two, so keep that in mind! But I love a slow-paced story that focuses on the characters and that's completely what this book is. It's a character study. And, oh boy, are the characters something!
The characters in this story are so unfathomably morally grey/morally bankrupt and they are fascinating to explore the minds of. A factor that I really appreciated was that, for all this moral conflict, it was never stale, the characters are all morally flawed in completely different ways. I loved this as it provided such variety to their flaws and it was interesting to see what aspects of their characterisations I viewed as 'too far'. In other words, how immoral can a character be before you no longer like them?
But another factor that's so brilliant about this book is that you don't have to like them to root for them! It's almost absurd how much we are made to care for characters that we despise. Why do I want this unbearable character to win this fight? For some ineffable reason (it's really just because of how talented Abercrombie is) I can still get behind them. They're all just so captivating, you constantly want to find out more about them.
The main three perspectives we follow are Logen Ninefingers (the Bloody Nine, my favourite character, a warrior in the North desperately trying to escape his ever-encroaching death), Glokta (an ex-soldier tortured and injured in the previous war, now an inquisitor who takes up his own hand at torture), and Jezal (a self-obsessed, misogynistic soldier who desires glory above all). Guess which character I dislike the most (!)
We also follow West (another soldier figure in the city of Adua, more familiar with the brewing war in Angland than any of the others), Ferro (I absolutely adore Ferro, an escaped slave intent on her path of vengeance), and another very interesting band of characters in the North that I won't mention because of spoilers.
I always wanted to know more and more about every single one of them. Some have such intriguing pasts that we've barely got glimpses of, some hold such fascinating thoughts that are incessantly morbid but impossible to look away from. Even those that I disliked were so interesting to follow and were caught up in such mysterious circumstances.
Fear is a good friend to the hunted, it's kept me alive this long. The dead are fearless, and I don't care to join them.
The world itself is also enthralling. We span a few different lands in this book, but are mostly focused on Midderland where the city of Adua rests. I'm so excited to get to see more of the world throughout the series and the following books. I loved the politics we were able to see so far, I loved the tangle of intentions in Adua, the inquisition and the open and closed councils were all caught up in their own particular war. I loved the larger battles of lands, the threats and ever-building tension at play. I loved getting to see more of the North's own politics, Bethod and his sons' defeat of the clans before the book's even started and how that affects and changes the land. I loved how entangled every character was in their particular brand of political machinations.
A factor I loved even more than the ceaseless scheming was the history and lore of the world. Every time we got even a taste of the world's history and the story of its fallen god-like beings, I was ensnared by it. I loved the crumbs that were scattered across the pages and I can't wait to discover even more. There are so many interesting facets to the magic system and laws of the world. We truly are only given a taste of it in this book and I'm so eager to read on to see what else we will discover.
This book was so well-written for all the reasons I mentioned before, because of how well it kept its characters in mind, but there was also another area where Abercrombie's writing really stood out: the fight scenes. His action scenes are so grim and gritty and they have such a realness to them, a sense of urgency, a bloody hunger. His characters don't hold back and so Abercrombie holds no punches, he tells you everything in stark sentences dripping with detail and malice. He doesn't hide their cruelty.
I've been fighting all my life, one enemy or another, one friend or another. I've known little else . . . Life used to be cheap as dirt to me. Cheaper.
It's such a satisfying moment when you finally see how all the different perspectives will intertwine, when you see the larger, looming evil and realise what is to come in the next instalments. I absolutely can't wait for the blood of the book to really get pumping, and have my heart rate increase alongside it!
I really enjoyed my first adventure into Abercrombie's First Law series, I can't wait to read on. I had such a fun time reading it with the First Law World book club on Fable, it was great to hear everyone's thoughts every step of the way! Thank you, Rachel (@lamoralibrary on TikTok), for convincing me to join!
History is littered with dead good men.
Joe Abercrombie's The Blade Itself is dark and gritty and spectacularly written. I've been eager to read Abercrombie's works for a while, I love grimdark books and so I've always heard great things about this one. I had no idea what an intelligent writer he is as well. Every character's voice is so unique, you can easily tell who's narrating a chapter after just a few sentences. It's such a talent to be able to characterise so instantly and so skilfully.
