The Blade Itself

that's great and all but when does the plot start (jk)

This books has awesome world building! Characters are super interesting, I loved Glokta especially. All the characters are flawed in really fun ways and can't wait to start the next book!

4.5/5 is really what I’d give it, a bit too much exposition but leading to something great that’s for sure. Will definitely be picking up the next book asap

This had absolutely everything but an end goal I HAVE to begin this review by stating my absolute love for every single character in this book. Every single one was so very well realised - their strengths, their weaknesses, their distinctive personality traits that differed them from one another. The character alone are 5/5 and make this book worth reading. Secondly, the writing itself is an absolute breathe of fresh air and though described as "Grim Dark" fantasy, this book describes the thoughts of the characters in a light tone and is often narrated in a comical and humorous way as a result. A real breathe of fresh air after some of the too serious fantasy I've read this year. My only small problem with the book was that not a huge amount happened or ever felt like it was going to happen. There were some wonderful tales within the book that kept me reading, but there wasn't any overarching story that made me want to discover what would happen. However, I've heard this is the case with this book and they get better as you go. I look forward to the sequel!

This was picked as a buddy read for me and my friend Jeremy. It was also my first buddy read ever. We both got the Orbit books trilogy boxset…and neither of us liked it. I will say for everything that follows, please note that this did NOT work for me. I would say that almost everything worked against me, rather than for me, in that sense. Right from the beginning, there was this race of creatures with next to no explanation or set up. I thought that perhaps it was how some fantasy writers set up their story as “otherworldly” by hitting you with something you know you’ve never heard before…but no, this novel just never fully explains anything. The creatures get mentioned many times, but never really come back or get fleshed out. Overall the biggest crux to me was this right here, lore and world building will never be at their fullest if you simply cannot understand what is going on. Oh, this big bad guy and this big good guy fought it out right here at the beginning of time or whatever? Cool, where are we even? Why? How? I might add that if you are a huge fan of set up, please please buckle up. This novel has set up from page one on and on and on and on and on, until you finally get to page 500, and nothing has really happened yet. I’ve read and seen people call this book a prologue to the rest of them, and I guess that’s kind of cool, maybe it would pay off later, but it just totally is lost on me. I did not enjoy, I don’t even know if money could make me continue. There is truly no solidified plot to this one. This book was suggested to me over and over by many people who’s opinions I respect quite a lot. I just don’t see it, or don’t get it. I’ve seen so many five star reads of this, and by the time I got to the ending I was not only reconsidering my anti-DNF stance, but my overall view on life. The characters…the characters: Jezal is a white privileged, egotistical asshole, who only seemingly becomes more complex as the novel goes along, just to have his character development wholly crushed about 3/4s in, by having a chapter start with a complete character reversion. Glokta, the crippled, PoW turned government inquisitor, is the same insufferable half-beat just over and over and over again. He complains about climbing stairs for approximately 100 out of the 501 pages. Logen, the Bloody-nine, is presented as a kind of complex, but perhaps mentally simple, northern thug. When you get his thoughts he seems like a well created character (at times they all do), but whenever he is not in perspective he get downgraded to a blubbering baboon in the most simplifying fashion. It was so frustrating to read. The author did that to every character. I also didn’t understand what time period this was modeled after? Not that it necessarily has to follow one, or only one. Medieval seemingly with the weapons, but I kept saying that Glokta chapters felt kind of like the game Dishonored’s aristocracy? The agriont stuff kind of made me feel or picture semi-industrial? I honestly said more than once that I thought Glokta and Logen were going to be revealed later as two different time periods, that’s how much I felt it read different. And I was only more surprised and confused when they meshed, and I knew for sure it was all one timeline. They just didn’t read the same to me. I’m sure this may ruffle some feathers. I don’t intend to offend any fans of the author or series, and I promise I’m not mad, I just did not like this. I distinctly remember telling Jeremy multiple times while reading it with him that something in the writing I liked. I kept thinking I would like the book. But over the rest of it, I don’t really know what happened. I feel like at times I was legitimately reading this book at 5 minutes a page. Some action sequences even could put me to sleep. So I guess in that sense I can’t really even say I enjoyed the prose. At this point in the game, I would not suggest this. I’m also not sure if I’d try something else by the author.

