Why did I love this book?
No one is perfect.
We have a man of the law who keeps asking himself why does he interrogate people, why so harshly. Then there’s a fighter who’s too invested in his looks. And a wizard who may seem good, but he uses his magic in brutal, stomach-turning ways.
All of this is fascinating to follow. Each character like this comes with a lot of room to grow, and we see them learn and adapt, while also sometimes doing what needs to be done. There’s good and bad in all of them, like all of us.
Also, Abercrombie’s prose is incredibly instinctive. Every paragraph reads with a natural rhythm because it’s easy to hear the author’s tone from the choice of words and punctuations.
12 authors picked The Blade Itself as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
Inquisitor Glokta, a crippled and increasingly bitter relic of the last war, former fencing champion turned torturer extraordinaire, 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, shallow, selfish and self-obsessed, 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…