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stephanieluxton 's review for:
The Blade Itself
by Joe Abercrombie
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I don't read a lot of fantasy and I had never read a Joe Abercrombie book before, but I heard this was a fantastic character driven story so I gave it a go.
Don't even ask me what this book is about. I don't really know. A lot of people would probably compare this to A Song of Ice and Fire, and as someone who has read only the first book in that series and watched the tv show, all I'll say is that this book has all the things I loved about ASOIAF and none of the things I didn't. The characters are interesting and layered with different backstories and motivations, there's a lot of politics but not in a boring way, and the violence is brutal in a way that feels realistic. It's not full of spice, which is a little refreshing.
We have a solid handful of main character we jump between and these characters are some of the most interesting and layered characters I've gotten to know in awhile. I found myself drawn towards the audiobook version of this story because the narrator does a different voice for each character, and it's absolutely amazing - Glokta especially.
I don't want to go into detail about the characters or story too much because I think the synopsis on the back of the book is vague for a reason. This book does not spoon feed you any information. There's no huge exposition dumps. How goddamn refreshing. Although we experience the story from multiple perspectives, the author manages to maintain a sense of mystery by not letting us experience it from the people who may have all the answers. We find out things as the characters do. We find out backstories slowly in a way that makes sense.
For awhile, the story feels a little disjointed and it isn't until the very end that the puzzle pieces start to come together. I still don't know exactly what's happening, but I am enjoying the epic scope of this series. It feels good to be reading something that feels truly clever. I can't wait to see where the story goes.
Don't even ask me what this book is about. I don't really know. A lot of people would probably compare this to A Song of Ice and Fire, and as someone who has read only the first book in that series and watched the tv show, all I'll say is that this book has all the things I loved about ASOIAF and none of the things I didn't. The characters are interesting and layered with different backstories and motivations, there's a lot of politics but not in a boring way, and the violence is brutal in a way that feels realistic. It's not full of spice, which is a little refreshing.
We have a solid handful of main character we jump between and these characters are some of the most interesting and layered characters I've gotten to know in awhile. I found myself drawn towards the audiobook version of this story because the narrator does a different voice for each character, and it's absolutely amazing - Glokta especially.
I don't want to go into detail about the characters or story too much because I think the synopsis on the back of the book is vague for a reason. This book does not spoon feed you any information. There's no huge exposition dumps. How goddamn refreshing. Although we experience the story from multiple perspectives, the author manages to maintain a sense of mystery by not letting us experience it from the people who may have all the answers. We find out things as the characters do. We find out backstories slowly in a way that makes sense.
For awhile, the story feels a little disjointed and it isn't until the very end that the puzzle pieces start to come together. I still don't know exactly what's happening, but I am enjoying the epic scope of this series. It feels good to be reading something that feels truly clever. I can't wait to see where the story goes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Violence, War
Moderate: Domestic abuse
Minor: Sexual content