The Blade Itself
by Joe Abercrombie
Author's Description:
"Inquisitor Glokta, a crippled and increasingly bitter relic of the last war, former fencing champion turned torturer extraordinaire, is trapped in a twisted and broken body - not that he allows it to distract him from his daily routine of torturing smugglers.
Nobleman, dashing officer and would-be fencing champion Captain Jezal dan Luthar is living a life of ease by cheating his friends at cards. Vain, shallow, selfish and self-obsessed, the biggest blot on his horizon is having to get out of bed in the morning to train with obsessive and boring old men.
And Logen Ninefingers, an infamous warrior with a bloody past, is about to wake up in a hole in the snow with plans to settle a blood feud with Bethod, the new King of the Northmen, once and for all - ideally by running away from it. But as he's discovering, old habits die really, really hard indeed...
...especially when Bayaz gets involved. A bald old man with a terrible temper and a pathetic assistant, he could be the First of the Magi, he could be a spectacular fraud, but whatever he is, he's about to make the lives of Glotka, Jezal and Logen a whole lot more difficult..."
Nobleman, dashing officer and would-be fencing champion Captain Jezal dan Luthar is living a life of ease by cheating his friends at cards. Vain, shallow, selfish and self-obsessed, the biggest blot on his horizon is having to get out of bed in the morning to train with obsessive and boring old men.
And Logen Ninefingers, an infamous warrior with a bloody past, is about to wake up in a hole in the snow with plans to settle a blood feud with Bethod, the new King of the Northmen, once and for all - ideally by running away from it. But as he's discovering, old habits die really, really hard indeed...
...especially when Bayaz gets involved. A bald old man with a terrible temper and a pathetic assistant, he could be the First of the Magi, he could be a spectacular fraud, but whatever he is, he's about to make the lives of Glotka, Jezal and Logen a whole lot more difficult..."
My Review - Rating - 8.5/10
The Blade Itself is not just an interesting and readable book, but also seems to be the start of a highly promising series. Abercrombie created a book with an interesting and original set of characters, good writing, and interesting (but so far not exceptional) plots. I think the book is best classified as dark, character-driven fantasy. The three main characters (Glokta, Logen, and Jezal) are all well written, well thought out, and well developed, but Inspector Glokta is easily my favorite character; he reminds me of Tyrion Lannister from A Song of Ice and Fire, since he is underestimated due to his appearance and physical limitations, has extreme self-loathing, and mainly uses his brains to surmount the challenges he faces. Though Glokta was my favorite, Logen, Jezal, and Collem West were also all excellent characters whose perspectives I enjoyed seeing. All of the characters have flaws, dark pasts, or commit terrible actions -- their evil or otherwise terrible nature isn’t minimized, but it is mixed in with good character traits to make each character balanced and at least somewhat likeable. I think that the characters and their development is the best thing about the book. The writing is good but not exceptional, since it conveys the story and developments well, but isn’t especially vivid or otherwise impressive. The plot is probably the weakest part of this book (though by no means weak). Each of the three main characters has their own goal and has a plot that keeps the reader interested throughout the book, but the stakes don’t feel particularly high for any of the three and the climaxes of all three story arcs are underwhelming. This is the main reason that I took away points from the book, but despite this slight disappointment, I am still going to read the next two books in the series; the events of this book seem mainly focused on setting up bigger stories for the next book, which I can’t wait to read. Overall, I think that The Blade Itself is worth a read just for its exceptional characters, but I feel somewhat confident that the series will improve with the next two books and will update that assertion once I finish the series (which may take a few weeks as I already have a few books on my list before it).
Find the book here