The Blade Itself (The First Law Trilogy, 1)

*audiobook review* This book starts off in the epic fantasy vibe - vigniettes of different characters that all come together by the end of the book into a finely-woven tale. One thread is that of Logen Nine-Fingers, a barbarian from the north - we meet him as he narrowly avoids his own death at the hand of raiders. Another thread spins from the tale of Inquistor Glockta - a former fighter held captive for two years, who had turned his broken body and skills to ferreting out whatever truth he needs to find. The last major thread comes from Jezal dan Luthar, a spoiled brat of a gentleman who thinks it may just be cool for his career if he becomes a fencing master for his country. There's a huge cast of characters, but it's no problem at ALL for the audio listener because Steven Pacey is an absolute artist at narration. The combination of Abercrombie's clean text and the skilled voice work of Pacey brings every character alive from the very beginning - you hear the fear and resignation in Logen's voice as he falls off a cliff, the pain and life-long effects of torture in Glokta's voice, and the subtle spoiled tones in Luthar as he decides what kind of man he's going to be. These people and the rest of the cast meet in the story of Bayez, first of the magi, who is headed to the Union capitol to gather resources and equipment for an expedition that is meant to save the world. It's going to be hard with Bethod's Northmen attacking from the northern part of the Union, and the barely peaceable Gurkish Empire agitating to take over parts of the southern Union. The king is barely coherent, the ruling council is corrupt, the nation is woefully underprepared for war, and the scene is set for a fantastic audiobook experience. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a compelling audiobook experience - Pacey's narration skill may even make the book easier to understand because each character has a unique voice. This is my favorite book I've read this year!

I really enjoyed reading The First Law trilogy and getting to know the characters created by Joe Abercromie. I admit that when I began to read The Blade Itself, it took a couple of chapters for me to become absorbed by the story, but I appreciated JA's writing style and wit and found the Bloody Nine to be as interesting a barbarian as I had ever encountered. Logen is a hero... for the most part. He is feared by many, he is practical and amusing, he is intuitive and he is a relatively decent man. He is also deeply flawed and at war with himself, as many of us are, so one may relate to him as he experiences both triumphs and tragedies. The story itself provided enough action and intrigue to keep me entertained and interested in what might come next. I found myself cheering for and supporting different characters at various times, disliking most of them at one point or another, then resuming my cheering at a later point. I appreciated the fact that not every story arc was obvious and easily predicted, and that the main characters weren't perfect, but they each showed growth throughout the series. I liked that most of the characters were alternately fascinating or repulsive. I loved Glokta's sarcasm and sadism, West's intelligence and noble attitude towards' things HE felt were noble, Ferro's ferocity and Bayaz's twisted and manipulative nature. Of course, there were a few things I didn't like. For example, I wasn't a big fan of the Logen/Ferro "romance". It seemed bizarre and awkward, at best. I liked them individually, but when they were together in any way besides as warriors, I found it annoying. I didn't like that at the beginning of the series I had no idea what the heck was going on and couldn't read comfortably for around 100 pages. I wasn't impressed with some aspects of the story that seemed to drag, ie: The Contest, wherein Jezal and other swordsmen compete for a title. However, I really don't feel that these issues detracted much, if at all, from the trilogy as a whole. I definitely liked the way in which the series ended, as there are many directions that JA can take the story if he chooses to continue writing about these characters. I'm glad that he didn't write himself into a corner when ending the trilogy. All in all, I thought that the First Law was enjoyable and creative. It is not fantasy a la Jordan or GRRM (as well it shouldn't be); it is unique and gives the genre a little push in an interesting direction. I recommend all three books.

I don't even like fantasy, but I liked this trilogy much, and believe me, that's something. I've tried many best selling authors labeled as 'the best' in the genre, and I swear I enjoyed none. This one is the first typical modern fantasy book I encountered that truly feels as written for adults. No Mary Sues and Gary Stus, no black and white characters, no banal moralizing, no cheesy pompousness, no soap opera-like storylines, no easy answers, no 'from zero to hero and he is so awesome' trope. Finally! It's low fantasy. Magic exists in this world, but hardly anyone believes in it. The plot is mostly about the military conflict, the intrigue that underlies it and, last but not least, the relationships between characters. And these are SO good! At first they all seem pretty cliched: you get a scary, sadistic Inquisitior, a handsome, dashing young knight, a husky barbarian, a tough female warrior wanting her revenge, a wise mage and his clumsy apprentice, a sassy, fearless lass... And in the end it turns out that NOTHING is as simple as it initially seemed. The characters are so well fleshed out, their struggles feel real, they evoke real emotions, and the relationships between them are just delightful. And the content is, yeah, adult. There is lots of violence, pain, gore, sarcasm, lost hopes, failures, fake victories and disappointments. It's captivating and entertaining to the last sentence of the third book. Definitely worth trying. Please expect nothing special like I did and let yourself be positively surprised, if not in love.

