"The Blade Itself" First Impressions *no spoilers*

[Brad]

Serve it up.

[Stan]

Abercrombie is certainly a talented writer, and the flourishes of his style never fail to delight. At first glance, a series in which the only likeable (and that description is stretching it a bit) main character is a torturer seems very original and refreshing; however, the downside reveals itself by the third book when you realize you don't really care about any of the characters. It was very hard for me to finish the trilogy since I just didn't really like or care about any of the characters. Glokta, perhaps initially the most sadistic character, is the only one who, occasionally, takes advantage of the opportunities for redemption offered by the plot. The other characters miss them at every turn. In the end, Glokta (and also Dogman) just wasn't enough to make this trilogy very memorable.

[[deleted user]]

This is really just a thread for the first book, but I will say that I immensely enjoyed the entire trilogy and the follow up stand-alone books as well.

[Maggie]

I only read this first book, but I enjoyed it a lot...I thought that it would have seemed unrealistic to get these people working together, but Abercrombie managed it in a way that made sense

[Janny]

Read this a few years back, will contribute to the discussion only if I have something to add, since I don't plan a re-read at this stage (My TBR pile is a mountain, I've too many new books beckoning.)

[[deleted user]]

The TBR Range makes the Himalayas look like ant hills

[Kim]

I really enjoyed this book and the rest of the series. Reading the first book now. I disagree with the first post, Logen is a great character.

[[deleted user]]

If you say one thing about Logan Ninefingers...


also, Kim, I don't think anyone else mentioned him yet?

[Kim]

That's my point Ala, the first post said the only likeable character was Glokta. I thought Logen was a worthy character too.

[[deleted user]]

Oh snap, I'm an idiot.

I shall not edit out my shame, either...

[Stan]

I cannot explain my reaction to Logen without spoilers, so I'll wait until there is a "spoilers allowed" discussion. However, I should say that I enjoyed reading about Logen for all of the first book and almost all of the second book.

[[deleted user]]

You know, if any of you who've read the book already would like to lead this month's discussion, just let us know.

[Cindy]

You are quick Brad :). Anyone want to lead the discussion just shot me a message and feel free to take the lead! I read half of this book 6 months ago and it just wasn't my cup of tea to speak, so I think someone else would be better suited to lead it :)

Maybe not so quick, I'm a day off! I thought it was May 1st OOPS!

[Cindy]

I just created a few folders for you all who want to discuss the book further. :)

[Maggie]

I did like Logan throughout this book. That being said he does seem to be having some kind of identity crisis, and I could see all sorts of possibilities with his character.

The same for GLokta, only in reverse. He seems despicable now, but he also seems to be having some inner conflict with what he is doing, so there is a good possibility of character growth there.

[Cassie]

I started reading this last month, and I'm still not done. I actually barely feel like I've started the story, and I'm 200 pages in. It seems like a bunch of stories are interwoven, but each story is still in the beginning stage.

I like Jezal's and Logen's stories, but I dislike reading Glokta's parts and the Dogman parts are a bit boring to me. I think I'm just looking for somebody to tell me that this book is going to suck me in at some point.

[[deleted user]]

If it hasn't by now, it might never.

eta: It does pick up later on in the book, though.

[A.]

I liked the story, however it's a bit slow. The whole first book seems to be in introduction to the characters and the building up to the main story.

The characters I liked were Logan and Glokta. Both are broken people and slowly reforming themselves, which is interesting.

[Andre]

I'm only 100 or so pages into it, but it's not really pulling me in so far. Is this really fantasy? It seems to be a rather depressingly realistic and brutal medieval setting at the moment. There was mention of a Magus, but all I've seen is a very pitiful apprentice who hasn't done anything worth speaking of yet.

I like my fantasy magical and shiny, not gritty, so I'm wavering on whether to finish the book or not. That said, the prose is quite good and the banter well-done. I'll probably keep at it a little longer. It's just so depressing to read though.

[[deleted user]]

To be honest, if magical and shiny is your thing, this book will disappoint you.

It's more 'realistic' and gritty and violent. Even the magic, what little of it there actually is, is far from shiny.

And it can be rather depressing, especially what goes on later on in the book and series.

I'm not trying to discourage you from reading this book, as I personally loved the entire series/universe, I just don't want you spending time reading something you won't like.

[Kara]

C wrote: "I like Jezal's and Logen's stories, but I dislike reading Glokta's parts and the Dogman parts are a bit boring to me."

I NEVER liked reading the Glokta parts... (imo you are normal), but it is integral to his character... the separate story threads will all come together.

Thought the series was real good. A bit dreary, but interesting.

I remember liking the book's opening scene quite a bit.
No spoilers here, but I'll join in on discussion where I can.

btw, great action scenes throughout & interesting magic system.

[Maggie]

this book was clearly part of a series...most of this book seemed to be just getting things set up. But I liked the 'grittiness' of it. MAde me want to go right on th the next book! If only I had more time.

Damn this need for sleep thing

[Lara Amber]

I'm 20% in and so far am enjoying it but not getting that mad feeling of "just one more chapter".

