• The Blade Itself

  • The First Law: Book One
  • By: Joe Abercrombie
  • Narrated by: Steven Pacey
  • Length: 22 hrs and 15 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (9,093 ratings)

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The Blade Itself  By  cover art

The Blade Itself

By: Joe Abercrombie
Narrated by: Steven Pacey
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Publisher's summary

Inquisitor Glokta, a crippled and bitter relic of the last war, former fencing champion turned torturer, is trapped in a twisted and broken body - not that he allows it to distract him from his daily routine of torturing smugglers.

Nobleman, dashing officer and would-be fencing champion Captain Jezal dan Luthar is living a life of ease by cheating his friends at cards. Vain and shallow, the biggest blot on his horizon is having to get out of bed in the morning to train with obsessive and boring old men. And Logen Ninefingers, an infamous warrior with a bloody past, is about to wake up with plans to settle a blood feud with Bethod, the new King of the Northmen, once and for all - ideally by running away from it.

But as he's discovering, old habits die hard....especially when Bayaz gets involved. An old man with a terrible temper and a pathetic assistant, he could be the First of the Magi, he could be a spectacular fraud, but whatever he is, he's about to make the lives of Glokta, Jezal, and Logen a whole lot more difficult....

©2010 Joe Abercrombie (P)2010 Orion Publishing Group

What listeners say about The Blade Itself

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6,037
  • 4 Stars
    2,187
  • 3 Stars
    601
  • 2 Stars
    144
  • 1 Stars
    124
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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    6,186
  • 4 Stars
    1,095
  • 3 Stars
    250
  • 2 Stars
    38
  • 1 Stars
    51
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    4,957
  • 4 Stars
    1,891
  • 3 Stars
    564
  • 2 Stars
    122
  • 1 Stars
    92

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

great stuff

wished the rest of the series was avaliable in Canada. fantastic story telling, loved it

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Best voice acting I've yet to encounter

What did you love best about The Blade Itself?

Great story! Engaging real-feeling characters

Who was your favorite character and why?

The bloody-nine is the best rendering of the fantasy-fic barbarian I've ever experienced!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Grabs you from the start!

Well worth the credit and the time. Fair warning the characters are dark and there are some disturbing scenes. Keep away from younger ears.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great story, very entertaining!

Story was well written. The narrator did an excellent job. Well worth the listen. I am looking forward to the next book.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great story, excellent reading

Action packed from the start. At first I thought I started in the middle. It comes together quickly and the reader is outstanding in my opinion. Just started the second book.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Inquisitor Glokta!!

Where does The Blade Itself rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

What didn’t I like?

There is NOTHING typical about this story, it is very unique. Both the author and narrator were terrific. This is a “Darker Epic Fantasy”. The first book did a lot of world and character building. A a slow trotting horse towards the rest of the series.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic

Engrossing and totally enjoyable. Fantastic narration. Great story. Fully developed world and characters without being the least bit tedious. Complete joy to listen to.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Not a game changer, but a good book anyways

Any additional comments?

A good book, not one that I think will change fantasy as we know of. It's no Name of the Wind, The Hobbit, or The Game of Thrown. Yet only a few books are. Over all it was fun to read. I enjoyed the book and it's characters. Yes so were whining. Some were unlikeable, but I think that was the intent of the writer and there for I liked it. I would recommend it to fantasy fans.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Engrossing!

A tinge of dark, but with characters you care about! Good story line with a slight genre bending twist. Achieves both character development and an interesting story arc. Read all 3 books and really enjoyed them.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • R
  • 04-13-18

A Stellar Series

Say one thing about this series, it has great and memorable characters.

The narration adds extra depth to the fantastic spectrum of characters

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