A review by syinhui
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

adventurous dark funny tense slow-paced

3.5

This isn't my first venture into Abercrombie's works; that would be Best Served Cold, and I remember quite liking it, so I had a rough idea of what to expect. I might have enjoyed this book more had I read it a few years ago, before Malazan. Now, it feels somewhat simplistic, a bit too nice for grimdark. Or my tastes have simply shifted towards darker and grittier epic fantasy.

Nothing much happened here actually and I don’t know if I liked the action-packed goose chase towards the end. I also find the lack of potentially great and well-rounded female characters a bit of a let down. While Ardee and Ferro may undergo character development later on, they aren't particularly likeable to me at the moment. One comes off as a bored, whining lady, supposedly clever yet a generic ‘not-like-other girls’ love interest type to Jezal, the other a feral escaped slave hell bent on revenge which is fine by me so long she has other personality aside from being portrayed as vicious. I liked Glokta’s POV best, the most compelling one for sure. 

All in all, good humor, unique character voices and accessible writing style . If the plot picks up in book two, which I assume it will, then this could be another great read.