Ah, so this is how swords and sorcery fantasy should be done! Say one thing for Logen Ninefingers, say he's one of the most feared barbarians of the north. He leads a pack of Named Men so famous they're used as boogeymen to scare little children. Only problem is, he gets separated from his crew, who assume (with good reason) that he's gone back to the mud (i.e. dead as a doornail). He likewise assumes (with good reason) they've gone back to the mud. So, he goes off on his own, into the north that is being taken over by Bethod, an evil bastard who he used to work for. Glokta was a famed swordsman long ago, but now he is a crippled torturer, bitter about life and everything in it. Doing the dirty work for the Archbishop, he begins to investigate the strange new character in town who is pretending to be a famed (and long absent) sorcerer, Bayaz. Only problem is, it seems impossible to prove he ISN'T Bayaz. . . Jezal is an arrogant young nobleman, and a complete waste of skin. With vague hopes of glory and a lack of creativity, he trains to be a swordsman, but it's oh-so-very-hard, and he doesn't know if it's really worth getting up early for, and all the running---but then! He meets Ardee, who is pretty, although not in the skinny, pale way that's so much in fashion. She's not even rich, and isn't from a good family, but you could hardly tell it from talking to her; she's quite bright, and fun to be around. And she thinks Jezal a lazy, pompous shit, UNABLE to become a good sword fighter. Well, we'll see about that! These are our three primary characters, although the storyline follows several others as well. Joe Abercrombie's biggest strength is the voice of his characters and his biting sense of humor. Although this will seem a strange comparison, there's something about Abercrombie's humor that reminds me of Jane Austen. There's a lot of social satire here dealing with social heirarchy and prejudice, especially among the characters in the south such as Jezal and Glokta. But if the First Law Trilogy is part comedy of manners, it's also part BARBARIANS CHOPPING MOTHERFUCKERS UP! And, of course, part graphic torture scenes with my personal favorite character, Glokta, whose intense bitterness is--to me--very funny. If you're squeamish, you may squeam during a few of these scenes. It's not as bad as Saw or anything, but it's definitely graphic. Although you get a strong sense of these characters early on, they don't become predictable. Many surprises await, not only in truths yet to be discovered about our characters, but discoveries about the past, and discoveries about the nature of the world. This is all good stuff, and I recommend this highly to fans of fantasy. The biggest complaint I have here is a very minor one: passive verbs. Usually, I don't notice these at all. The first time I noticed one here, I felt proud of myself for paying such close attention! But, I kept noticing them. It didn't do much to slow the pace or make the book less fun, but, hey, I'm just telling you what I noticed. It also takes a while for Abercrombie to start rolling out what the real conflict is going to be in the series, and I imagine that will make some people feel the book starts off slow. It didn't start off slowly for me, though, because I was enjoying the immersion in the world, and the high level of character development that Abercrombie was building. This is an excellent junk-food fantasy read, more fun than anything I can think of other than The Lies of Locke Lamora. (And thus began the name-dropping.) Quality-wise, this isn't quite as strong as R Scott Bakker's The Prince of Nothing trilogy, but Abercrombie doesn't have as lofty of goals. This is what you'd get if you melded George R R Martin's world-complexity with David Gemmel's sense of how to make terrific heroes. It is fun, it is funny, it is often clever, and don't forget about the BARBARIANS CHOPPING MOTHERFUCKERS UP!

Prose is a delight, very free-flowing . There's a sarcastic wizard, a torturer for a protagonist, a corrupt feudal society. 'The blade itself' is from Homer - a rare moment where he recriminates about war. Good details - the torturer's inner monologue is always asking questions, casting doubt - the amputee waggling his stump thoughtfully, scared people forgetting where their sword is (when it's in their hand). Addictive.

