A review by mmefish
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

adventurous dark funny slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

What I liked:
  1. Glokta and his crew. Terrific.
  2. How insufferable Jezal is.
  3. Very accurate portrayal of one's personal struggles.
  4. Humour.

What I didn't like:
  1. There's only 2 female characters (neither is a main character), both with minimal development.
  2. Too much "sucking on gums".
  3. The book is at least slightly racist. The only slaves we see (so far) are black, the southerns portrayed as savages, and one of the (few) characters with dark skin behaves like an animal. She literally hisses, wants nothing but to kill, jumps on tables to claw someone for no particular reason, described as to smell like piss, etc. She was a slave, not raised by wolves. Really unnecessary.
  4. Taking in consideration that it was written in 2006, reading multiple times that someone (a man) "fought/shrieked/cried/behaved like a girl/woman" was still a bit frustrating.
  5. Overexplanation. For example:

[Someone is getting whipped] Ferro twitched and winced at the sound, and her back began to tingle.
Where the scars were.
Almost as if she'd been whipped herself.

Or:

Dewy old eyes peered up and down. "Yes?"
"Inquisitor Glokta."
"Ah, from the Arch Lector?"
Glokta frowned, surprised. "Yes, that's right." They cannot be half so cut off from the world as they appear. He seems to know who I am.

This happens multiple times throughout the story. We get it.

Either way, I kinda see where this is going, and I can't say I like it. Plot is definitely the weakest thing about "The Blade Itself".
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