Excellent fantasy
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Bought this after good review in SFX and my wife and I weren't disappointed. Both thought it was an excellent book. I've just got the order from Amazon with the other two books in the trilogy and now we're fighting over who gets book 2 first !! .... grr, I lost as I'm the slow reader
One word of caution ... buy the set, as I think it's like Lord Of The Rings, it's really a single big book, rather than three separate but related books.
But do buy them !!
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A good story, but could be better told
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The Blade Itself is a fantasy book that steps away from the stereotypical fantasy being churned out by many authors in the genre and presents a fast moving storyline and a book that's quite easy to read. The story is compelling throughout although it doesn't present too many suprises and has a disappointing finish - I'd have liked something resembling a conclusion between each book in the trilogy.
There are flaws throughout, which to me detracted from what could have been a far more interesting read. At times I felt like I was being patronised by the author, things being repeated that were said only 2 pages earlier. An internal monologue seemed present so that the reader doesn't need to read between the lines.
There are interesting concepts behind each character (bar the traveller introduced at the end perhaps, who would have been better left out of the book altogether. His concept appears to be 'in dire need of a slap'), but the characters didn't develop very much beyond that, it seemed every time a character was reintroduced to the story it was necessary to force the concept on you just in case you'd forgotten them.
Overall, I like the book, and am intriuged as to what happens in the story but I did feel an editor could go through and remove enough content to drop the page count by 50 or so and produce a better book for it. Entertaining, but I felt Joe Abercrombie has a big leap to reach the heights of George R Martin or KJ Parker.
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If you buy only one fantasy novel this year....
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I have not purchased a fantasy novel for some years as they were all becoming variations on a theme ( heroes on a quest to recover lost item and thwart the bad guys yadda yadda yadda yawn )and at first glance this book seemed to follow this pattern. However, I went with the initial reviews and I am so glad I did! This is not masterfull prose but the story races along, the characters are interesting and the story is engaging. I read it in a weekend and bought the sequel straight away!I am reading the third book at the moment and I am really enjoying it. Give it a go!
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An excellent and very promising debut
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This is a very addictive read with a refreshing amount of wit and good humour mixed in with political intrigue. The characterisation is excellent, none of the protagonists are dull and all are interesting in their own way. Star of the show is undoubtedly Glokta, a hard yet likeable 'torturer', his doses of cynicism and scepticism of everyone and everything around him are hilarious and the book really lights up whenever he's in the thick of the story, a highly recommended book.
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Buy it. Buy it now!
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I won't go into details others have done this better.
This book deals with the same old tired fantasy themes but with a good old fashioned jolt of energy. Abercrombe has rekindled the dying embers of, let's face it, an often crass and silly genre and given it a new sense of purpose. For that act alone I will buy what ever he produces in the future - it's only right and fair ...
If there is one book you buy this year make it this one and you will not be disappointed.
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