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luis_vieira's review against another edition
- 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
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
ratat0sk42's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: Ableism, Death, Chronic illness, Violence, War, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Physical abuse, Murder, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore
Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual content, Colonisation, Body horror, Blood, Xenophobia, Trafficking, and Cannibalism
Minor: Death of parent, Alcoholism, and Grief
singalana's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Death, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Medical trauma, Xenophobia, Vomit, Dementia, Kidnapping, and War
Minor: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Excrement, Animal death, and Toxic relationship
laine37's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Torture, Physical abuse, Dysphoria, Body horror, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcohol, Blood, and Alcoholism
blakethebookeater's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The perfect example of how to do a grim dark fantasy novel: dark and also funny as hell.
The Blade Itself follows three main POVs (with some other minor ones sprinkled throughout): Logen, Jezal, and Glotka.
Logen is a warrior who formerly fought for the newly declared King of the North, Bethod. Now he’s on the run from Bethod’s men and dealing with the creatures encroaching on the North known as the Shanka. As he finds himself wandering, he’s drawn to the First of the Magi...the mysterious man known as Bayaz.
Jezal is a pretentious prick. And everyone knows it except for him. He is a fencing prodigy and is training for the big tournament where he’s expected to win for the Union. His balance is thrown off however, when his good friends Major West’s sister Ardee arrives and begins to challenge everything he thought he knew.
Glotka is an Inquisitor. And he’s very good at asking questions. Having survived his own torture as a prisoner of war, Glotka is familiar with how to make someone talk...with the right instruments of course. When he’s tasked with uncovering a mystery in the Union, Glotka and his two Practicals must follow the clues to its bloody end, no matter how many twisted bodies they have to leave in their wake.
Joe Abercrombie is absolutely masterful with his character work. Each character has such a distinct voice (this was helped by the stellar audiobook whose narrator literally crafted a unique voice for *every* character), and this was one of the few books where almost every character on the page felt fully fleshed out and realized. I felt like I had truly stepped into a fully formed world and was excited with every single chapter that I read.
This is primarily a character-driven book, but that doesn’t mean it has a plot. The plot unfolds slowly and steadily; there wasn’t a single moment where I wasn’t invested in what was going to happen next. I would go on long drives just to fit in another chapter, or two, or three.
And yes this book is obviously setting the stage for what is to come in the next two books but the setup was enjoyable as hell. I’m so impressed with this book and so invested in these characters and this story. These characters are all pretty much various shades of awful, terrible people...but they are so relentlessly entertaining to read about that I was rooting for them even so. I cannot wait to see where Abercrombie takes these characters and their stories next!
*quick note as to why I gave this 4.5 stars instead of a full 5: so because these characters are bad people, and we’re in their heads for their POV chapters, it can be uncomfortable at times. Something that I did notice happen quite a number of times was the way that fat characters were described. It made me very uncomfortable to see these characters all be shamed for their weight, how much they ate, and other terrible stereotypes about fat people. Now I believe this is because of the CHARACTERS’ prejudices and their descriptions and NOT the author’s. But it happened enough times to make me uncomfortable. I really hope that in the rest of the series there might be other POVs that aren’t so harsh in their judgment of these characters and it will be able to reinforce that it was just these few characters’ prejudices and not the author’s.*
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Fatphobia, Slavery, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Ableism, Cannibalism, Child death, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, and Vomit
shadereads's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Fatphobia, Classism, Slavery, Xenophobia, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Dementia, War, Rape, and Cannibalism