The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie || Book Review

[@kinczyta]

I like the setup. Makeup seems redundant in your case. Logen being shackled by his reputation is a good point. I thought of him chiefly as struggling with his feelings of guilt. And his reputation ties in with the position of a leader and decision-maker the tumble off that cliff released him from. He remarks on his relief to find himself free from that responsibility several times. So, even though the hierarchy in the barbarian world is based on strength and ability, the power, the potential to abuse that power and the responsibility that comes with it remain the same. And I guess there's the additional commentary of contrasting the capital's weak leadership with the strength of the northeners. A juxtaposition of power obtained through merit and through arbitrary means. And Glokta is not the only inquisition member who has experienced torture. The big guy (forgot the name) is missing his tongue. A reminder that the abused often become the abusers, I think?

[@oliversmith4207]

hurt people hurt people

[@theonlyslagathor]

God damn this was a really good review. The character analysis/intro was pretty spot on. But because I'm somewhat of an obnoxious nerd: Ardee is from the north, but not the North. She's from Angland which is like on the border of the Union and the North. Part of the reason why Jezal doesn't want to be seen with her is also because she has a pretty bad reputation among the upper class of Adua (but yeah, Jezal just doesn't like poor people) I think Logen's name is technically the Bloody Nine. He's a Named Man, but I'm not too sure exactly how the culture of the Named Men work.

[@oliversmith4207]

Thanks so much! Yes, I went back and checked about Ardee and realised I confused Angland with the North. Thanks for the clarification, though, and glad you enjoyed the review.

[@ves138]

Heavily agreed with the Ferro part, I didn't like the prose nor her personality aswell. SHe was just too annoying to me but she got a bit better in book 2 , not by much tho, she's still my least favourite character. Also you haven't mentioned Bayaz but I found him to be my favourite due to how Abercrombie subverted the tropes of your Gandalf type wizard.

[@oliversmith4207]

Bayaz is a good character, I agree. Through books 2 and 3 my thoughts on the characters have shifted a bit. And West really developed in an interesting way which I didn't see coming after book 1 honestly.

[@ves138]

@@oliversmith4207 I hope you make a review for the other 2 books aswell. Im really liking your delivery. Some feedback if you care about it enough: maybe put some background music on but very low (if you like background music in reviews that is), make a corny intro (everyone has it so i mean you could too why not :P).

[@kinczyta]

Well, that was unnecessarily long. And I'm not talking about your video.