The fantasy is good, but the story barely progresses, leaving much to be (hopefully) handled by the sequel. The scope is epic, and the world enticing, but Joe needs to hone his storytelling skills if he desires to keep the tale gripping to the very end. The story ends on an anti-climax and the urge to pick up the next book and begin reading fades quicker than it appears. Here's hoping the sequel does a better job.

this book was excellent and i'm only giving it 4 starts because the start is so slow and even though i wasn't bored by it there were too many scenes that confused me and left me wondering what the hell i was doing reading this book that doesn't seem to have a plot or an end - cause it's not like this book is short so 300 pages in you start to question your choices. but i am glad i pushed through because this book is incredible. the character work is out of this world - my favourite is Logen and his "I'm still alive" little mantra - but alll of the characters are very strong and well realised. they all feel real and three dimensional. they feel like real people who would live in this world. now that i've finished the book i appreciate the structure, how it feels like we've started at different points of the outer edge of a circle and then started coming closer and closer to the middle until by the end every plotline met, every character made sense in the same bubble. the writing is very engaging, it flows and it is so funny. there are several funny scenes in this book (some of which made me laugh out loud). art by https://www.artstation.com/anariverart

i don't love nor dislike it. the story is slow-paced but entertaining, and is obviously a really long prologue for the other two books. i'm okay with that. this felt like an introduction, and maybe that's why i'm a bit confused with the plot and what i should expect, as a reader, from the next part of the trilogy. there seems to be a big story, big event, big conflict going on but in this book i was barely able to scratch the surface of it. i mean, i get why jezal is so lost at the end because i, too, don't know what the fuck is going on. that doesn't mean i didn't have a great time, though, so i hope the plot and backstory of this world gets a nice, comprehensible development soon. i felt the same towards the characters. they're defined as morally grey, but to me they were almost pitch black. it is really hard to empathize with them and justify some of their actions (and i would be concerned if you do because...), but that is kind of their charm. a character doesn't have to be nice and make the best decisions for them to be able to tell a story. i do think logen was my favorite, i'm intrigued by his past the most. if i had to say something else about the cast of characters it would be: WHERE are the women? i can name only three, and none of them have a specially big role in the plot. perhaps ferro can be labelled as a main character (i think she is, actually), even if she appears already halfway through the book and i can count her pov chapters with my two hands. she is the most unknown 'main' character of all of them, if we compare the information we get about her to what we get about logen, glokta and jezal. but i liked the narrative style, i think the author does a great job of choosing the right words for his descriptions. there were some scenes (gross ones, i have to say, but i have to appreciate the way the author is able to make me a bit sick too) that i visualized in my mind just as if i was watching a film. i have high hopes for this series nevertheless.

The best epic fantasy book I have read so far!

This book took so long to get going that I couldn't understand why so many people loved it. It took almost 2 months to finish the stupid thing because I trudged through two thirds of the book. But the last third of the book really ramps up, and I thoroughly enjoyed the last few chapters. The characters are very diverse and interesting. It takes a while to start caring about them, but ultimately they get you. I'm not sure I can keep moving in the series, but this book finished well. Foul language is present throughout.

75% DNF Isn't bad... Isn't interesting enough. I don't have problems with morally gray characters. I mean, berserk... Asoiaf.. chainsaw-man, dorohedoro for goodness sake. All time favorites. That's not a problem. I tried, but unfortunately nothing was interesting enough to continue. The characters are bland, writing is mostly utilitarian. Abercrombie tries something more lyrical but nah. As Ariana Grande cleverly said, Thank you, next. (Also, that's could be just my imagination but sometimes glokta sounded to much like book tyrion. Like... Almost a rip off.)

