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

Really great setup!

Would you consider the audio edition of The Blade Itself to be better than the print version?

I didn't read the print version, but I am very much enjoying The Blade Itself. The characters are lovable (some in spite of themselves) and although I haven't read the other books. This is a solid set up and starting point. Hard to put down.

Who was your favorite character and why?

There are several wonderful characters in the book, and I am a little embarrased to say that I enjoy spending time with Glokter of the Inquisition. As well as Logon 9 Fingers and Bias!

What does Steven Pacey bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Steven Pacey read of this book is absolutley amazing. Clean clear characters and fascinating dialects and characterizational speech impediments really lend wonderful color to each and every character in the book!

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

Definatley, although it was far to long to do so.

Any additional comments?

Absolutely wonderful book, left me grabbing for the next in the series and has also made me a Steven Pacey fan, as well!

Amazing! If you like GOT you'll love TFL.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT IS AMAZING!
I love POV type chapters and this series is set up like that. What's even cooler is that as the story progresses and the characters come together, a few different characters will share the POV in the same chapter. It's awesome to see how they feel about each other in "real" time.
Also, the characters you don't like in Book 1 (*cough* Jezel *cough*) you'll grow fond of in Book 2.

SO MUCH HISTORY!
The world Abercrombie built is amazing. There's so much history, character cross overs, theories, etc. There's a pretty active Reddit community for the series so you can chat with people about theories, characters, etc. There's an amazing WIKI page as well complete with chapter summaries so you can see what the characters look like, read more into the history, characters, etc.

I WANT TO MARRY PACEY
There's a lot of voices for this guy to do from a lot of characters from a lot of places all over the world. He manages to separate them so smoothly that you can instantly tell who's talking just by his narration. One of the main characters - Glokta - has no teeth and Pacey manages to give this guy an authentic and ear pleasing lisp throughout the entire series. It's those little details that make you really respect the narrator.

IT'S THE CLOSEST THING I'VE FOUND TO GOT
Alright, I know all works are different, beautiful, etc. in their own right and the Fandom is pretty divided as to whether or not it's accept to compare TFL and GOT. Personally, I think they're quite similar. If you love the character development and POV style; history and theories; and magic and violence of GOT then read TFL - it has a similar set up. (The only thing this series doesn't have that GOT had in abundance is the sex.)

Very entertaining and excellent narration!

This is the kind of dark humor that makes you both grimace and chuckle. Very much enjoyed the narration too!

I Can't wait for more

I'm a skeptic about long series - often a lot of so-so filler bulk them out. This may be true here, too. I'm only 2/3s through the first book after all, but the plot and characters are super, and things are charging along. I was reluctant to try out Bujold and King, such popular writers, but not seeming my style...but they just consistently delivered as if they couldn't help it. Joe A looks to be in that same form. We'll see. I look forward to trying him out. Oh - and the reader is outstanding.

Excellent

Excellent story and narration. I was a little worried by the description that it may be a little cheesy but took a chance on it because of the good reader ratings it'd gotten. From the opening chapters, I was hooked. The characters are diverse and complex with some really unique features. The story is well crafted with an interesting world of politics, history, and intrigue. Magic is overused and is given a respectable role. Good mixture of wit, violence, and cleverness handled with expressive but practical prose.

Examines the genre and exemplifies it

I'll put it bluntly to start. Both Abercrombie and Pacey are masters at their craft.

Joe Abercrombie has penned a series that not only examines, and at times parodies, the fantasy genre, but also created a brilliant example for it. All of main characters are very well written.

Steven Pacey's performance in all of the books are the best bit of narrating I've ever heard. He has amazing ability and it really makes the audio shine. He can make all of the characters unique and interesting to hear, and he brings all of the subtle emotions to the surface with his brilliant acting ability.

The only reason that this book was not 5s across the board is that this, the first book in the series, is mainly just a set up for the rest of the series. The first alone does not accomplish much in it's own right, but the set up is still entertaining and definitely leads to a great series.

Eh~

Any additional comments?

The writing style is enjoyable, character development is well done, I just want less ambiguity on where the action is headed. Very much not a stand alone book and it left me feeling a bit cheated and frustrated with story direction. I'll have to get the second book before I can make up my mind if this was a total waste of time. Speaking of time, this kind of book structure is the same reason I tossed the Wheel of Time series, lots of development but where is the pay off?

Fantastic!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend this book to those of my friends who like gritty novels. Think of the fight scenes in Tolkien's LOTR, King's Dark Tower series and Cornwell's Uhtread series, and you know if you will like it. I was hooked on this book. Pacey does a phenomenal job of giving the characters their own voices, and he makes it easy to follow the different story lines weaving through the book.

Which scene was your favorite?

I found Glokta to be a powerful character. You want to pity him, despise him, and cheer for him. Of course, Abercrombie has built a character that doesn't want your pity, expects you despise him, and you'll want to cheer for him anyway. I can't wait to see what happens to him!

Any additional comments?

There are a lot of story lines weaving together in this book. It's great, but that means that by the time this book ends, you will desperately wanting to know WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? Have the second book on hand- I am starting it today!

Other readers commented on the swearing in the book. It fits the book, and it fits the characters. it doesn't come across as one of those times where an author has to use swear words to appear "edgy" or to prove that he can. These are not polite characters- they are fighters, and they have lived hard lives- swearing will naturally be a part of their vocabulary. I think Abercrombie used the vocabulary most appropriate for his characters; Abercrombie's characters ARE edgy.

Great story. Even better narration

I have listened to probably 300 audio books. I have never been so impressed with a narrator.

Found: New Great Epic

This is why you read or listen and keep reading, hoping to make great finds like this. If the rest of the series, which I am eager to hear, is as good as the Intro book, then I will have to rank Abercrombie up with Martin, Hobb and Goodkind as one of my favorite fantasy writers.

I think Audible for there rating system, which helped me decide to buy this book. When over 50% of the people who read a book give it five stars and then most of the rest give it four stars and hundreds of people have read the book, then you got a good chance of liking the book.

I love character driven stories, with characters such as Tyrion in Martin's saga. I like characters who have lived a painful life, yet still struggle on, usually with a wit and humor, usually a dry sense of humor. Inquisitor Glokta is such a character. As a young man he was a fencing champion and a hero. After two years in a prison of his enemies and treated similar to Reek in A Dance With Dragons, he comes out badly deformed and an embarrassment to his country. Every day is a struggle and a humiliation, yet he struggles on.

Jezal is a pompous nobleman, who you don't like, then you do like, then you don't like and then you are not really sure. He is a character who could go either way, although I suspect he is going to grow in this series and I hope I am right.

Ferro would rather kill you then look at you. Logan nine fingers seems to be growing up after a life of killing and then there is The First of The Magi and the very very remarkable navigator.

This book introduces us to the characters and ends with them getting ready to go on a quest.

The book has magic, but not anymore then in George R.R. Martin's series. I did not like this quite as much as A Game of Thrones and there is not really much in the way of surprises, but I liked it better then A Dance With Dragons. This is all story and you don't have all that so and so is married to so and so and the daughter of so and so and the nephew of so and so or the mentions of battles that took place thousands of years ago. Since it does not have all that nonsense, it is 21 hours long instead of 49.

The narrator is excellent and I am not sure if I would have enjoyed reading the book any better, the narrator really helped make this a great read.