Book Review | The Blade Itself (Joe Abercrombie)
The first book of The First Law trilogy, and the first book ever by Joe Abercrombie. Published 2007.
Joe Abercrombie is a fantasy author of which this is his first published work, from 2007. The writing of this book and indeed of The First Law trilogy began in 2002 (though he'd long dreamed of writing an epic fantasy trilogy), with this first book finishing in 2004 and sold in 2005 to Gollancz.
He has since written three standalones set in the same world, the Shattered Sea trilogy, and has even put out a collection of short stories. He is presently working on a new trilogy set in the world of The First Law.
He has a fantastic website which includes a blog where he semi-regularly posts progress reports on his current projects. There are end-of-the-year reports which include an overview of the year and his thoughts on television. Scrolling through the archive you can find his thoughts on writing and even advice to budding fantasists. I highly recommend it - it's informative, interesting, and actually updated semi-regularly. (I'm looking at you, Daniel Abraham.)
This has to be one of the most wickedly witty and funny fantasy novels I've ever read. And this is by no means a comedy, not at all - Abercrombie's tag on Twitter is @LordGrimdark and this most certainly is not a happy novel. Let's run through the characters, shall we?
Inquisitor Sand dan Glokta, known to us as Glokta. A crippled torturer of deep cynicism and in constant pain by way of his missing leg and missing teeth. (He spent two years in a torture cell.) He tortures people for a living, though he does not take any pleasure at it.
Captain Jezal dan Luthar. A young, dashing nobleman and swordsman. Also a man of stunning arrogance who most certainly does not think that "One man's opinion is as good as another." He is deeply invested in his own advancement, which he believes is his by right of birth.
Logen Ninefingers, aka the Bloody-Nine. A nine-fingered Northman of deep weariness and cynicism brought on from years as a psychopath - a past of extraordinary darkness.
Coming it with Part Two, Ferro Maljinn, an extremely angry former slave dedicated to vengeance against Gurkhul, the Dogman, another Northman who had been part of Ninefingers' crew, and one or two chapters from the point of view of Major West, who helped Jezal train.
It's not a perfect novel by any means. It has its moments where it drags. Female characters are far and few in-between, and the characters of Ferro and the Dogman are somewhat flat. Jezal is often unlikeable, whereas Major West comes off as someone far more interesting at second glance then first and I ended the book wanting a couple more chapters from his viewpoint.
But other characters are still rich. Glokta is my absolute favorite, one of the most fascinatingly broken people in the novel. Unique to his viewpoint, Abercrombie throws in many an aside in italics of what Glokta would like to say - out of anger or sarcasm.
Logen eventually joins up with Bayaz. Bayaz is a wizard, a Magus - the First of them, even. He presents himself as a wise, Gandalf-like figure, but I'm not so sure about him: he often throws tantrums and there are other hints that he is not nearly as Merlin-esque as he presents himself.
Ardee West - sister of Major West - is the only female character of note besides Ferro and she certainly is the only one with any measure of depth: she is a commoner and she arrives in Adua alone, finally escaping an abusive father.
Who else is there? Going through Glokta's end we have the manipulative Arch Lector Sult, who believes (like Jezal) in the right of the nobleman and despises the idea that commoners might request rights. Sult is distrustful of Bayaz and has a rivalry with High Justice Moravia, who champions the common man. Superior Kalyne of Adua is displaced later on by Superior Goyle, who dismisses a murder with comical flippancy.
Going through Logen's end we have Bayaz, mentioned previously, and discover also Brother Longfoot, another character of comical - almost comic-like, even - personality: deeply, ludicrously overenthusiastic, about his profession - Navigation.
From Jezal's end we have Marshal Varuz, who trained him with the sword. Varuz has an aspect of the comic to him as well with his cries of "Jab, jab!" while he teaches him.
The world Abercrombie creates unfold slowly and not particularly clearly but it is an interesting one! Our story is set primarily in the Union. The Union is lead currently by High King Guslav the Fifth, a man of enormous weight whose mind is rapidly falling to senility. In all of his appearances he is either befuddled or asleep.
Generally the King is represented by Hoff, the Lord Chamberlain, who is responsible for the King's household, person, and many of the duties of the incapable King. Hoff is loud, rude, impatient, and something of a drunkard. He presides over meetings of the Open Council - an assembly of noblemen - and Audiences (where anyone may petition the King), and is also a member of the Closed Council.
Ah yes. The Closed Council - the true seat of power. Twelve men sit upon its chairs and run the Union. A thirteenth, empty seat is set aside for Bayaz, first of the Magi, who helped the first High King and advised him as he conquered and founded the Union. Arch Lector Sult, High Justice Moravia, and Hoff all sit upon the Council.
Bordering Angland, one of the provinces of the Union, is the North, lead by Bethod, the arrogant, powerful, charismatic leader. As the novel passes by, the Union and the North go to war. Bordering its other end is the Gurkish Empire, ruled by Emperor Uthman-ul-Dosht, though he is being manipulated behind the scenes by the prophet (and Magi) Khalul.
And, while the Union goes to war with the North, trouble brews with the Gurkish, who hound the city of Dagoska, which is part of the Union.
It's a wickedly funny book! Did I mention that? Between Glokta's sarcastic asides and the almost comic-like characters of Varuz (initially), Superior Goyle (mostly) and Brother Longfoot (almost entirely), this is one of the funniest fantasy novels.
But it's also somewhat gritty: no one is presented in a wholly positive light. Glokta tortures people to get names that aren't involved on the command of Arch Lector Sult. Major West turns abusive to his sister. Jezal is an arrogant ass. Hoff is a drunkard. Logen has the Bloody-Nine, the nature of which is never quite explained. The Closed Council is bitterly divided between Sult's faction and Moravia's faction, which champions the common man.
The North is lead by a madman, and the Gurkish employ Eaters - people whom have eaten human flesh.
It's an ugly, ugly world.
Say one thing for this poor fool, say that he loved fantasy. And indeed I quite enjoyed this, even though it sometimes was rough. It was funny, delightfully twisted and cynical, with a fascinating world.
This novel is generally all build-up, mind. There's not much action to it, but that is okay by me. I don't crave action that much. I simply can not wait to read the next one - even though I've already got a big stack of books to get through first...
This carries my recommendation to anyone who enjoys epic fantasy.
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Sounds like an interesting book series.
I like the old writing or parchement style you used for this review :)
I'm big on creating custom header images for my reviews. :) Yeah, I think I'll be continuing with The First Law trilogy in the future once I get through my present stack of books.