SuperHeroBooks - The Blade Itself (The First Law: Book One)
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List Price: $15.00
Our Price: $8.16
Your Save: $ 6.84 ( 46% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Pyr
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.92
EAN: 9781591025948
ISBN: 159102594X
Label: Pyr
Manufacturer: Pyr
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 531
Publication Date: 2007-09-06
Publisher: Pyr
Studio: Pyr
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: A completely addictive excellent novel
Comment: I grew up reading fantasy books of all kinds. As I got older the fantasy books i would pick up where considered classics that i had missed reading growing up. I found myself reading more non-fiction. Tons of reference books and historical types. So I saw this book at my local book store and looked it up on amazon. Read a few reviews and decided i wanted to give this one a try. WOW! What a pleasant surprise. Joe Abercrombie really knows how to welcome an old fiend home to the genre. This book was completely unexpected and a delite to read. I felt like he added in plenty of elements from other genres enough to really add in some fire to the fantasy genre. This book had me reading in the elevator, the bathroom, at the table, in bed and once while driving. You won't want to put it down. Do yourself a favour and pick this gem up and give it a try. I've already turend 5 of my friends onto it and they have all read his next book and are climbing the walls awaiting the third one.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Very pleasantly surprised
Comment: I am very particular when it comes to my fantasy/sci-fi readings. The blurb of 'The Blade Itself' did not inspire me with hope, and a cursory glance at the first couple of pages also didn't reveal any great gems.
But:
I have to say I haven't enjoyed a good story like this since I finished the last book in the Song of Ice and Fire series. Abercrombie's narrative and characters are punchy, gritty and although his storyline contains what have now become stock-standard features for fantasy writers (e.g. a frozen North, a Prophet, etc), it felt like a breath of fresh air.
Because I was in the mood to read about some carnage, I have to admit that Logen was my favourite character - the berserker scene was fantastic. But it was great that, although the characters were relatively archetypical, Abercrombie gives them an edge which makes them enjoyable.
Going out to buy books 2 and 3 today - the Amazon reviews I read for book 3 don't look that promising, but I will reserve judgment and put my two cents in after its done.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Compulsively Addictive
Comment: I was a little worried about ordering and reading this book because I haven't read any fantasy for about twenty years. I had gotten more than a little tired of the formulaic plotting, one-dimensional characters, and the stereotypes that drive the genre. However, when Scott Lynch released "The Lies of Locke Lamora" a few years back, I succumbed to the hype, bought the book, and devoured it over a weekend. It was wonderful, and I found myself wanting more of the same recently. The Blade Itself looked like it might be similar in literary style, so I ordered it and away I went again.
This was a wonderful book, with extremely well-drawn complex characters. You won't find any one-dimensional good guys or bad guys within this book. All the protagonists (you can't really call them good guys) have serious character flaws and have to struggle with a flawed, unforgiving world and some very difficult, real-world choices. Their white hats may be a little dirty, but this made them extremely interesting characters to read about it. I was rapt and knocked this book out in about a day...partially because the writing style was smooth and eminently readable, partly because I didn't put the book down at all. It was too compulsively enjoyable.
While I loved the excellent character development, from Logen, the barbarian who has grown wise enough that he seeks to avoid fighting (unsuccessfully), to Sand van Glokta, the former dashing and heroic cavalry officer who was tortured for years, and now, as a cripple, serves his king as a torturer himself, to Bayaz, the ancient wizard who is rude, condescending and just generally pissy, there is so much more to appreciate about this book as well. It realistically creates a nasty gritty world; bureacracy, self-aggrandizement, cupidity and stupidity are the order of the day within the Union, the monarchial state these characters cluster around. In fact it is reminiscent of 19th century Russia in many ways, which was a pretty grim place. However, the Union is a shining beacon of tolerance and hope compared to the rest of the world which is ravaged by slave states, cannibals, vast incessant wars, and the Shanka, an orc-like species.
The plotting is excellent.....there is, of course, a quest centered around a mythic object, but Abercrombie destroys the stereotypical quest conventions fairly well too. You're not even really sure what the quest is because Bayaz doesn't like to explain himself and Logen isn't really interested in knowing. That sounds like there isn't a plot, but there is indeed, and Abercrombie spins it out slowly and surely which was so much more intersting that just jamming the quest down your throat. His plotting approach is both literary and interesting, and turns ordinary conventions on their heads.
I liked this book so much, I immediately went to the bookstore and bought the second installment and finished that in less the 24 hours. Now I'm just waiting for the final installment to be delivered to me. I whole-heartedly recommend this book. I still would be reluctant to read fantasy in general, but anything by Scott Lynch or Joe Abercrombie I am going to scoop up immediately.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Dark, fascinating, gruesome, and totally enjoyable
Comment: This review is for the trilogy, rather than the individual books. I feel that this is a particularly relevant way to approach this series, because it is consistent throughout the series in tone and characterization.
This is a dark, gritty and well-written fantasy series full of gore, violence and believable characters. I've read quite a few reviews that refer to it as "ground-breaking", which I do not believe it is - Glenn Cook was writing dark, gritty fantasy more than 20 years ago (take a look at his Black Company series, especially). George R.R. Martin has, of course re-popularized this sub-genre. Unlike George R.R. Martin however, Abercrombie has managed to maintain his focus, and created a coherent, epic story contained within a single trilogy.
The characters are very well realized. There are no 2-dimensional cutout characters here. They have aspirations, motivations and baggage. Each choice they make has a logical series of consequences, some of which are unexpected, but never unbelievable.
A few of the reviewers have complained that the ending is too dark. I disagree, the ending was appropriate for the dark, rich world that Joe Abercrombie has created. This is not Sleeping Beauty's happily ever after world, this is a world where the characters have to live with their consciences, and the villains are not so different than the heroes.
The series is jam-packed with action, and not of the boring-this-battle-has-so-many-details-that-I-can't-even-remember-what-I-just-read variety. The fight scenes are gritty and horrific; the protagonists are scarred and fallible.
I highly recommend this series.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Blade, entertaining!
Comment: Great first book to a story, characters are flawed and diverse! The story presents a great story arch through the eyes of the different characters. All have flaws and past history which leaves the reader asking for more.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Logen Ninefingers, infamous barbarian, has finally run out of luck. Caught in one feud too many, he's on the verge of becoming a dead barbarian - leaving nothing behind him but bad songs, dead friends, and a lot of happy enemies. Nobleman, dashing officer, and paragon of selfishness, Captain Jezal dan Luthar has nothing more dangerous in mind than fleecing his friends at cards and dreaming of glory in the fencing circle. But war is brewing, and on the battlefields of the frozen North they fight by altogether bloodier rules. Inquisitor Glokta, cripple turned torturer, would like nothing better than to see Jezal come home in a box. But then Glokta hates everyone: cutting treason out of the Union one confession at a time leaves little room for friendship. His latest trail of corpses may lead him right to the rotten heart of government, if he can stay alive long enough to follow it. Enter the wizard, Bayaz. A bald old man with a terrible temper and a pathetic assistant, he could be the First of the Magi, he could be a spectacular fraud, but whatever he is, he's about to make the lives of Logen, Jezal, and Glotka a whole lot more difficult. Murderous conspiracies rise to the surface, old scores are ready to be settled, and the line between hero and villain is sharp enough to draw blood. Unpredictable, compelling, wickedly funny, and packed with unforgettable characters, The Blade Itself is noir fantasy with a real cutting edge.
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