It's hard to review this book on its own, The First Law trilogy is truly a trilogy. Abercrombie has created a very interesting world here, and he sets up some even more interesting characters faced with some interesting challenges. If I hadn't read the trilogy back-to-back-to-back I would have been disappointed with this first book, though, as the characters never amount to much and events aren't wrapped up. Having read the full trilogy, however, I can highly recommend it as a whole.

Where to start?...I can say until the last 100 or so pages I really had mixed feelings about this book starting with if this was a 3.5/4 star rating ...seems I adjusted last minute Moving along, Joe's prose is the most fascinating thing about this book I've read a lot of fantasy books to realise most people enjoy dense prose that give you a headache or they are simply Sarah j mass there's not much in between But Joe is truly gifted in telling so much with so little (that's how best I can describe his art) ....I can say I didn't care for all the main characters and that's something I'm not very used to but the ones I liked I really look forward to seeing them grow through out the series (Glokta and Jezal) This was a good read even tho the first 200 pages nearly made fall into a coma , the violence and the introduction of ferro made things better for me ....I look forward to before they are hanged

2.5 stars would be more accurate. The premise and plot are interesting, some of the characters very compelling- but the overarching sexism and racism is pretty blatant and hard to endure when its so useless.

4.5/5 rounded up

Honestly I made it 90% before DNFing. The thing is, it’s not??? Bad??? There just isn’t a point. The story goes nowhere and only half the characters are fleshed out. It’s seems like it’s a plot driven book except the plot is There is a king in the North and Southerners kind of worry about him for a bit??? Also that random scene of a brother brutally beating his sister out of nowhere was super necessary,

You can find this review and more at Novel Notions. The Blade Itself is exactly why I believe in second chances. When I first read this book four years ago, I had very little adult fantasy under my belt. I had read Elantris, Mistborn, A Song of Ice and Fire, and The Kingkiller Chronicle. That’s pretty much it. I think I just wasn’t mentally prepared for something like The Blade Itself. Even ASoIaF, by far the darkest of the fantasy novels I had read up to that point, had a number of characters who were mostly moral. Even if I wasn’t sure how long said characters would live, I knew that there was good even in this dark world. Then Abercrombie entered. While even on my first reading I appreciated how fleshed out and unique his characters were, there was a part of me that was horrified to find a core of darkness within those I had thought were basically good. My little brain didn’t cope well with that. “Every man has his excuses, and the more vile the man becomes, the more touching the story has to be. What is my story now, I wonder?” Fast forward to 2019. With much more of the fantasy genre under my belt, I decided to give The First Law another shot. My co-blogger, Petrik, considers this one of his favorite series of all time, so I wanted to give the series at least one more try before writing it off as too dark for me. I’m so glad I did. If I could travel back in time and smack past me on the back of the head, I would. I don’t know what my problem was, because The Blade Itself is absolutely fantastic. Now that I’m not clutching my pearls in horror over a cast of completely morally gray characters, I have so much respect for Abercrombie and the world he created. “History is littered with dead good men.” What really makes this book shine is the very element that turned me off during my first reading: the characters. They’re all insanely lifelike and fleshed out, and I love them intensely. Rarely have I come across characters so vibrantly alive. Glotka is one of the funniest, foulest, cleverest, most pitiable characters I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. I honestly wouldn’t have been too surprised had he limped right off the pages. I know he limped his way into my heart, ugly smile and all. He’s one of the most determined characters I’ve come across, and I really respect his tenacity, because even when he wonders why he doesn’t just give up, he somehow finds the strength to take the next step, and the next. “Everything frightens me, and it's well that it does. Fear is a good friend to the hunted, it's kept me alive this long. The dead are fearless, and I don't care to join them.” And Jezal! This noble son turned soldier is shallow and lazy and breathtakingly self-absorbed. There’s a whole little section of him just admiring his jawline in a mirror, mediating on how superior it is to other jaws. I laughed out loud so many times during scenes from his point of view. I especially loved how mercurial his moods were, changing radically mid-paragraph. Bayaz, though not a perspective character, also deserves special mention. He reminded me of Merlin as presented in Disney’s The Sword in the Stone, but far surlier and with a much fouler vocabulary. And I mean that in the best way. There were other side characters who I eventually found fascinating, as well, as they reveals hidden depths and darknesses and motivations. Every fictional person in the world Abercrombie crafted felt believable to me, full of hopes and dreams and quirks and failings. “I’m trying to put things in the best light, but a turd’s a turd, whatever light it’s in!” Say one thing for Joe Abercrombie, say he knows how to write a compellingly reluctant action hero. The star of the book for me, despite how much I enjoy Glotka and Jezal, is without a doubt Logen Ninefingers. The Bloody Nine has a fearsome reputation, but Logen would honestly like nothing more than to leave it behind. But he is who he is, and will never back down from doing what needs doing. Despite his body count, Logen is perhaps the kindest character in the entire novel. He’s far more conflicted and selfless than others around him, though he is by no means perfect. You can’t help but root for him. “The best steel doesn't always shine the brightest.” I also want to take a moment to praise Abercrombie’s writing. The man really has a way with words. His prose is captivating in a way that doesn’t distract you from the story. And I love how his writing style shifts subtly for each perspective, adding an extra layer of distinction for each voice. Despite the darkness of the world and the plot, Abercrombie was able to seamlessly pack in a ton of humor. The only other novel I’ve read that was able to achieve this balance so deftly is The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, with is one of my very books. “Some things have to be done. It's better to do them, than to live with the fear of them.” Coming back to this book was a wonderful decision. I can see now, having read so much fantasy over the past three years, how much Abercrombie has inspired other authors in the genre. I can’t wait to continue reading and see what he has in store for Logen and Glotka and all the rest. You know, maybe grimdark isn’t too much for me after all. It’s amazing how tastes change.