There’s little way to read The Blade Itself and not think of Game of Thrones. I hate to say that, but it’s true. Abercrombie’s rich fantasy world owes a lot of debt to Martin’s. After all, both series are ones in which magic is largely pushed to the background and minimized; both focus on anti-heroes (at best) and misfits; both juxtapose court intrigues and political scheming against much larger threats that could unravel the world as the characters know it. But more than anything else, there’s the sense of cynicism towards the genre that underlies both series. These are worlds in which traditional heroism barely matters, where old school honor and chivalry are a way to death – if you’re lucky. And yet, to rely too heavily on that comparison is to miss out on all the ways in which The Blade Itself absolutely soars and stands on its own two feet. Over the course of this first novel of The First Law trilogy, Abercrombie sets up a fascinating world, but more than that, he dives deeply into their psyches, giving us a sense of these broken people. Our three main characters – Logen Ninefingers, Sand dan Glokta, Jezal dan Luthar – Abercrombie brings them to rich, detailed life, letting us see their scars, their psychic baggage, their complex motivations. But more than that, rather than embracing the nihilism and selfishness of the men, Abercrombie pushes them farther than that, finding an inner core of decency. It may be small, it may be only a piece of their cruelty or motivations, but it’s there. And that alone makes The First Law stand apart from Martin’s bleak, hopeless world where nothing – and no one – good can last. More than that, though, Abercrombie brings a sometimes dry, sometimes dark, but sometimes genuinely funny sense of humor to the story, allowing his characters to be more than just another grim, broken-down soul. That’s maybe most true of Bayaz, the wizard figure around whom much of the book orbits. Bayaz is no one’s idea of a typical wizard, and that jarring inability to fit expectations pays off wonderfully again and again in the book, as Bayaz demonstrates both his ability and his willingness to use them as he sees fit. In other words, it’s all of Martin’s knack for turning the genre on its head, but done with a little more heart, a bit more humor, and every bit the imagination and talent. If there’s a knock on The Blade Itself, it’s the sense that it’s an intentionally shapeless story at times, one where the lack of predictability makes it hard to make sense of at times. Is this the story of an impending war between the nations? Are the Flatheads a sort of White Walker analog – a monstrous “other” that lurks nearby? How does Ferro and her story tie in with everything going on around Adua? It’s hard to tell until near the end of the book, and even then, it’s a bit hard to get a sense of the bigger picture and how this will come together. But given how engaging, deep, and complex the characters are, how fascinating the world is, and how deep and layered the story is, I’m okay with that. I’m on board to see how this all fits together, and to see what else Abercrombie has going

The storytelling is first rate. This book is definitely rated R|15|15+ just from the violence and language. I enjoyed the book, finishing it in spite of only really wanting to analyze the first few chapters. Joe’s world is dirty, gritty, and touched with just a breath of magic. The characters grew far beyond their two dimensional trope. The bad guys oozed evil, the diamond in the rough gritty youth grew, the damsel in distress turned into a far to real woman, the iconic mysterious wizard had unexpected depths. The story consists of so many characters I lost count of the POVs but every character was uniquely interesting and memorable. I laughed at some scenes, I felt distressed in others, in some places the story snagged and dragged to an almost boring halt. Yet I was interested enough to keep going. The book does not end, or even come to a cliffhanger, the end is simply the conclusion of a chapter and that is it. I get the feeling this was really a larger book that was just sliced into thirds without considering the story enough to provide either a compelling ending transition to a new section/book or a fun cliffhanger. By the end many of the plot lines have started coming together nicely promising really interesting interactions in the next two books. That said, I will not read the next two books in this trilogy. My impression is that this is a dark fantasy, rooted in a muddy, gritty world, where the evil characters are more likely to win or get away without any comeuppance. The characters I’m rooting for are likely to die or end up miserable. I read the reviews of the last book to get a feel if I was right and from the descriptions, there with light spoilers I found my predictions are correct. I don’t enjoy such stories. I read fantasy to escape to worlds where good eventually wins and things are at least a little fairer than real life. Therefore, I will leave the outcome in my imagination the way I want it and not find out how horrible things turn out in Joe’s version.