[Chris]

I'm waiting for all these different story lines to start meeting (I'm only 100 pages or so in) but so far each of them separately has been entertaining.

[Michelle]

only a tiny couple of chapters in, but glotka's intro forcibly reminds me of a short story I read back in the day - very nasty little piece by piers anthony that I had to have read half a lifetime ago. a man tries to be the first to break into an alien culture and ends up being lovingly, horrifically tortured, losing many body parts in the process. he eventually realizes that in this world, a rise to political power is on a road paved in pain; that you must loose all your ability to appreciate that which someone could bribe you with.

glotka is totally that guy, and is lovingly, horrifically written. i'm indifferent as to whether or not we get back to ninefingers just now.

[Ben]

Abercrombie showed in this book and the rest of the series that he is a master of distincitive characters and voice... He amazes me lol

[Tiffany]

I've heard good things about this book, and I'm glad I finally have the excuse to get around to reading it now.

[Caleb]

I've just started the book today. Looking forward to giving my impressions.

[Chris]

Anyone have a real meaning for "named men". Something like a knight, or like a made man from mobster parlance?

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

Chris wrote: "Anyone have a real meaning for "named men". Something like a knight, or like a made man from mobster parlance?"

My take on it was that they were people who have made names for themselves... people whose names other people know. Mostly knights and other champions, or major kinds - important people who did important things.

***

I'm a little less than a half-way through. My general impression, thus far, is that while it's not a bad book, I'm hoping it gets better.

The part I enjoy reading the most is the Gotka parts. I'm not sure I'd say I like the character, per se, but I think that the parts he's in and some of the intrigue stuff going on is the most interesting. And I like the two Practicals and the way the three of them sort of play off each other.

The Jezal parts are ok, especially where the touch on the same intrigue, but I like the parts with West more than I like Jezal. I also like Ardee, though I worry that that whole thing is going to turn into a giant cliche.

I'm generally bored with the Ninefingers parts thus far, to be honest. When I see that I've come to one of his sections I sort of groan a bit to myself.

[[deleted user]]

About the named men, I'd have to agree with Colleen.

It's basically just any northman who has been through battle and fought so well, or done something so notable, that others felt he deserved a name of his own.

[Caleb]

The opening chapter was pretty damn exciting. :)
Sorry - I'm only a couple of chapters in at the moment, not much more to say.

[Maggie]

I thought JEzal was pretty humorous...as he is being forced into being a decent person against his own will...

[Michelle]

Colleen ~blackrose~ wrote: "The Jezal parts are ok, especially where the touch on the same intrigue, but I like the parts with West more than I like Jezal. I also like Ardee, though I worry that that whole thing is going to turn into a giant cliche..."

Colleen, at ~35% through it, i'm thinking much the same thing. i like Ardee a whole lot...and i'm gonna be real sad when this super-fun character ends up as just a romantic foil for that dolt.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

After my comment last night about Ninefingers being the most boring, I came to the part where he comes to the city. I gotta say - those bits were pretty damn funny.

[Caleb]

I'm having a small issue with Abercrombie's writing. Mostly I'm enjoying it and he uses an almost poetic turn of phrase to describe bleak scenery and the cold. However, phrases crop up here and there that jolt me out of the book and have me frowning:

"He'd killed Shama Heartless with a long sword, sharp as anything."

and...

"She was perhaps slightly fuller of figure than was strictly fashionable, since skinny girls were all the rage..."

Both these lines jumped out at me as being anachronistic. It's not entirely fair to think so as this is not historical fiction and there's no reason to think that these expressions couldn't exist in a fictional reality. On the other hand, I don't know if it's wise for the author to dance along that line. For me it did take me out of the experience.

That said - loving Glokta (fantastic character) and enjoying Logen as well.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

I'm also having a bit of an issue with some of the writing. I'm not sure if it's the anachronism, for me, so much as sometimes it just seems sort of... amateurish at times. I'm not sure that's the right word, but something along those lines, anyway.

One example I came across of what seemed, to me, to just be bad writing was during a kiss:

"She pressed herself up against him, her other hand slipped round his back. Her tongue lapped at his gums, at his teeth, at his tongue, and she made little sounds in her throat."

Her tongue lapped at his gums? What? And this is sexy? I don't know, maybe I'm missing something, since I can't recall performing a full dental probe while kissing someone before...

[Michelle]

Colleen, i know exactly what part you're talking about, because i raised an eyebrow at the sloppy probing as well.

but then i thought about it for a sec, and decided that it was written that way because it was from jezal's point of view - he's probably used to demure little ladies pecking daintily, and this was the huge contrast of her going at it with gusto.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

I can sort of see that, Michelle. And if it were the only example of what I consider to be questionable writing then I'd probably let it go at that. If... ;)

[Justin]

Who knew? Kissing lessons on goodreads!

The point about Abercrombie using language that is very "our world" is interesting. Does it break immersion or does it ease the learning curve?

I find it frustrating in fantasy sometimes that authors choose to use made up curse words or invented turns of phrase that suit their world. It's a little self indulgent isn't it?

