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A review by isabellarobinson7
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
dark
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Rating: 3.5 stars
This review starts long before I had read this book. It actually starts before I even knew how I was going to read it at all. I just could not, for the life of me, get my hands on The Blade Itself. I couldn't get it anywhere! It was available at the library yonks ago, but it was then removed from the catalogue. I thought this was because they had an old, tattered, essentially unreadable copy and were going to upgrade to a brand-new one. So I waited. And waited. But it never returned.
That is not to say no other books by Joe Abercrombie turned up. No, they still have his entire YA series available through audio and physical copies, and (conveniently) the sequel/companion series in the First Law world, The Age of Madness, but never book one of the original trilogy.
Then, just in the last year or so, the big library in my town had to change venue, and thus cull a lot of its backlist titles, so there was little to no hope that The Blade Itself would ever become re-available at the library without outside intervention. (Sounds a little dramatic, but I have sat on the sidelines with First Law for too long.) So finally, on 19/09/23, I suggested a purchase... and then on the 21st, they said they had ordered it! But not only book one, books two and three as well! Huzzah!
Ok, but now let's talk about the actual book. First, we need to talk about the magic, mostly because it seems no one else will. Honestly, I have heard next to nothing about what makes this fantasy world, you know, fantastical. So with The Blade Itself, we come across a magic scene pretty quickly involving Logen (you'll have to forgive the ambiguity; I don't have the book with me any more) which looked promising AND THEN WE BARELY GO BACK TO IT. There is some stuff with the Magi dude (whose name is like Bazal or Bayzar or something... Bayaz, that's his name) but despite being THE magic guy in the world, he actually does very little magic himself. We just talk about him having done magic in the past. So you would think, then, with all this talking that we get a good grasp on what this magic is about. NOPE. I still have no clue how any of this works. I better get more in the sequels. Joe, you better give me more in the sequels.
Now let's talk about the plot. Some dudes talk. Some fighting happens. That is the plot. I mean, caveat numero uno about The Blade Itself is that there is little to no plot, and that is 100% correct. What happens in this book? I truly have no idea. And maybe that's what brought it down to a 3.5 star for me, because my ratings are based on enjoyment. I went into The First Law knowing full well that Abercrombie was heavily a character writer to whom plot is merely a side thought (if that). As a mostly plot driven reader, I was prepared for this. So looking at it objectively (as much as any human being can for a piece of art), I can say that if Joe Abercrombie's goal was to write a fantasy novel centred strongly on characters, then he absolutely achieved that. I personally would have preferred a little more plot, but failing to fulfil a reader's preference is hardly the fault of the author. And also, it is worth keeping in mind that this is Abercrombie's first ever attempt at a novel, so if there was ever a book where his weaknesses should be most evident, it would be this one.
But now we'll get to what you all really came for: the characters. I'll start with Jezal, because up until a month ago I didn't even know he existed at all. Jezal is a dude whose head is so far up his own ass that he has basically turned inside out. He is just a pompous dickhead. That's his personality. So that, coupled with his physical description, meant my brain could imagine him as nothing else than a (slightly) less violent Homelander. Seriously, Antony Starr as Homelander (who is actually a fellow Kiwi, I might add) is the exact embodiment of Jezal, just replace the cape with a sword. Now I don't want to talk about JezalLander anymore because he sucks.
Well, they all suck. That's the point, isn't it. Like Logen. He sucks, I guess. But honestly, I don't know him that well for me to say that he is a bad person. Other than him being a Viking- ah, I mean Northman, and really good at hacking people to pieces, I don't really know who Logen is. He is loyal to his friends though he fears they are dead (and even though those friends think he is dead), he has lots of muscles, and he has less than ten fingers (can't remember the exact number though. Maybe that should have been made more prominent). If we're sticking to this fictional character association, Logen is a bit like Conan the Barbarian, except Logen has some of the magic powers of the people Conan is fighting against (which is stILL NOT EXPLAINED but ok I need to get over it). I expect we will get more surrounding Logen in the sequels, but for now, in a book that was overwhelmingly character focused, I am leaving only really knowing a shadow of what kind of a person Logen is.
And now. Now we will talk about him. The character everyone starts their pitch with: Inquisitor Glokta. And yet, surprisingly, this is the character I have the least to say about. I have wracked my brain, and can't really come up with anyone Glokta compares to in the world of fiction. Maybe a bit of Wormtongue... maybe some V from V for Vendetta, just for his cruel and sadistic nature... truly, I am a little stumped. Perhaps this is one of the biggest compliments I can give Joe Abercrombie, because I cannot really think of any character quite like Glokta. I haven't really talked about sympathy to any of these characters, because they are far from being written with likability in mind, but Glokta is possibly the furthest from hateable. Because... you do kind of feel bad for him. He's a cripple in a time before wheelchairs (stairs are to Glokta what sand is to Anakin. I rest my case), and all he wants for Christmas is his two front teeth. I mean, who wants to eat soup all the time?! That alone would make you an asshole! Ok, but in all seriousness (or as serious as I can get) Glokta is obviously the most interesting character in the book, and everybody is right when they open their argument for reading The First Law by describing him. (Huh, so it seems I do have a lot to say about him after all.)
Ok. That's it. I finished my review. Oh wait, I have one more thing to say. WHO IS FERRO, JOE ABERCROMBIE???!!! HOW DARE YOU SHOW US A GLIMPSE OF THIS GIRL BOSS ASS-KICKING WOMAN AND THEN END THE BOOK.
