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A review by beaktastic
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
4.0
So I really enjoyed this book. I'd heard of it ages ago, and have been meaning to read it for AGES and finally got around to doing so. I'd heard it would be exactly the kind of book I'd like, based on my love of a couple other fantasy series, and I have to say that I was not disappointed.
I really enjoyed the main characters, I thought the cast was really well rounded and the characters were all quite unique and different. None of them was the perfect stereotypical hero, and several of them were not initially relatable or necessarily likeable characters. I connected with Logen immediately, as I felt he was the most 'hero' like of them all (in terms of typical hero traits). But others, such as Jezal and Glokta, took me longer to connect with. Glokta was so full of hate and distrust because of what he has experienced, that it took me a while to see the better side of him and to connect with him, but it did happen. Same with Jezal, who is incredibly pompous and arrogant, but who does begin to soften a little throughout the story (although by the end of this book he does still look down on most of the rest of the cast).
I thought the world was quite well explained and brought to life. Abercrombie had certainly thought about it's history and how it had all developed.
I thought the story itself was interesting, but at the end of this book I felt like this was all just setup for the larger narrative that will be continued in the next books. I felt like we had a lot of hints about what's to come, and what is going on, but nothing much revealed (obviously, for a first book). But when we reached the end and I thought about where we had come, I felt like we hadn't really progressed that far. Logen particularly did very little in the 2nd half of the story. It was clear that Bayaz had a grand plan that he was bringing together, but the second-half/last-third of the novel just seemed to be setting up the end of the novel and bringing everyone together who will make up the merry band that departs at the very end of this novel. I dunno, I mean, it's obvious that great and grand things will happen in the next novel, and this one was full of mystery, suspense, drama and gore aplenty, but at the same time it felt like nothing had really been accomplished here. It almost felt like a let down. But there was still plenty of gore and drama and action to hold my attention here, and I can see why it kept getting recommended to me.
Overall, a great first book in the trilogy, obviously setting up great things for the other books but at the same time, felt slightly like not much in terms of moving the story along really happened. It was a lot of introducing the cast and getting to know them, with hints at what's to come. But a great book.
I really enjoyed the main characters, I thought the cast was really well rounded and the characters were all quite unique and different. None of them was the perfect stereotypical hero, and several of them were not initially relatable or necessarily likeable characters. I connected with Logen immediately, as I felt he was the most 'hero' like of them all (in terms of typical hero traits). But others, such as Jezal and Glokta, took me longer to connect with. Glokta was so full of hate and distrust because of what he has experienced, that it took me a while to see the better side of him and to connect with him, but it did happen. Same with Jezal, who is incredibly pompous and arrogant, but who does begin to soften a little throughout the story (although by the end of this book he does still look down on most of the rest of the cast).
I thought the world was quite well explained and brought to life. Abercrombie had certainly thought about it's history and how it had all developed.
I thought the story itself was interesting, but at the end of this book I felt like this was all just setup for the larger narrative that will be continued in the next books. I felt like we had a lot of hints about what's to come, and what is going on, but nothing much revealed (obviously, for a first book). But when we reached the end and I thought about where we had come, I felt like we hadn't really progressed that far. Logen particularly did very little in the 2nd half of the story. It was clear that Bayaz had a grand plan that he was bringing together, but the second-half/last-third of the novel just seemed to be setting up the end of the novel and bringing everyone together who will make up the merry band that departs at the very end of this novel. I dunno, I mean, it's obvious that great and grand things will happen in the next novel, and this one was full of mystery, suspense, drama and gore aplenty, but at the same time it felt like nothing had really been accomplished here. It almost felt like a let down. But there was still plenty of gore and drama and action to hold my attention here, and I can see why it kept getting recommended to me.
Overall, a great first book in the trilogy, obviously setting up great things for the other books but at the same time, felt slightly like not much in terms of moving the story along really happened. It was a lot of introducing the cast and getting to know them, with hints at what's to come. But a great book.