"Unlikeable Characters, Highly Character driven, Ambiguous plot" I started this one mainly because of two reasons, I wanted to experience Grimdark, and I wanted to see what's all the hype about Joe Abercrombie. And I think even though this book is a bumpy ride it fulfills those two expectations perfectly. There's a lot going on in this book and still the plot seemed thin, and I think it was intentional. Start to end there's an immense focus on characterizations, the detailings and deep dive into the character is what makes this book so interesting and gripping. At times I was super bored but it's all worth it towards the end. The characters are flawed and morally ambiguous, similiar to the story the things happen pretty vaguely. There's absolutely nothing predicatable as there's no linearity in character goals and conflicts. I loved this book majorly because of the intricate character development and the writing style. The writing style is superb with perfect amount of descriptions and details blended with carefully thought out and nice dialogues. The audiobook narration by Steven Pacey is super amazing, the character voices he presents are clearly distinctive and fun to listen to. I loved the voice of Glokta as it perfectly captures the character. Even though the characters are unlikeable, their crafting makes them intriguing and creates a curiosity as to what mystery they hold within them. I loved the character of Glokta as it felt the most realistic amongst all. There's a sense of tension, irritation and discomfort attached to it, even though his part is written in a slight humorous way it gives out the necessary emotions. Logen Ninefingers' character is also good but I guess I'll have to see more of him in the next two books for a proper judgement. This book sets up things nicely for the further two books and stands as a good introductory plot, there were some parts where I was like noooo, please I don't want to read this, but fortunately such parts are less. The side characters are also thought out and seem to have some significance in the plot. Overall I loved the book, mainly the character work, and even though it's a debut novel it didn't feel the same at all, the writing style is amazing to say the least. The ending was ok, nothing great but good enough to excite you for the next book. There's nothing more I can say that hasn't already been said, it's a good one overall. Please do listen to the audiobook for a better experience. Happy Reading!!😁