This review starts long before I had read this book. It actually starts before I even knew how I was going to read it at all. I just could not, for the life of me, get my hands on The Blade Itself. I couldn't get it anywhere! It was available at the library yonks ago, but it was then removed from the catalogue. I thought this was because they had an old, tattered, essentially unreadable copy and were going to upgrade to a brand-new one. So I waited. And waited. But it never returned.
That is not to say no other books by Joe Abercrombie turned up. No, they still have his entire YA series available through audio and physical copies, and (conveniently) the sequel/companion series in the First Law world, The Age of Madness, but never book one of the original trilogy.
Then, just in the last year or so, the big library in my town had to change venue, and thus cull a lot of its backlist titles, so there was little to no hope that The Blade Itself would ever become re-available at the library without outside intervention. (Sounds a little dramatic, but I have sat on the sidelines with First Law for too long.) So finally, on 19/09/23, I suggested a purchase... and then on the 21st, they said they had ordered it! But not only book one, books two and three as well! Huzzah!
Ok, but now let's talk about the actual book. First, we need to talk about the magic, mostly because it seems no one else will. Honestly, I have heard next to nothing about what makes this fantasy world, you know, fantastical. So with The Blade Itself, we come across a magic scene pretty quickly involving Logen (you'll have to forgive the ambiguity; I don't have the book with me any more) which looked promising AND THEN WE BARELY GO BACK TO IT. There is some stuff with the Magi dude (whose name is like Bazal or Bayzar or something... Bayaz, that's his name) but despite being THE magic guy in the world, he actually does very little magic himself. We just talk about him having done magic in the past. So you would think, then, with all this talking that we get a good grasp on what this magic is about. NOPE. I still have no clue how any of this works. I better get more in the sequels. Joe, you better give me more in the sequels.
Now let's talk about the plot. Some dudes talk. Some fighting happens. That is the plot. I mean, caveat numero uno about The Blade Itself is that there is little to no plot, and that is 100% correct. What happens in this book? I truly have no idea. And maybe that's what brought it down to a 3.5 star for me, because my ratings are based on enjoyment. I went into The First Law knowing full well that Abercrombie was heavily a character writer to whom plot is merely a side thought (if that). As a mostly plot driven reader, I was prepared for this. So looking at it objectively (as much as any human being can for a piece of art), I can say that if Joe Abercrombie's goal was to write a fantasy novel centred strongly on characters, then he absolutely achieved that. I personally would have preferred a little more plot, but failing to fulfil a reader's preference is hardly the fault of the author. And also, it is worth keeping in mind that this is Abercrombie's first ever attempt at a novel, so if there was ever a book where his weaknesses should be most evident, it would be this one.
But now we'll get to what you all really came for: the characters. I'll start with Jezal, because up until a month ago I didn't even know he existed at all. Jezal is a dude whose head is so far up his own ass that he has basically turned inside out. He is just a pompous dickhead. That's his personality. So that, coupled with his physical description, meant my brain could imagine him as nothing else than a (slightly) less violent Homelander. Seriously, Antony Starr as Homelander (who is actually a fellow Kiwi, I might add) is the exact embodiment of Jezal, just replace the cape with a sword. Now I don't want to talk about JezalLander anymore because he sucks.
Well, they all suck. That's the point, isn't it. Like Logen. He sucks, I guess. But honestly, I don't know him that well for me to say that he is a bad person. Other than him being a Viking- ah, I mean Northman, and really good at hacking people to pieces, I don't really know who Logen is. He is loyal to his friends though he fears they are dead (and even though those friends think he is dead), he has lots of muscles, and he has less than ten fingers (can't remember the exact number though. Maybe that should have been made more prominent). If we're sticking to this fictional character association, Logen is a bit like Conan the Barbarian, except Logen has some of the magic powers of the people Conan is fighting against (which is stILL NOT EXPLAINED but ok I need to get over it). I expect we will get more surrounding Logen in the sequels, but for now, in a book that was overwhelmingly character focused, I am leaving only really knowing a shadow of what kind of a person Logen is.
And now. Now we will talk about him. The character everyone starts their pitch with: Inquisitor Glokta. And yet, surprisingly, this is the character I have the least to say about. I have wracked my brain, and can't really come up with anyone Glokta compares to in the world of fiction. Maybe a bit of Wormtongue... maybe some V from V for Vendetta, just for his cruel and sadistic nature... truly, I am a little stumped. Perhaps this is one of the biggest compliments I can give Joe Abercrombie, because I cannot really think of any character quite like Glokta. I haven't really talked about sympathy to any of these characters, because they are far from being written with likability in mind, but Glokta is possibly the furthest from hateable. Because... you do kind of feel bad for him. He's a cripple in a time before wheelchairs (stairs are to Glokta what sand is to Anakin. I rest my case), and all he wants for Christmas is his two front teeth. I mean, who wants to eat soup all the time?! That alone would make you an asshole! Ok, but in all seriousness (or as serious as I can get) Glokta is obviously the most interesting character in the book, and everybody is right when they open their argument for reading The First Law by describing him. (Huh, so it seems I do have a lot to say about him after all.)
Ok. That's it. I finished my review. Oh wait, I have one more thing to say. WHO IS FERRO, JOE ABERCROMBIE???!!! HOW DARE YOU SHOW US A GLIMPSE OF THIS GIRL BOSS ASS-KICKING WOMAN AND THEN END THE BOOK.