By Joe Abercrombie
Narrated by Steven Pacey
Reviewed by Gabby
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The Blade Itself Overview:
Logen Ninefingers is an infamous barbarian from the bloody North and has finally run out of luck. He’s made a lot of enemies in his time and following the death of his friends, sets off to make a new life for himself.
In the city of Adua, Nobleman Jezal dan Luthar has nothing more dangerous in mind than playing cards and winning glory in the fencing tournament. Vain and foolish, Jezal thinks of little more than his perfect jawline and bedding women.
Inquisitor Glokta, the bitter and twisted cripple turned torturer, would like nothing better than to send Jezal home in a box. The inquisitor despises everyone and spends his days cutting treason out of the Union one confession at a time. Glokta’s latest trail of corpses might lead him right into the corrupt heart of the Closed Council, provided he can stay alive long enough to follow it.
And then there is the wizard Bayaz, first of the Magi, an old man with a cringing apprentice and an agenda of his own. There are scores to be settled, murderous conspiracies afoot and everyone’s lives are about to become very complicated.
The Blade Itself Audiobook Review:
STORY
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The Good:
The blade itself audiobook is one of the best fantasy novels I’ve had the pleasure to listen to. This book is dark. Very dark. If you’re humour is as black as mine, and you don’t mind if a character gets an axe to the head occasionally, then this series is for you.
[/span6][span6]The Bad:
I read one review where the reader complained that the book felt too much like the first in a trilogy. Well, duh. It is. But I can see what he was getting at, Joe could have made it a more of a complete story, but essentially the Blade is setting the foundations for the epic fantasy that is the First Law Series. Sometimes it’s better not to go in all guns blazing.
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CHARACTERS
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The Good:
The Blade Itself introduces us to characters of varying levels of awfulness. Despite this, the reader can’t help but care for them, or at least pity them. There’s nothing flat or superficial about these characters (well perhaps Jezal) and we find ourselves wanting to know more about them. Logen Ninefingers is a bad man. A very bad man. But I don’t think of him as evil. As Joe wrote: ‘does the devil know he is the devil?’ I like Logen because, despite everything, he keeps trying to be a better man. He’s clever and witty, if not slightly demented with a penchant for killing, but his heart is in the right place.
Glokta is the most bitter and self pitying character I’ve come across and it’s incredibly refreshing. Interesting to have a character who would like to die, but isn’t suicidal. We spend a lot of time in Glokta’s head and discover how clever he really is. Remarkable that he’s stayed sane after all this time. He’s hilariously cynical, one of the more humorous characters, which helped lighten the mood a little.
Jezal is possibly my favourite character. ONLY because he’s so amusing. His resemblance to the superficial teenage girls of today is uncanny. There is a whole page dedicated to how much Jezal loves admiring himself in the mirror. Jezal does develop as the series progresses, but for the most part he spends most of his time thinking about how to bed his best friends sister and whining about his fencing practice.
[/span6][span6]The Bad:
Glokta, oh Glokta. I’ll be honest, towards the end of the series I got a little bit sick of his constant references to his stint in the Gurkish prisons. Every page from Glokta’s perspective either mentions his pain, his empty gums or his twitching eye. But I suppose such is the life of a cripple. Things just got a little repetitive towards the end with this character.
I was also disappointed with the female characters in the Blade Itself. One of the main characters, Ardie is a victim of abuse and wallows in self-pity/hate and alcohol. The other character, Ferro, is pretty much there to make everything difficult, argue with everyone and remind the listener how difficult a pissed off woman could be. If Ardie had shown a bit more resolve and made use of herself, I think I would have liked her more. Ferro is ruthless, but seems to be made up of only the desire to get vengeance. I think Abercrombie could have done a lot better with his female characters, I know he’s capable of doing it!
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NARRATOR
[columns] [span6] The Good:
Steven Pacey, is an incredible narrator. I don’t think Joe could have asked for anyone better. At times it’s hard to believe it’s one man creating all those voices. Pacey does a great job of bringing the characters to life, with expert pace and varied narration, he makes a good book into a great one.
[/span6][span6] The Bad:Nothing of note.
[/span6][/columns]I hope you enjoyed our ‘The Blade Itself’ Audiobook Review, come back soon!
Marisol Riddell
Thank you for your comprehensive review. I don’t usually like audiobooks, but have heard this one is good. My problem is the narrators, if they aren’t good, it pulls me out of the story…. Very off putting