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The Blade Itself (The First Law, #1)
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Joe Abercrombie > TBI - Section 3: What Freedom Looks Like - Questions

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message 1: by Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town (new) - rated it 4 stars

Rob (robzak) | 6375 comments Mod
This is the third 100 pages or so (in my edition).

Please keep all discussion to the events and speculation from the chapter: What Freedom Looks Like to the chapter: Questions.

No spoiler tags required.

Please do not discuss events from later chapters/books. Referring back to events from a previous section is fine.


message 2: by Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town (new) - rated it 4 stars

Rob (robzak) | 6375 comments Mod
Finally another female character. I'm not sure what I think of Ferro thus far. Apparently she's a runaway slave and a good fighter.

She reminds me a bit of Felesin Paran from Malazan.

Yulwei is interesting. Looks to be another Magi. Why are the Magi collecting notorious killers like Logen and now Ferro? It can't be just to fight the Northmen.


message 3: by Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town (new) - rated it 4 stars

Rob (robzak) | 6375 comments Mod
Logen's first experience of a city is amusing. And I like how they go to a costume shop for new clothes.

Meanwhile Glokta is finding out not all is as it seems.

I'm really enjoying this mix of politics and war. It's going to make it hard to stick to my original plan of about 85 pages a day.


message 4: by Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town (new) - rated it 4 stars

Rob (robzak) | 6375 comments Mod
No one believes Bayaz is who he says he is and now Glokta is 'on the case'. He doesn't seem to believe Bayaz either, and he doesn't seem to be giving up on the bank tip despite be told to. That makes me like him a bit more.

An eater attacks Logen in the night. I'm curious what exactly one is. It looks and sounded like his wife. Does that mean it has some kind of magic?

I liked Logen's meeting with Ardee, it was amusing. I hope to see more.

Still not sure how I feel about Ferro. She's very angry.


Linette | 135 comments The Eater was not what I expected. I expected some slavering beast...instead it's more like a Siren, slim ghostly woman who entices by calling Logen with his dead wife's voice. And how did she get in through an upper tower window...

Ferro reminded me of Felesin too. Curious to see how Yulwei is going to get her on a boat.

My first thought about why the magi might be recruiting warriors was that maybe it is to compensate for the declining magic levels? But you would need more than one fighter for that, so maybe not.

Great story so far.


message 6: by Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town (new) - rated it 4 stars

Rob (robzak) | 6375 comments Mod
These eaters seem to be varied. We meet more later on. I still don't know much about them. That is a good point about the tower. I didn't give it much thought.


Bill | 1596 comments It seemed to me that the magi recruited warriors that knew the leaders of both nations that the union will be going to war with. They could use them to train or lead the union soldiers against their repective former countries.

Was it ever stated that Yulwei was in league with Bayaz?


message 8: by Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town (new) - rated it 4 stars

Rob (robzak) | 6375 comments Mod
Bill wrote: "Was it ever stated that Yulwei was in league with Bayaz?"

No. Just a guess on my part.


Bill | 1596 comments Ok well hope they are. Seems like the union will need all the help it can get.


Mpauli | 241 comments Ferro seems to be a very angry and revengeful woman. And Yulwei does the old Jedi mind trick. Entertaining duo so far.

Speaking of pop-cultural easter eggs, someone says about Logen that he is the best at what he does. This seemed to be a Wolverine reference.

The highlight of this part was definately the conversation between Logen and Glokta.
Besides being highly entertaining it also shows how little the remaining knowledge regarding magic is within the union.

And maybe Glokta is not as intelligent as I thought he was.
He wasn't able to uncover the spy in the Inquisition, he fell for the Arch Lector's scheme and the observations he makes about Logen, Quai and Bayaz are mostly wrong.
He is definately witty, but maybe not the smartest guy around.


Juniper (juniperx) Are Jezal and the others in Adua? I failed to grasp what their city was called, but it must be there they are and Bayaz and Logen are traveling there, yes?

Bit confused and I can't find this out on the www, somehow.


Mpauli | 241 comments Yes, Jezal and Glokta are in Adua and Bayaz and Logen are heading there.

And if you're getting confused again...just do the Logen. Just follow Bayaz without knowing where and why. Worked for me. :)


Juniper (juniperx) Ah okay, thanks. I figured it must be when I read about what the city looked like and all that. And now they have met!

I LOVED how suspicious Jezal was of Logen.


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