Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

16 reviews

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 against another edition

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

bitter_critter's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I did not enjoy this book. It came highly recommended and seemed interesting, but I should have DNF'ed 50 pages in. I'm used to books that take some time to meander towards the good stuff but the good stuff didn't come until the last 30 pages and by then it feels cheap. I spent the first 350 pages "giving it a chance" and the last 150 finishing it so I don't have to pick it up again.

There is a decently thick line between characters that are morally bad or questionable and characters that are just unlikeable. I found Logen and the Dogman kind of interesting but every other character whose POV we can read was boring and flat. 

Maybe it's something you would like and could connect to, but this fell flat for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Ableism, and Slavery

Minor: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death, Animal death, Blood, and Child abuse

the_night_reader_'s review against another edition

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

sydnieblair's review against another edition

adventurous funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Gore, Cursing, Death, and Torture

Moderate: Xenophobia, Slavery, Classism, Misogyny, and Sexism

Minor: Child death and Cannibalism

da3m0nic's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Blood, Death, Torture, Physical abuse, Gore, Domestic abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Kidnapping, Xenophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Sexism, Confinement, Mental illness, and War

nerdkitten's review against another edition

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

mikariah's review against another edition

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Domestic abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Misogyny, Ableism, and Classism

Minor: Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism, Rape, Slavery, Vomit, War, and Xenophobia

netflixismyroommate's review against another edition

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Blood, Sexism, Classism, Torture, Gore, Ableism, War, Misogyny, Violence, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Slavery, Genocide, Mental illness, Colonisation, and Cannibalism

Minor: Kidnapping, Terminal illness, Racial slurs, and Religious bigotry

ratat0sk42's review against another edition

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. 

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Content Warnings

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