The Blade Itself

I'm not 'wowed' but I am very impressed.

I've been looking forward to reading this book for over a decade being rather fascinated by all the grimdark chatter that was doing the rounds back then. This book fits very neatly into that genre and vibe but it would be a mistake to characterise the book as grimdark, rather it is a complex and engaging character driven fantasy novel with many dark elements.

For much of the book I felt 'The Blade Itself' was a five star book. I was totally engaged with the characters, found myself looking for opportunities to read the book and staying up late at night and picking it up over breakfast kind of deal. I was never bored, and I was engrossed in the characters and what was happening to them. Each chapter had a clear purpose, a place to get to, and Abercrombie delivers the reader where they need to be.

The main problem is, is that this is 500+ pages of set up, of telling us about the world, of getting the band together and telling us that the real story, the real plot is in book 2. I kind of hate that, the sense that if you want to know what happens (or even what the plot is) you have to invest in another novel (thankfully they were written and published!). Worse, I kind of worked this out half way through so whilst I was enjoying the novel, I couldn't quite get it out of my head that the payoff wasn't coming.

I'm still not sure how I feel about that. Did I enjoy reading about these characters? Their reasons for being? Their hopes, dreams, passions and failings? Yes of course I did. Did the book raise a smile, make me grimace and keep me engaged? Yes it did. So is the absence of big plot that big of a deal? Maybe it isn't, especially since I enjoyed it so much.

Some may say there are some well trodden paths here, of unlikely misfits starting with a story of their own, and these stories intersecting with each other as a bunch of seemingly unrelated sidequests come together. What sets this apart are that most of the characters are quite complex. I'm not saying 'shades of grey', rather that there are some characters are unpleasant people, but their humanity is never far away. There are characters in here who have committed mass murder and are depicted as ghoulish and yet when things touch them one can see their tenderness. It's quite an uncomfortable window on real life - that there are bad people who do awful things who still have a capacity to care, and to feel.

I guess the book get's it's grimdark tag mostly due to three things. First, the graphic nature of the skirmishes in battle amongst outlaw type bands. They are bloody, and quick and not particularly heroic. Secondly, a major character is a former noble fencing champion and war hero, tortured and imprisoned turning into a torturer and inquisitor. His torture scenes are rarely as graphic as the mind depicts which is a sign of great writing. Third, and maybe fourth, the sense of political machinations, power plays and a big cast of characters reminiscent of 'A Song of Ice and Fire'. These epic fantasy tropes make it more, 'you know, like Game of Thrones' rather than grimdark but I guess the comparisons stick.

I loved the worldbuilding. Unlike in many fantasy novels I never found myself getting lost or needing to refer to maps. I got a clear sense of the region, the borders, the different cultures and races and political machinations. There is nothing to original here, but it doesn't detract from my enjoyment. It's easy to understand. The centre of the world is the Union which is clearly an analogy to the British Empire with it's outposts on other continents, a highly stratified class system and lords, lazy on their own corruption, greed and sense of self importance in conflict with a new mercantile class and landless peasants. One can see elements of Western Europe's renaissance here, of their ostentatious buildings, and of a world changing faster than the rich custodians realise.

The North is clearly influenced by Viking and 'Beserker' tropes, of warring and feuding 'savages' who (if they get their shit together) are a threat. They are a threat to Angland, a country in the Union, whilst meanwhile 'the North' are threatened by a humanoid 'orcish' species even further north. The author is from near where I live and we're all familiar with Northern savage tropes (whether what Romans said about us today, and to what Normans and English today say about Scots).

The South is a very simplistic North Africa / Gulf States analogy, noted for their belief in 'gods'. I found this a little by the numbers to be honest. Indeed, the main character from this is an 'escaped slave girl' and I can almost see the 'dusky exotic fiery spirit' - and the code that even though she's escaped she still needs to be 'tamed'. She also comes across as a little stupid too. The East and West are 'to be featured in future novels'.

Generally the characters are well drawn through. There is a romance angle where the implications of this romance are clearly depicted on all parts - the complicatedness and dynamics are certainly interesting. It ends in quite an ugly way I didn't see coming, and in the sense that most of the book's horrible characters show a sense of humanity, it was also a book where someone the reader thinks is alright actually isn't.

Wrapping up the review I can think of lots of niggles (such as ridiculously overpowered wizards, and something that feels like a MASSIVE story conclusion being a bridge to something else). That said, I found myself noticing the character development, the unwrapping of their motivations and how they came to be how they are. That for me makes it a book well worth reading. 2025 is going to be a 'grimdark challenge' year for me so I suspect I will be dipping back into the series and reading more.