Summing up the story in "The Blade Itself" in a few paragraphs is not an easy task without spoiling at least part of it. The backcover introduces the main characters and mentions war, treason, murderous conspiracies, and old magic. This book is essentially an introduction to the world of "The First Law" and it goes about it in a completely character driven approach. We learn about and (re-)discover the different parts of the world through the eyes and thoughts of the characters, from the wild North, the cursory civilized Union, and the unforgiving South. It is a harsh and uncaring world which has shaped the characters into broken and unlikable beings, each in their own way. While one probably wouldn't want to be friends with any of them, their point of view is as honest as it can be - including a certain level of self-deception and subjectivism. Yes, the characters are quite repelling and one wants them to fail more often than not. But they are allowed to change and grow, which is an important part of the learning process. People may lie and gathered information may be conflicting or plain wrong. It takes a while to get up to speed, but the characters soon start to gravitate and revolve around each other. The writing is almost flawless, appriopriately honest and open. The environment is painted is vivid colors and words, as far as this is possible, and the dialogue is witty and deceitfully emotional. There is plenty of action which always serves to carry the story forward. If there is a slight point of criticism, it may be that some parts of the history (which are the core of the mystery and the conflict) are too much delivered just as a lecture. Of course there are many recycled and refurbished cliches, but I took them more with a satirical touch than a serious effort at world building --- of course the North is wild and the Northmen are barbarians. "The Blade Itself" is a lot of fun. The reader can never be entirely sure what is really going on behind the scenes. The characters are constantly on edge and (---slight spoiler---) the tension doesn't let up until the last page.

I waited until I finished the trilogy to review this to give it the best shake, because if you are a impatient reader you will hate book one "the Blade Itself", because it is a very slow burn. I picked up "The First Law" trilogy because I saw it crop up in more then one 'top 10 best fantasy's of all time' lists, and the synopsis was hooky enough, however the only reason I finished this book was because I am stubborn and refused the time I had spent on the first half of the book to be a waste by setting it down and to be honest until I got to the last 10 pages I had zero intention of reading book 2, it just had given me nothing to care about or look forward to. I'll give credit where credit is due, Joe Abercrombie is a great writer, I really appreciated the voice he writes in, his descriptions are unusually but very visceral, his combat feels real (although relatively rare in book one) not these ridiculous prolonged slogs some fantasy books use to fill pages, and his characters are top notch, some of the best written characters I've ever read, BUT the world was so undeveloped as to be fuzzy and indistinct, countries are troupe-y (western Europe, north Viking types and southern Arabs), the main country is simply called "The Union" and I still after 3 books have no idea why/how it exists or what it's motivations are other than "Important peopled founded it long ago, and now its prosperous", but the big kicker, no clear plot was evident, not even for the main characters, and even less for the side characters (some of those plots could have been cut all the way out and not impacted the book at all), until the last chapters of the book none of the expertly written characters had any motivation or crisis to drive them, just motes of dust wandering in the wind of the unrevealed plot following a 'magus' because they apparently have nothing better to do, literally the only thing that turned the pages was the quality of main characters personalities. until, the last 10 pages when he gets the hooks in for book 2. If you take "The First Law" trilogy as a series of books, its a ok story with great characters that are very relatable, not sure I'd rate it as highly as some have, but the pacing is so challenging that I know I would not re-read them even though over all I enjoyed them and I would be hesitant to recommend them to anyone else unless I had a strong feeling for what they liked and that they could muscle through the page tax that is "the blade itself" before moving on to the books in the series that matter. overall, 3/5

