The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie (Gollancz Fantasy)

Right, before I start off reviewing this debut novel by Joe Abercrombie let me first state that this one was a difficult book for me to review, mainly because I ended up tremendously liking some things but on the other hand they were also quite some elements that put me off. So mixed feelings. Now anyone who has been around for a while on international online communities like Westeros or SFFworld has come across the author as he pretty much present at these boards. As many have already pointed out, now not only fantasy fans have discovered ‘blogging’ as way to review works they love to read, also the fantasy authors themselves have discovered it as mostly good fun, and in some cases as a means for promoting his or her books. I think this is definitely a good thing, although there are some (major) drawbacks. This book ended up in, like I said, mixed feelings.

For everybody who has not yet read the book, I will give a quick rundown of the situation at the beginning of the book and introduce the cast of most important characters. In the prologue we meet up with Logen Ninefingers “the Bloody Nine”, an infamous barbarian with a past full of bloodshedding. He lost one of his fingers in a battle he fought, but won his name there. He is somewhat of an outlaw in the North where the warlord Bethod rules. His band of companions, from whom he is separated in a fight with cruel creatures in the icy North, consists of Grim, the Dogman, Dow, Thunderhead and Threetreas all ‘Named Man’, men reknown for their respective fighting abilities. As Logen finds himself trying to survive all alone in the barren landscape, the great Magi (the first of the Magi, to be precise) Bayaz sends for him. Together the two start out on a journey on which the outcome might make the difference between a world lost and a world saved..
Over in Adua, capital of the Union Inquisitor Sand dan Glokta stumbles on a trail of corpses leading to the corrupt heart of the government, if only he can stay alive long enough to cut away the treason. Jezal dan Luthar, nobleborn and paragon of selfishness is training for glory in the fencing circling, training to be the one victorious in the Contest. But he has a lot more on his mind, like cheating his friends with cards and a secret lover. Miles down there in the south, ex-slave Ferro wakes up in the desert chased by hordes of vicious southerners, with only one thing on her mind. Vengeance. Little does she know when she meets Yulwei, that she is to be dragged in the exactly same quest as Logen and Bayaz.

What did I like about Abercrombie’s debut? One thing especially struck me while reading, I remember thinking “geez, this man really loves writing, he must have wrote it while beaming a big smile”. And that shows through in the prose and in the characters. I would consider the prose of the Blade Itself definitely one of the main strenghts of the book, as it is very lively and full of striking metaphors. The straight-to-your-face style does appeal and especially comes to its right in the pieces written from Inquisitor Glokta’s point of view, even more in his dialogues. Humor, the witty English sort, is also continually present, adding to the light tones of the novel. These parts I found were extremely enjoyable, and did make up for good great deal. The particular choice of words should also be positively noted, as most words are really fit to exactly describe the situation as the reader is experiencing it.
The novel was written with, as Joe Abercrombie himself put it, “the idea [with The Blade Itself] was to some extent to investigate fantasy cliches, which is why a lot of the old tropes (yes, even a magic tower) are present, but hopefully with enough of a half-twist to make them interesting. I wanted to write my take on the classic formula.” This is indeed easily discernable, but sadly only fully accomplished with the character Sand dan Glokta, of the King’s Inquisition. The characterization is one of the things I struggled with. The character Glokta is by far the most fleshed out of the whole cast and by far the most enjoyable to read about. I have not encountered yet a character who is that cynical and grumpy. That certainly was refreshing in many ways. Sadly the others do have the habit of falling in predictable, well worn out fantasy cliches from time to time. We have the barbarian (Logen Ninefingers) who appears to have his heart in the right place after all, the snobby aristocratic young gun (Jezal) who struggles with his feelings for a woman (thus should be empathized with), the know everything but not explaining wise wizard (Bayaz) and the vicious southern woman (Ferro) who fends everyone off but shows some human emotion in the end as well. And that put me off, I must say, because I felt Abercrombie could have done so much more with it.
Overall, the story is heavy character driven, not unlike the classic heroic fantasy of the 80’s as others have pointed out. This certainly is not necessarily a bad thing, but I found the world building lacking in some aspects. Or put it this way, the depth of the storylines would have profited a great deal from more attention to the world building. After reading the book I have merely some general idea how the world looks like, but in some instances during the tale it was a bit confusing. The setting was not entirely original either, barren and icy North, big cities bursting full of different sorts of people, merchants, bankers, aristocrats and the likes, hot southern desert like landscapes where slavers live.. Then again this is the first of a trilogy, so there remains yet enough ‘pages’ to flesh out more of the world.

Thus, concluding this review, there were some things I liked (making up for some less interesting elements) and some things that put me off. Still, in the end I thought the story was interesting enough to (at least) for another novel, so I will be picking up the next one Before They Are Hanged soon. I should note that The Blade Itself is probably very good summer reading, as is fairly straight forward told story with enough pace and action to keep you interested. After some considering I would rate this effort:

Seven and a half out of Ten