About the book: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.
drey's thoughts:
So. I've mentioned before that Best Served Cold was my first Joe Abercrombie, and I had put Before They are Hanged on my library list without realizing it was book #2 in the First Law series. And because Before They are Hanged was due back at the library, I inhaled The Blade Itself pretty much as soon as I got it home.
Whereupon I realize that some of the characters here show up in Best Served Cold... Oh well, what's a girl to do?
Anyway. The Blade Itself is wittily snarky fantasy. The cast of characters are quite a collection. I think my favorite is Major West, the commoner who won glory in a battle and is now resented by the righteous nobility for usurping their ranks. Never mind that he might actually deserve to be there. Then again, how do you pick a favorite when there's Logen Ninefingers around? The scarred barbarian definitely follows that idiom about not opening your mouth (and removing all doubt that you're an idiot). Not that he is. Some of the others could do a lot worse than follow his example... Not that they'd deign to.
Joe Abercrombie takes a classic formula--characters from different backgrounds; class warfare; threatening barbarians; ineffectual government--and throws in cup of wit, a dash of snark, and a handful of plot. Which, when stirred together, gives you a very entertaining read where the good guys and the bad guys are sometimes interchangeable.
Title: The Blade itself
Author: Joe Abercrombie
ISBN-10: 159102594X
ISBN-13: 9781591025948
Paperback: 527 pages
Publisher: Prometheus Books, 2007 (reprint)
Challenges: 100+, 1st in Series, Support Your Local Library
Disclosure: My copy of The Blade Itself came for a very brief visit from my local library.
2 comments:
I really really wanted this since I heard about it by association of Best Served Cold
the dark humor and anti-heroes are rather rare, and I do love a character mesh story
this can never be found in used bookstores though, I've looked all over =T hopefully I can get a copy from the library sometime...
I'm not normally into Fantasy, but after seeing you describe it as witty and snarky, I'm intrigued. I'll definitely give this author a shot in the future.
By the way, I gave you a couple awards on my blog. Here's the link.
Post a Comment
have a thought to share? I love comments!