A review by michaelkerzman
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
medium-paced
4.0
One of the coolest books I’ve read in a while. I went in knowing absolutely nothing and was surprised by many things.
First off, this is a character driven story through and through. Probably the best I’ve read in fantasy. Every single character here is wonderful and interesting. There’s no good or evil character here. Everyone is fascinatingly nuanced, and they’re all struggling with the pressures of the horrible world that they live in. The dialog and interactions are absolutely… 💋👌 *chef’s kiss*. Their voices are so well executed too, to the point where you can immediately tell at the beginning of a chapter who you’re reading, without the author announcing it in any way.
Speaking of, Abercrombie’s prose is absolutely top tier. His command of character voice is unlike anything I’ve seen elsewhere in fantasy, and his writing style is fun and flavourful without being too distracting. Every single sentence, down to the exposition and scene setting, is absolutely in line with the character that you’re reading. If something isn’t pointed out or described, it’s because that character doesn't find it important enough to think about or notice. Later, when another character gives attention to the same thing, you get totally different information.
The world building however, falls short just a little bit. Don’t get me wrong, this is a dark and horrible world, but we don’t really see much of it outside of the main city that takes centre stage, and the politics within it. It’s just not really a focus of this book, and honestly that’s fine. What we do see is well realized and believable enough that it serves the plot and the characters just fine.
The overall plot here is pretty thin. That’s not necessarily a bad thing though. It’s just not the major focus of the book. Every character is just kind of doing their own thing, and the plot serves to slowly move them all towards the same location. If you’re a plot driven reader, then this might not be the book for you. The other important point to make here, is that this does not feel like a stand alone story at all. After reading the whole trilogy, all three books very much have to be read together to get a satisfying epic story. You cannot just read book one and expect to come away satisfied with how it wrapped up.
The pacing in this story was also pretty good. It had a rocky start but then got interesting pretty quickly and just kind of stayed that way throughout.
Overall, I think this is a very entertaining book. I think this is one that might get a higher score upon reread, but as it stands I enjoyed reading this first entry in the trilogy quite a bit. I wish it had a more impactful plot, and was able to stand alone from the other two books in the series, but for what it is I quite liked it.
First off, this is a character driven story through and through. Probably the best I’ve read in fantasy. Every single character here is wonderful and interesting. There’s no good or evil character here. Everyone is fascinatingly nuanced, and they’re all struggling with the pressures of the horrible world that they live in. The dialog and interactions are absolutely… 💋👌 *chef’s kiss*. Their voices are so well executed too, to the point where you can immediately tell at the beginning of a chapter who you’re reading, without the author announcing it in any way.
Speaking of, Abercrombie’s prose is absolutely top tier. His command of character voice is unlike anything I’ve seen elsewhere in fantasy, and his writing style is fun and flavourful without being too distracting. Every single sentence, down to the exposition and scene setting, is absolutely in line with the character that you’re reading. If something isn’t pointed out or described, it’s because that character doesn't find it important enough to think about or notice. Later, when another character gives attention to the same thing, you get totally different information.
The world building however, falls short just a little bit. Don’t get me wrong, this is a dark and horrible world, but we don’t really see much of it outside of the main city that takes centre stage, and the politics within it. It’s just not really a focus of this book, and honestly that’s fine. What we do see is well realized and believable enough that it serves the plot and the characters just fine.
The overall plot here is pretty thin. That’s not necessarily a bad thing though. It’s just not the major focus of the book. Every character is just kind of doing their own thing, and the plot serves to slowly move them all towards the same location. If you’re a plot driven reader, then this might not be the book for you. The other important point to make here, is that this does not feel like a stand alone story at all. After reading the whole trilogy, all three books very much have to be read together to get a satisfying epic story. You cannot just read book one and expect to come away satisfied with how it wrapped up.
The pacing in this story was also pretty good. It had a rocky start but then got interesting pretty quickly and just kind of stayed that way throughout.
Overall, I think this is a very entertaining book. I think this is one that might get a higher score upon reread, but as it stands I enjoyed reading this first entry in the trilogy quite a bit. I wish it had a more impactful plot, and was able to stand alone from the other two books in the series, but for what it is I quite liked it.