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\nAuthor:<\/strong> Joe Abercrombie<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Paperback<\/strong> 2006.<\/p>\n It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a year that has come up a lot since the creation of A Dribble of Ink<\/strong> and the main reason for this is all the fantastic debut novels that found their way into the hands of readers that year.<\/p>\n I proudly named Scott Lynch\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s<\/em> The Lies of Locke Lamora<\/strong> as not only the Fantasy debut of the year, but also my Fantasy novel<\/em> of the year. So, it was with much surprise and trepidation that I entered into Joe Abercrombie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s<\/em> The Blade Itself<\/strong> the first novel of a trilogy entitled The First Law<\/em>. How could it be that a novel, which many hail as the debut of the year (even over Lynch\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s effort) could be released and I was completely unaware of it for almost an entire year? Joe Abercrombie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s<\/em> debut novel really was as good as everyone had claimed, perhaps it would not have topped The Lies of Locke Lamora<\/strong>, but it would have come darn close. The Blade Itself<\/strong> is an impressive debut novel that quickly and comfortably carves itself a niche in the fantasy genre.<\/p>\n Abercrombie<\/em> has written a wickedly clever novel, with a biting sense of humour rarely found in the over-serious Fantasy genre, but does so with a subtle hand and a flair for the macabre that can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be ignored.<\/p>\n The single most definable and praise-able facet of Abercrombie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s<\/em> work are his characters, a motley collection of characters in the vein of Tim Powers: larger than life characters that, despite their flaws and despicableness, you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help but love and root for. Chief among these is Inquisitor Sand dan Glokta, a former hero of the Union, who is now a crippled victim of torture. The rub? He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s now an experienced and brutal torturer himself, using the techniques that shattered his own body and spirit against those he used to call friend.<\/p>\n The complexity that Abercrombie<\/em> weaves into his characters is comendable and the fact that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s able to create such resounding characters in a relatively short space (The Blade Itself<\/strong> clocks in at only 400 or so pages) is a testament to his abilities as a writer. Abercrombie<\/em> is not a world-builder, instead he lets his characters define the story and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s on their strong shoulders that his reputation as a writer lies. Luckily they are strong shoulders indeed.<\/p>\n Some criticism I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen towards The Blade Itself<\/strong> is that it suffers from slow pacing. This is only partly true. The pacing is slow, but it does not suffer for it, instead Abercrombie<\/em> takes his time drawing his characters and setting up his story, The Blade Itself<\/strong> is essentially one large prologue that is setting up the final two novels of the trilogy, where the real action will happen. Abercrombie<\/em> uses this first novel to let us get to the know the characters, their ambitions and their failures. By the end of the novel the reader grows attached to not only the three main protagonist, but also the array of secondary characters such as Army Corporal Collem West and his sister Ardee. In fact, I felt closer to some of the secondary characters in this novel than I do towards some main protagonists in other novels.<\/p>\n One element curiously lacking from the novel is a map. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not sure if this is a conscious decision on the part of Abercrombie<\/em> or not, but I found it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s omission to be rather glaring and would have liked to be able to have one to help me visualize the many different countries and factions that fill Abercrombie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s<\/em> world. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a small complaint, though, and something that could be remedied in future volumes in the series.<\/p>\n Had I read The Blade Itself<\/strong> upon its release, I would have easily ranked it near the top of my favourite books of the year. If Scott Lynch<\/em> was the King of debuts in 2006 then Abercrombie<\/em> was surely the next in line for the throne. Abercrombie<\/em> is just the type of author I love to find: full of character, funny and able to string together an incredibly charming and wickedly clever novel. Now, off to read the sequel!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Blade Itself Author: Joe Abercrombie Paperback Pages: 432 pages Publisher: McArthur & Co \/ Orion Con Trad Release Date: April 20 2006 ISBN-10: 0575077867 ISBN-13: 978-0575077867 2006. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a year that has come up a lot since the creation of A Dribble of Ink and the main reason for this is all the fantastic… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\nPages:<\/strong> 432 pages
\nPublisher:<\/strong> McArthur & Co \/ Orion Con Trad
\nRelease Date:<\/strong> April 20 2006
\nISBN-10:<\/strong> 0575077867
\nISBN-13:<\/strong> 978-0575077867<\/p>\n
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\nThere\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no easy answer to that question, but to remedy it, I hastened to pick up both The Blade Itself<\/strong> and its sequel, Before They Are Hanged<\/strong>. My first response was to say, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hey those are pretty nifty covers!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and then my second was to knock myself atop the head for being so foolish to have missed this novel when it was first released.<\/p>\n