TLDR
finished this last week. i thought it was pretty good, but for about half of the book i was wondering why so many of my friends were telling me it was great. has pretty good ratings on goodreads too (though that really isn't indicative of quality anyway) so i was maybe expecting it to start off with the good stuff, but it's definitely more of a slow burn, character driven story than I was led to believe. by the end I was really into it, and I think it does what a good "first act" should: make you want to pick up the second book immediately, which is exactly what I did. so before I go into more detail I would say
I recommend it if you already enjoy fantasy as a genre, but I'm not sure it would change your mind at all if you don't. you should read Malazan for that, but I digress.
The Full Review
at first glance, it's pretty standard stuff. you've got the Union, the centralized major power with its glorious cities and regimented armies, political intrigue and lords jockeying for position and wealth. you've got the North, which is a hodgepodge of every "Northern" fantasy trope you've ever read. more warlike, definitely Not Vikings, some of whom can speak to spirits of the land. you don't die in the North, you "return to the mud". stand out enough, do something noteworthy and you become a Named Man. if you've read something that has "weirdos in the north", that's them. to the south there's Gurkhul, which aren't quite as detailed as the other two in this book, but they also seem pretty standard. desert region, a little bit of Essos from ASOIAF or Genabackis from Malazan. this book sets them up mostly through the perspective of two characters, an escaped slave named Ferro and a Union Inquisitor named Glokta. neither of which have particularly good things to say about them. I imagine I'll learn a lot more about them in the second book, but in this one they're more of a narrative device than a real fleshed out faction. they were at war with the Union a while back and lost, so tensions are still pretty high.
the Overall story is that shit is going bad for the Union, with the North mobilizing for war under a new leader who is suspiciously organized and REALLY good at this, and the Gurkish to the south who'll have no trouble steamrolling the Union if they reorganize their armies to deal with the Northmen, leaving their southern cities exposed. all in all, this seems pretty standard, right? i agree with you, which is why I said I was wondering why this was so highly recommended for about half the book.
it's not as concerned with maps and huge family lineages as something like ASOIAF or Malazan. it's closer to the Witcher in terms of its worldbuilding, in that it's There but not really the point, so it doesn't need to be detailed all the way down to the minutiae. what Abercrombie excels at is putting VERY GOOD characters in these otherwise pretty normal fantasy scenarios, and they're why I stuck with it and ended up really excited to get onto the next one. because it's SO character driven, getting really into each of them in detail is more spoiler-y than telling you what's going on between the three nations, so I won't talk about too much. but main POVs are roughly divided into a couple camps, so I'll do a quick overview and if any of these characters sound in the least bit interesting to you, then I think you should give The Blade Itself a chance.
The Union
Jezal dan Luthar: A real highborn piece of shit who I love dearly. He deserves everything because he's from a good bloodline! He truly believes himself to be better than every single person he sees, and watching a lot of this start to unravel when he falls in love with a commoner is a great time. In stark contrast to that dogshit Valkia novel I talked about, this is a great example of a character who Fucking Sucks but is compelling. You
almost want to see him succeed, and he
always does something that pisses you off
just enough that you take it back momentarily. He rocks.
Sand dan Glokta: Union Inquisitor. A 35 year old man with the body of one who's 90, after spending years enduring torture in a Gurkish prison. Toothless, hobbled, pretty much every movement causes him Fucking Agony and the book lets you know constantly. Prior to this, he was a great hero of the Union. Bold, handsome, impeccable with a blade and winner of tourneys. Now in the Inquisition, he mostly relies on his sharp mind to root out corruption and conspiracy. His chapters are where most of the intrigue happens, and his inner monologue as he susses out crime or deduces someone's motivations are a great read.
Collem West: Hero of the common man. A man who rose up in the ranks not through bloodline but sheer merit. The more grounded POV entwined with Jezal's, a lot of it is West going around trying to Get Shit Together because THE FUCKING NORTH IS COMING but the STUPID FUCKING NOBLES are too busy playing grabass to deal with it, and won't listen to his advice because he's just a lowborn. Who cares what he has to say? A deceptively deep character, one of his chapters actually pissed me off so bad I had to walk it off. In a good way, of course, but a tough chapter nonetheless.
The North
Logen Ninefingers: It's a little hard to talk about Logen without giving too much away, since he's the character I think flourishes the most as the story goes on. An extremely skilled fighter and "Named Man" from the North who is separated from the rest of his group as soon as the book starts. At odds with the current leader of the North, his POV takes him on a journey to the Union where it becomes more of a fish out of water story for a time. It turns out they aren't all that accepting of a Big Scarred Fucker pulling up as soon as war breaks out, despite him being kind of a gentle giant. A man supremely skilled in acts of horrific violence, but he'd really rather not, people just keep forcing his hand. His interactions with Luthar and Glokta are some of my favourites in the entire book.
The Dogman: Named Man and member of Logen's group, before they're separated. Dogman's the POV here but his chapters deal with the whole group and situation in the North. Logen's boys are Wanted since they disagree with the North's current leadership, so their chapters are kind of band of brothers-y or maybe even kind of The Warriors. Gritty survival stories as they try to make it through a region that wants nothing to do with them anymore, each member having a specific role. Dogman's our tracker/survivalist/voice of reason here so he gets POV privilege, but they're all pretty fleshed out and the insight on how things work in the North is fun & much needed. despite Dogman being the POV, I think my actual favourite characters in the group are Black Dow and Rudd Threetrees. these are My Boys and I think maybe my favourite chapters pound for pound.
The Secret Third Option
Ferro Maljinn: An escaped slave. A more minor POV, her chapters don't really tell you TOO much about the Gurkish like Dogman's do the Northmen, but they really get across just how much she hates them. Every Ferro chapter is a tense, coiled spring ready to explode into acts of terrible violence against her oppressors. If Logen's our Barbarian, Ferro's our Rogue. A weapon hidden in every nook, her fights are scrappy, tooth & nail affairs that really drive home her desperation and sheer bitter will to survive. Another character who flourishes later, as her chapters get closer to the other characters. I'm really stoked to see how she carries on in the second book.
A lotta words for a book I wasn't really sold on for a while. The Blade Itself is definitely a setup book, so going into it knowing as such probably makes the slow burn a little more digestible. As far as his actual prose goes, Abercrombie's fine. Doesn't get too flowery nor too modern, I don't really have a lot of notes. It's an easy read, and the frequent POV changes aren't hard to follow at all. Book's good!