Abercrombie is saying, I'm not trying to be pretentious here. I'm just telling a story using the words we as readers already understand contextually. I find it endearing. But I can see where someone would disagree.

[Marc]

Justin wrote: "I find it frustrating in fantasy sometimes that authors choose to use made up curse words or invented turns of phrase that suit their world. It's a little self indulgent isn't it?

Abercrombie is saying, I'm not trying to be pretentious here. I'm just telling a story using the words we as readers already understand contextually. I find it endearing. But I can see where someone would disagree. "

As I do. That style of writing may work for a plot-driven story, but when the story is character-driven, especially from a very close third-person POV, using words that the character shouldn't know spoils the telling.

[Caleb]

Still loving Glokta - but starting to be slightly annoyed by the internal dialogue in italics. He's a bit repetitive.

Still enjoying Logen too.

I'm only 20% or so through the book though so plenty of reading left.

[Hirondelle (not getting notifications)]

I just started it and quit. Life is too short, TBR too big, and got tons of things I want to reread (namely Book of the New Sun, of which this reminded me of, for obvious reasons).

I did not hate it, nor particularly disliked anything, it is a matter of the 8 deadly words: I do not care what happens to these people. At all. I cared for none of the characters, i had no sense of urgency about finding out what happened next, no sense of loss or impending doom. No exquisite, or exquisitely funny prose. There was a plot and I usually love complicated political plotting, but in this case, do not care. Nothing actually for me to dislike, but nothing to keep me interested. after 100 pages, I skipped like mad to see if it would hook me or if I would regret it, but I think this series is not for me.

Funnily enough read this just after The Name of the Wind - I am pretty critical of lots of things on NotW, but it was much more fun to read, had lots more there to keep me interested even when I was rolling my eyes at certain things.

[Caleb]

50% and the book feels heavy. I think I'm warming to it in some ways which is good. But I promised myself at 50% I would divert to a smaller quicker read to clear my head.

Characters I like: Bayaz, Logen and I still like Glokta.
I'm getting a feel for West now as well.

[Rob]

Got a late start, and am about a quarter of the way through. A couple of thoughts:

Story is paced pretty well, but it's moving quickly to...where? Lot of character development, but I would think that a fourth of the way in we would have a plot, as opposed to "The Adventures of Glotka and Logen." One of the problems with a trilogy is that the first book too often is an extended lead-in, rather than grabbing you by the...well, grabbing you at the beginning. I don't like having to buy a second book to get to the good stuff.

Next issue is with the writing. I've glanced at some of the other comments and see that I'm not alone in feeling that something is hinky, but not being able to put my finger on it. I think that part of it is that the book is mostly dialogue or monologue, meaning that the parts of the book that aren't diaglogue are still written as if they are--it's the characters talking in their heads. It's easier to write that way, and that may be contributing to the amatuerish feel of it. I also think that the action sequences often don't give you a complete idea of what happened. It's like he got excited about the fight he was imagining and started typing too fast.

Because the characters are original and at least somewhat interesting to me, I'll stick with this one to see where it goes; but I suspect I'm going to be disappointed.

[Veronika KaoruSaionji]

Very good and interesting. I love it! I am planning read all series. :o)

[Sandy]

I'd say the author's best trick was making an Inquisitor (yuk) and a bloody barbarian interesting. They are made so because, as Stan pointed out, they seem to be looking for redemption and are unwilling to pass up opportunities when they come along. I'm not sure I'm motivated enough to read the others right now, but if I do pick up books 2 & 3 it will be because of those two characters.

[Caleb]

Sandy wrote: "...but if I do pick up books 2 & 3 it will be because of those two characters."

Ich auch!

[Ogrish]

I like only one character so far although I kind of like West. I read way too slow and have been way too busy to finish a book this long in a month. i'm about half way through and the only really interesting thing is the torturer.

I agree that the book is largerly character focused but it seems to be only current state of affairs character focussed. I can do without a lot of background on the torturer because he likely doesn't like to dwell on the life he had before, but I would expect a little more loss and longing from Logen and all I know about Jezel is that he is from a noble family, used to drink and womanize a lot before "coach" made him go clean. but they seem a little hollow to me without a past beyond the first chapter they are introduced.

I know I won't finish the book in time but I will finish it 'cause there appears to be war coming and I'm hoping there are more interesting bits to that. but I wanted to add my agreement to the discussion about the characters being people the reader has trouble caring about. Logen is a good brute but he doesn't seem to have much motivation beyond that. Jezal is a upperclass "jock" and, other than the stuff the happens around him, is uninteresting. Glokta is at least involved in getting information but he seem's a loyal worker. I hope that before too long he begins his own "research" into some of the political intrigue going on.

It seems like these characters are largely unmotivated observers of the events and not prime movers in the plot.

[Veronika KaoruSaionji]

I think that this is really great book, one of my most beloved fantasy ones (I was so glad i. e. from Mistborn series), I desperately want to read continuation. And I think that this first book of series is nothing, only beginning, too. Amazing beginning, but still only beginning. No meaning without continuation and this could be bad... I hope not, I hope that his will be good. But without continuation this has no meaning.