· Buddy read with the wannabe torturers over at BBB · DNF at 34%. You! Yes, you there! The person who is reading this review right now! Are you one of the hilarious people who told me I was going LOVE this book? You aren't? It's your lucky day, you should try playing the lottery or something. Now. If you are one of the delirious people who did tell me I was going to LOVE this book…oh man, you are SO doomed. I mean, what the bloody hell??!! How DARE you suicidal people lure me into this by dangling a supposedly awesomely irresistible, blood-shedding torturer in front of my lovely nose??!! Here I was, expecting an uber cool, super hot homicidal maniac, and what do I get? An ever pity partying, toothless bore with a limp. Seriously? SERIOUSLY? What were you thinking, you crazed people??!! Damn. Poor, pathetic Glotka is so grumpy he puts both the Grumpy Cat AND the old guys from the Muppet Show to shame. Grumpy can be sexy, but grumpy can be GRUMPY. And I know that looks aren't everything, but I draw the line at toothlessness. I could have survived the limp if poor, pathetic Glotka here hadn't spent every single second of his fascinating life complaining about it. Actually, he spends every single second of his fascinating life complaining about ALL his various and numerous and abundantly diverse pains, aches and ailments. So much so that I considered putting a bullet through his grumpy little head to put an end to his misery. Yeah, I'm charitable like that. Anything else? Yeah. This book is boring as hell. Bye now. PS: I might be slightly charitable to Grumpy-Ouch-It-Hurts torturers, but I'm not so lenient towards delusional people who think they can recommend I read Crappy Books (CB™) and get away with it unharmed, unscathed and stuff. All you people are now on my Shrimpy Hit List (SHL™). Expect a visit from the murderous decapodic army shortly. There will be blood. [Pre-review nonsense] DNF at 34%. 34%. And it almost took me a month to get that far. Yes, the book was *that* brilliantly exciting. I loved every minute of it. Come on, Edward, time to bail. ➽ I-hate-the-ill-intentioned-well-intentioned-friends-who-told-me-I-would-LUUURRRVE-Glotka review coming right up. You are SO in for that paid burn-in-hell holiday, people. My dear friends keep telling me I will LOVE Glokta. Might be because he's a cripple turned torturer (it's the torturer bit that counts). I have to say that Captain Jezal dan Luthar sounds pretty cool too: dashing officer and paragon of selfishness? Works for me. Then there's Logen Ninefingers, the infamous barbarian. Don't really care about the infamous part, but the barbarian side of things sounds positively yummy. Strangely enough, no one tried to sell this to me by mentioning Bayaz the wizard, a bald old man with a terrible temper. Weird. Looking forward to reading this and then sending half of my friend list on a paid burn-in-hell holiday.

Това е първата книга на Джо Абъркромби,която чета. Първата глава започва по средата на преследване,което беше малко странно за мен,но след като продължих да чета ,книгата наистина ми хареса. Авторът има страхотен стил на писане, с много внимание към детайлите. Той вдъхва живот на персонажите си. Книгата те държи в напрежение от самото начало до края. Нямам търпение да прочета и другите две книги.

I enjoy a character driven story; and that is the sole reason that I did not DNF this book. But even with that, there are barely any character developments—We mostly just established characters. There is literally no plot. No explanation really or background provided. Reading this book felt like being a peeping Tom/fly on the wall. Interesting as it was, it’s hard to be invested in a story you don’t feel like you were even invited to. This felt like jumping into book 3 in an already ongoing series

Very good. This book is an odd clash of whimsy and violence, and it works. The tone says 'this is nothing too serious', while a man gets his head bashed in with repeated headbutts. But there are serious moments too and the tone matches the scene. All of it is done incredibly well. The characters are distinct and I loved their interactions. They all seem determined to ignore the goings-on, and plough through to their goals. It makes for great comedy watching them get tripped up by each other. However, there is a lot of exposition, and a lot of setting up, with no payoffs yet. The time jumps were also a little jarring, with certain characters suddenly being at their destinations. All in all, very good book. 3.5/5 ps. I love when fantasy books use proper swear words. You can't beat the punch of a good f-bomb.