The Blade Itself

The First Law: Book One

By: Joe Abercrombie

Narrated by: Steven Pacey

Length: 22 hrs and 15 mins

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

Listened to it multiple times

Gritty, action packed, humorous, what more could you ask for? You won't read this and be disappointed, you'll end up reading it again down the road.

Pleased

Many friends suggested this book for me to read but lately haven't had the time to do so. This being my second or third audiobook I have to say that the story was fantastic. It's a rare thing when magic isn't broken down into a complete silence. While there are two more books to go, it would be very interesting if the author manages to keep the magic system he has in place a bit mysterious.

The performance of Pacey took a bit getting used to because of his natural accent but with the additions of others that he executes for different characters makes them whole. Can't wait to start the second.

One of the best!

This is one of the best fantasy books I have ever read. The characters, the plot, and the story telling are exceptional.

Joe Abercrombie has a gift for speaking through his characters and you truly feel their motivations and beliefs. Well worth the read!!

the blade itself

this is good stuff. i wiil buy the next i am rooting for gloctor hey jane get me off of this thing

Steven Pacey is the best narrator on Audible

This was a fun book (and it gets more fun in the second and third books of this trilogy). But Steven Pacey's narration is what made this a great audiobook. His characters are wonderful, and his narration is unhurried and genuine. I wish that there was even more Steven Pacey to listen to.

Well executed book by an excellent Narrator.

At first the story was a little hard to pickup on. however this is not an issue of the narrator, rather it is just a big world with a lot of characters. On the note of the Narrator Steven Pacey, he has easily become one of my all time favorite narrators. The story is rich, the characters are gritty, and the narrator delivers without fail. highly recommend this audiobook.

A Masterfully Performed, No Holds Barred Fantasy

I had heard good things about Joe Abercrombie, but had never read nor listened to anything he had written. I picked up "The Blade Itself" on a bit of a whim, and what a fortuitous pick that turned out to be.

The writing itself is suburb and Abercrombie builds a fascinating world populated with intense characters and spicy cultures.

Book one did not have as much action as I typically prefer in fantasy novels, and spent most of the novel setting up the world and the larger storyline. Normally, this would turn me off to the novel. While I enjoy world building as much as the next, I need some big conflict to make me really care about the world. However, Abercrombie builds his world in such a way that I never became bored and never wondered when the "action" would begin.

Pacey though is where this audiobook really shines! He takes a great fantasy novel and turns it into a phenomenal story! He brings each character to life, with distinct voices and mannerism for each character. Even if there were no dialogue tags, I would be able to tell who was speaking simply by how Pacey voices these characters.

Perhaps my favorite thing he did in his performance was for one of the characters who has a speech impediment. He performs the lisp expertly, but the characters thoughts is where Pacey really shines. Pacey gives this character an entirely different voice to his thoughts, and we get to see the character's "true" self in his thoughts. What he really is and not what he seems. Just fantastic!

I highly recommend this audiobook to fans of fantasy as you will not be disappointed. I know I'm looking forward to listening to book 2!

Amazing narrator for an incredible series

The books are awesome by themselves, but With this narrator i look forward to two hours of traffic every morning

Great Fantasy with unique colorful characters

What did you love best about The Blade Itself?

The plot

Who was your favorite character and why?

Ninefinger- many decisions he made had my sympathies

Have you listened to any of Steven Pacey’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

no, mostly in my car

Any additional comments?

Great advice from Comicbookgirl19

3.5 stars should be an option

pretty good story base, and interesting characters. anti climactic. I like that the characters are not standard archetypes.