It's a very slow building book, things only really start to kick off at the very end. I've heard that people who've struggled with this book adore the others in the series, apparently the plot explodes in book two, so keep that in mind! But I love a slow-paced story that focuses on the characters and that's completely what this book is. It's a character study. And, oh boy, are the characters something!
The characters in this story are so unfathomably morally grey/morally bankrupt and they are fascinating to explore the minds of. A factor that I really appreciated was that, for all this moral conflict, it was never stale, the characters are all morally flawed in completely different ways. I loved this as it provided such variety to their flaws and it was interesting to see what aspects of their characterisations I viewed as 'too far'. In other words, how immoral can a character be before you no longer like them?
But another factor that's so brilliant about this book is that you don't have to like them to root for them! It's almost absurd how much we are made to care for characters that we despise. Why do I want this unbearable character to win this fight? For some ineffable reason (it's really just because of how talented Abercrombie is) I can still get behind them. They're all just so captivating, you constantly want to find out more about them.
The main three perspectives we follow are Logen Ninefingers (the Bloody Nine, my favourite character, a warrior in the North desperately trying to escape his ever-encroaching death), Glokta (an ex-soldier tortured and injured in the previous war, now an inquisitor who takes up his own hand at torture), and Jezal (a self-obsessed, misogynistic soldier who desires glory above all). Guess which character I dislike the most (!)
We also follow West (another soldier figure in the city of Adua, more familiar with the brewing war in Angland than any of the others), Ferro (I absolutely adore Ferro, an escaped slave intent on her path of vengeance), and another very interesting band of characters in the North that I won't mention because of spoilers.
I always wanted to know more and more about every single one of them. Some have such intriguing pasts that we've barely got glimpses of, some hold such fascinating thoughts that are incessantly morbid but impossible to look away from. Even those that I disliked were so interesting to follow and were caught up in such mysterious circumstances.
Fear is a good friend to the hunted, it's kept me alive this long. The dead are fearless, and I don't care to join them.
The world itself is also enthralling. We span a few different lands in this book, but are mostly focused on Midderland where the city of Adua rests. I'm so excited to get to see more of the world throughout the series and the following books. I loved the politics we were able to see so far, I loved the tangle of intentions in Adua, the inquisition and the open and closed councils were all caught up in their own particular war. I loved the larger battles of lands, the threats and ever-building tension at play. I loved getting to see more of the North's own politics, Bethod and his sons' defeat of the clans before the book's even started and how that affects and changes the land. I loved how entangled every character was in their particular brand of political machinations.
A factor I loved even more than the ceaseless scheming was the history and lore of the world. Every time we got even a taste of the world's history and the story of its fallen god-like beings, I was ensnared by it. I loved the crumbs that were scattered across the pages and I can't wait to discover even more. There are so many interesting facets to the magic system and laws of the world. We truly are only given a taste of it in this book and I'm so eager to read on to see what else we will discover.
This book was so well-written for all the reasons I mentioned before, because of how well it kept its characters in mind, but there was also another area where Abercrombie's writing really stood out: the fight scenes. His action scenes are so grim and gritty and they have such a realness to them, a sense of urgency, a bloody hunger. His characters don't hold back and so Abercrombie holds no punches, he tells you everything in stark sentences dripping with detail and malice. He doesn't hide their cruelty.
I've been fighting all my life, one enemy or another, one friend or another. I've known little else . . . Life used to be cheap as dirt to me. Cheaper.
It's such a satisfying moment when you finally see how all the different perspectives will intertwine, when you see the larger, looming evil and realise what is to come in the next instalments. I absolutely can't wait for the blood of the book to really get pumping, and have my heart rate increase alongside it!
I really enjoyed my first adventure into Abercrombie's First Law series, I can't wait to read on. I had such a fun time reading it with the First Law World book club on Fable, it was great to hear everyone's thoughts every step of the way! Thank you, Rachel (@lamoralibrary on TikTok), for convincing me to join!
allthings's review against another edition
5.0
I thought I was going off reading as it felt like it was becoming a slog; turns out, I was just reading lacklustre books.
zyancey's review against another edition
dark
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
truthwatcher's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
ddneuro's review against another edition
4.0
none of the characters in this book are remotely likeable and i love them dearly because of it.