The Blade Itself (The First Law: Book One) | 
 enlarge | Author: Joe Abercrombie
Publisher: Pyr
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy New: $11.19
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Rating:  98 reviews
Media: Paperback
Pages: 531
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 6 x 1.1
ISBN: 159102594X
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.92
EAN: 9781591025948
Publication Date: September 6, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new item. Over 3.5 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Few left in stock - order soon. Code: U20090108151914G
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Product Description
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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| Customer Reviews: Read 93 more reviews...
 Solid Fantasy Yarn January 6, 2009
S. A. Winkler
Abercrombie doesn't push the envelope here with the established fantasy tropes, but he does breath life into his reluctant warriors, mysterious wizards, cocky youngsters, grizzled veterans by infusing them with some weaknesses and self-deprecation.
The writing is entertaining and amusing, almost winking at times, as if Abercrombie knows he's writing an adventure story and isn't taking it too seriously.
 Strong Finish December 29, 2008
boilernate (Texas)
As the author's first published work, it gets stronger as it goes along and by the end leaves the reader fully committed to the series. After I submit this review I plan to order the other two books in the series. As a stand alone I would give this book a 3, but by the end it was a 4 and I am optimistic the next two in the series will carry the momentum this one ended with.
 Random action, unlikeable characters, never gets to the point... December 11, 2008
Robert Gamble (Falmouth, MA United States)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
The biggest fault I had with this book was that it took almost the entire 500+ pages to truly (I think) start the story. The rest is about the meanderings (well ok, battle filled meanderings) of characters from a wide variety of areas. Probably the best comparison I can make is with "Fellowship of the Ring" by Tolkien. Both books involve a quest that is a major turning point in the characters' lives and the world (I assume so anyhow for "The First Law" series, not having read the latter two books). But whereas "The Fellowship of the Ring" places the start of the quest relatively early but after a buildup which makes the necessity and gravity of the quest apparent, "The Blade Itself" waits til the end and the quest appears to come out of nowhere with no indication as to why it's important.
The rest of the book comes across as a weak "Song of Fire and Ice" clone, with sections focusing on different characters from different political entities but none of these sections really grabbed me or made me care about what might happen to the characters. One is a bitter, crippled torturer. One is a pampered, spoiled, lovesick noble. One is a barbarian well known for his abilities in battle (I'll admit, this character did provide a rather well done plot twist at one point). One is a wizard who has an ulterior motive. Etc... The different political factions fight against each other, but I rarely got a sense as to why certain things were done. Battle scenes were thrown in pretty much at any opportunity. One of the characters is training for a contest, and those scenes seem nothing more than some medieval version of "Rocky".
The upshot is that for me, this novel was a slow read, punctuated by somewhat random (if reasonably well written) battle sequences, peopled by characters I couldn't empathize with, in a world with somewhat simplistic connections between the different factions, and left me just as confused as to where things were going at the end than at the beginning.
To be clear, I don't need to be hand-held when reading. I don't mind a bit of mystery, or surprising changes of direction. But for a change of direction to be surprising, there has to have been another solid seeming direction beforehand, and I never got this impression when reading.
I also didn't feel like I'd wasted my time after reading it, but it failed at its task of getting me interested enough to buy the next novel.
 A wonderful book that you can lose yourself in December 10, 2008
Michael Bridges (Philadelphia, PA)
The only criticism I have of this book is that it was so good that I gulped it down without taking time to savor it. I've just ordered "Before They are Hanged" and "Last Argument of Kings". I plan to devour them quickly as well and then reread the entire trilogy, slowly.
Awsome begining for a first rate "Realistic Fantasy" series! December 8, 2008
Mark Cordia (New York)
In a word, "Awesome"! This is a character and dialogue driven series that has dashes of "classic" fantasy with a hefty dose of realism and very believable real world character development.
In this book the ground work is laid for the next two books as the characters and plot are presented to the reader and the envelping story is unfolded. Pleanty of action and active character development occure in this and over the next two books as the suprises begin to appear and the plot develops. The final revelations delight, horrify, shock, amaze and satisfy all!
The dry humor and sardonic observations made by the characters in this book (and the entire series) will be appreciated by those who recognize it as not only priceless commentary on the characters in the series, but also as secondary commentaries on our society and lives in general.
A first rate series in every sense of the word!
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