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A review by sgbrux
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
4.0
"Inquisitor, I’m glad you’re here.”
Good for you, bastard. I’m not.
First Law is often thrown out there as a great place to dip your toe in grimdark if you're new to the subgenre. My previous grimdark experience is Mark Lawrence's Broken Empire trilogy, which I loved, and A Song of Ice and Fire.
So what did I think of The Blade Itself? All in all, it was a solid read. I can see why it's consistently recommended despite my qualms with it.
My main complaint is that the overall book felt like a prologue or setup, which made things feel slow and much, much longer than its 500+ pages. I must fess up to dozing off a few times and fighting to stay awake as there didn't seem to be a clear frontrunner for a primary plot line and goal to help keep me engaged across the different POVs. Around the 50% mark, we finally get to see these POV characters meet, and from there, the story picks up a little, but still feels on the slow side.
Tone-wise, I expected the book to feel, well, grim and dark, but it seemed somewhat “lighter.” Although it has the violence and the pessimistic take on both people and the world, Abercrombie writes so much humor into the internal and external dialogue that it considerably lightens up the overall tone.
By the end of the book, we don’t meet any of the "real" bad guys yet—I don’t think—but the bad guys we did meet have that cartoon-like, villain quality to them. Blatantly corrupt and greedy and self-idolizing in an "out there" kind of way.
I think where Abercrombie absolutely kills it is in writing character voice. Each POV is perfectly unique to the character—no guessing whose head you're in—and taking it a step further, when these POV characters share the scene together, Abercrombie is masterful at showing us exactly how one character sees another, which never lines up with how they view themselves. It makes for some hilarious exchanges.
It's hard to say who my favorite character is so far. I love Bayaz, Glokta, and Logen (and Ferro and Ardee)—all for different reasons. The Named Men, too.
I have high hopes for Before They Are Hanged.
I suspect it will be even better than The Blade Itself!
Good for you, bastard. I’m not.
First Law is often thrown out there as a great place to dip your toe in grimdark if you're new to the subgenre. My previous grimdark experience is Mark Lawrence's Broken Empire trilogy, which I loved, and A Song of Ice and Fire.
So what did I think of The Blade Itself? All in all, it was a solid read. I can see why it's consistently recommended despite my qualms with it.
My main complaint is that the overall book felt like a prologue or setup, which made things feel slow and much, much longer than its 500+ pages. I must fess up to dozing off a few times and fighting to stay awake as there didn't seem to be a clear frontrunner for a primary plot line and goal to help keep me engaged across the different POVs. Around the 50% mark, we finally get to see these POV characters meet, and from there, the story picks up a little, but still feels on the slow side.
Tone-wise, I expected the book to feel, well, grim and dark, but it seemed somewhat “lighter.” Although it has the violence and the pessimistic take on both people and the world, Abercrombie writes so much humor into the internal and external dialogue that it considerably lightens up the overall tone.
By the end of the book, we don’t meet any of the "real" bad guys yet—I don’t think—but the bad guys we did meet have that cartoon-like, villain quality to them. Blatantly corrupt and greedy and self-idolizing in an "out there" kind of way.
I think where Abercrombie absolutely kills it is in writing character voice. Each POV is perfectly unique to the character—no guessing whose head you're in—and taking it a step further, when these POV characters share the scene together, Abercrombie is masterful at showing us exactly how one character sees another, which never lines up with how they view themselves. It makes for some hilarious exchanges.
It's hard to say who my favorite character is so far. I love Bayaz, Glokta, and Logen (and Ferro and Ardee)—all for different reasons. The Named Men, too.
I have high hopes for Before They Are Hanged.
I suspect it will be even better than The Blade Itself!