The Blade Itself

, #First law ; 1

536 sivua ; 20 cm, 544 pages

English language

Published March 8, 2007 by Gollancz.

ISBN:
978-0-575-07979-3
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Finna ID:
helmet.1803756

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(5 reviews)

Inquisitor Glokta, a cripple turned torturer, would like nothing better than to see Jezal come home in a box. Cutting treason out of the heart of the Union one confession at a time leaves little room for friendships - and his trail of corpses could lead him straight to the rotten heart of the government.

13 editions

reviewed The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie (The first law. Book 1, #First law ; 1)

Review of 'The Blade Itself' on 'Goodreads'

Wow, this ended up really surprising me. I walked into this book having heard some of the more common criticisms, namely the almost complete lack of plot. I'm more of a character reader myself, so I wasn't terribly worried. But even though interesting character work is important to me as a reader, I also really REALLY don't like it when the first book of a series exists solely as an introduction without its own story to lean on, so I started this off This book expecting to be really critical of that. However I knew that Abercrombie's character work was very well regarded, so I was curious to see how that tension panned out. And I have to admit, the characters won me over hard.

We follow several different POV characters as they move about their own individual adventures without any real consistent through line or story. There are hints …

reviewed The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie (The first law. Book 1, #First law ; 1)

Review of 'The Blade Itself' on 'Goodreads'

Not boring, but not much happens. It's not a story that stands on its own. It doesn't have an ending. Though the last couple of chapters finally saw some kind of progression. You really have to go on to book 2, otherwise you don't really have a story.

The characters are great, though. Not a lot of world building. I sure hope it improves in the next books.

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Subjects

  • Fantasy