I have to admit, I didn't expect much from this book when I heard about it. Yes, everyone and their mom was recommending it but it seemed so trite. Barbarians, wizards, maimed torturers, cocky good-looking snobs, it's not exactly new. About 10% of the way in though, Mr. Abercrombie had completely changed my mind and slapped me around a bit for even thinking that way in the first place. The book is a masterful work of fiction and Mr. Abercrombie has earned his place with flying colors, especially since I'm under the impression this is one of his weaker works. (I have been told the later work "The Heroes" is one of the best fantasy novels ever written so I look forward to that). Logen Ninefingers is a wonderful character who somehow is able to angst while not being angst, and his confused reactions to the main city of the Union (I forget the name to be honest...) are some of my favorite parts of the book. Ferro is absolutely brilliant and perfectly destroys the horrible and actually, in my opinion, disgraceful and insulting trope of the "I'm distrustful but I'll trust you because you're the hero" thing that is so prevalent in lesser works. Plus she reminds me of Jack from Mass Effect and I adore Jack. The Dogman parts were a bit iffy to me, but I understood their purpose and the scene at the end of that storyline is actually rather touching considering who they are. Jezal was interesting, I hated him at first but as time went on.....I still hated him but I found him enjoyable to read, especially his "romance" with Ardee West. Of course, none of this compares to what may be one of my favorite fantasy characters of all time Sand Dan Glotka, a man who was once a grand hero who ends up becoming a broken, pained and cynical man who provides some of the best lines and characterization in the entire novel. All in all, it's a wonderful book and a must read for anybody. Yeah, not just fantasy fans. Everyone should read this, it has action, drama, horror, romance, suspense, tragedy, comedy. I eagerly await a chance to pick up the next two books in the trilogy and Before They Were Hanged, along with the upcoming Red Country (I already have the Heroes but I haven't touched it due to not wanting to read them out of order.)

Dans ce premier volet de la trilogie, le lecteur suit le parcours de plusieurs personnages: un guerrier, un mage, un jeune noble narcissique, une sauvageonne en fuite et un inquisiteur infirme. Le chemin des uns croise le chemin des autres, et tous convergent vers la cité d'Alua, capitale de l'Union. L'Union est actuellemnt menacée par le royaume du Nord et l'empire du Sud. Les personnages sont intéressants et attachants (en dépit de leurs défauts) et le livre comporte son lot d'aventures, de complots, de noirceur, le tout relevé d'une dose d'humour et d'une pincée de magie. Bref, une lecture prenante qui met en place les personnages et la situation et qui donne envie de découvrir la suite.

Story is interesting, characters are well developed and the narration is involving. Makes you want to keep reading to know what happens and that is the sign of a good book

Great book. Memorable characters, full of violence, gore, action, and reflection. There is a little lack of plot but that time is invested in the characters like Inquisitor Glotka. Make yourselves a favor and buy this book.

Loved this cover and came the day after order. Fantastic book.

Das ist wohl das beste Buch überhaupt, dass ich in den letzten Jahren gelesen habe... meine Werung ist eine klare 10/10 - und das habe ich bisher noch kaum vergeben. Die Charaktere sind absolut "echt" und ausgefeilt. Es ist keine leichte Kost - Gewalt, Schmutz und Unrat sind überall - und das Leben nicht viel wert. Aber - immer wenn man denkt jetzt wird es zu heftig, löst der Autor es sehr geschickt wieder auf - eine Balanceakt auf diesen Klippen, der ihm absolut gelingt. Die Sprache ist ganz klasse, der Schreibstil zugänglich und angenehm zu lesen - man verschlingt es, der Wiederlesewert bleibt aber erhalten. Richtig klasse auch der Humor des Autors - der scheint alle zwei Seiten durch und passt genau zu der Welt. Meiner Meinung nach vielleicht nichts für Kinder - was aber nur Gutes hat. Hier gibt es mal keinen Helden der auf einem Einhorn reitend die Welt mit seinem Zauberschwert rettet. Keine coming-of-age story. Nicht so ein Schreckenswerk wie Eragon - von einem Kind geschrieben, mit tumben Charakteren und einem *einfachsten* Plot. Keine generische Lackey. Besser als Hobb oder Williams weil ohne langatmige Passagen in denen nicht viel passiert. Eventuell vergleichbar zu der mal anderen storyline von Transformation - aber noch besser geschrieben. Und: besser als Martin, der in diesem Genre leider der einzige ernstzunehmende Konkurrent ist - diese Trilogie hier ist nämlich abgeschlossen :) Absolut erfrischend - und dass soll ein Erstlingswerk sein?? Hab mir noch nach dem ersten Drittel die zwei restlichen Bücher bestellt. Nochmal: 10/10.