Well, I thought this was a pretty good fantasy novel. High praise from me, considering that I generally tend to dislike a lot of fantasy writing. Joe Abercrombie outdoes lots of his fellow genre writers, but I do have a few knocks against the book. But it’s definitely good enough to get me to want to read the second book in the series Before They Are Hanged when Pyr puts it out. The Blade Itself comes out officially on September 4th I think, but it’s available now on Amazon. I got my ARC winning a contest over at Fantasy Book Critic (one of these days I should look into seeing whether any publishers will do giveaways here…). It’s the first Pyr book I’ve enjoyed. A number of their other books have been so promising, but still have fallen short. I suppose it’s tough to break the hold that Tor seems to have on the speculative fiction genre reading market.
One of the things that I tend to dislike about a lot of fantasy is its focus on the elite: nobles, wizards, and bright pure fairy-elves (or conversely on their evil counterparts). Rarely does fantasy seem to have as it’s main characters regular people. Abercrombie’s book does not focus on the greatest of the land (with one exception). Logen Ninefingers is a fallen soldier, discarded by the King of the Northmen, barely eking out a life in the lands north of the Northmen. Jezal dan Luthar is of noble blood, but he’s barely more than a fop. Supremely selfish and constantly congratulating himself on his bloodlines, Jezal will likely get his ass kicked in the upcoming fencing Games due to lack of effort. Sand dan Glokta is a former winner of the same games, but was captured in a war with the Gurkish empire to the south and later returned a tortured and broken man. No longer revered on his return, he’s taken a position with the King’s Inquisition, which is exactly what you think it is.
There are other characters, but Abercrombie focuses on these guys. In fact, the first time a chapter came from the point of view of someone else, I thought it was pretty jarring. The characters aren’t exactly likable, but they aren’t quite anti-heroes either. Following Glokta’s progress as he tortures confessions from the Inquisitions enemies, I actually identified with him and wanted him to succeed. That’s hard to do. It takes some good character writing to accomplish that. I think part of the key is that none of these characters have evil motives. Much like a hard-boiled noir detective, they simply do what they do.
One irritant though is that lack of motive. I will say right up front, that this book has no conclusion. That’s not always a bad thing in series fantasy writing. I know several people who prefer long series which no conclusion until the end. I don’t like it, but I can put up with it for good writing. I’d prefer my series to be separate yet intertwined stories. This is not a story in itself. It is the first part of one. But it would have been so much more nice if Abercrombie had started giving an inkling of the purpose that these character would be put to sometimes in the first hundred or two pages instead of page 470+ (out of 539). This is all back story. Even at the end, we don’t know what the purpose is for the band. We have but a glimpse. If it wasn’t for such good characters and some pretty decent writing, I’d have given up for that.
I’ve noted before that I do not like random, unexplained pieces in the stories I read. But neither do I like over-explained or awkwardly exposed points either. The Blade Itself contains a great example of how to do this right. One of the main characters is Jezal dan Luthar. When he’s introduced, he’s training to be in a big martial contest. Other characters who briefly make appearances are named Coster dan Kault, Hersel dan Meed, and Rush dan Thuel. Not everyone has dan
in their name though. Here’s how the meaning for this is revealed:
I’m not sure that I like being the subject of your bet,said Jezal sharply.
I’m not sure I give give a damn.
This is serious.
No it isn’t!she snapped.For my brother it was serious, he had to do it! No one even notices you if you don’t have a…danin your name, and who’d know better than me? You’re the only person who’s given me the time of day since I got here, and then only because Collem made you. I’ve precious little money and no blood at all, and that makes me less than nothing to the likes of you. The men ignore me and the women cut me dead. I’ve got nothing here, nothing and no one, and you think you’ve got the hard life? Please!
In most other books, the narrator will tell the reader that dan
is a marker of nobility. Or the main character will think to himself, My family is noble! We’ve had
during a soliloquy while he’s sitting at the dinner table, contemplating when he’ll take over as head of household from his father. Or something else bland, dry and obvious within three pages of being the first character introduced with dan
in our name for 35 generations!dan
in the name. This outburst comes on page 187 (my copy) after Jezal has been riding his privilege upbringing for a number of chapters. A minor unexplained item, exposed well. This is great writing. It’s only on the rare occasion in this book that any character monologues
to reveal a major plot or setting point.
Title: The blade itself
Author: Joe Abercrombie
Series: The first law ; 1
Imprint / publisher: Pyr / Prometheus
Format: Advance readers copy
Length: 539 p.
Publication date: September 2007
ISBN-10: 1-59102-594-X
ISBN-13: 978-1-59102-594-8
LC classification: PR6101.B49 B57 2007
