The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie is an adult grimdark fantasy book that is the first part of a trilogy known as The First Law trilogy and was published back in 2006. The Blade Itself tells multiple stories about different characters who are each involved in their own lives whose stories intertwine as the story continues to evolve. There is war brewing to the north, the Union has barely just gotten out of a brutal war with the Gurkish Empire, and there is a new contender named Bayaz who claims to be the First Magi and wants his position back. The Blade Itself seems like an engaging and interesting story, but does it hold up to that premise? And is it a good fantasy story? As with all my other reviews, this will be a review with an in-depth breakdown on the world building and story in The Blade Itself. There will be spoilers so you have been warned. Now, let’s dive into my review, my world building analysis, and more on The Blade Itself.
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What is The Blade Itself About?
The Blade Itself is about an ensemble of characters, which we’ll discuss in depth later. For now, you need to know about the three main characters:
- Inquisitor Glokta
- Logen Ninefingers
- Jezal dan Luthar
You also need to know about Bayaz, the powerful Magi who definitely does a lot of interesting things throughout the story. There is also Ferro Maljinn, who is an important main character that shows up a bit later in the book.
The map of the circle of the world was not provided in Book 1–at least not in my copy–but I was able to find an image of it online and I’ll break it down in a later section. Basically, the Union is composed of several countries and regions that have formed after a brutal war against the Gurkish Empire. War is raging on in Angland due to the Northmen from The North being led by Bethod, a cruel new king who has taken up the position on his own in the power vacuum.
The characters are all connected through this bitter conflict, and there’s definitely a lot that’s going on. For this post, I’ll start with the character analysis as the first phase in world building analysis first.
World Building Analysis
The Characters
Inquisitor Sand dan Glokta
Glokta is a former soldier for the Union who was captured by the Gurkish Empire and brutally tortured. He is left crippled, with half his teeth missing, and cannot operate well on his own much anymore. He is now working as an Inquisitor for the Union and he has become a torturer himself.
Glokta is swept into a deep conspiracy as he attempts to root out treasonous figures in the Union, one person at a time. He is picked by Arch Lector Sult of the Inquisition to spearhead these campaigns against the traitors, and he is more than willing to comply. However, there is always the threat of death looming over his shoulders, and it’s enough to drive a man mad.
Glokta is definitely a complex and likable character. He’s probably one of my favorite fantasy characters out there and I find that he’s definitely a compelling and well-written star in this book. He constantly questions why he does what he does, but he still goes through with things. Although he was tortured, he tortures others in order to preserve his country–at least that’s how he sees it. He’s skeptical and questions a lot around him and he’s also more than willing to throw people he knows under the bus so long as it benefits his agenda.
I would say that of the characters in The Blade Itself, Glokta was my #1.
Logen Ninefingers (a.k.a The Bloody Nine)
Logen is definitely another well-written and interesting character. The powerful and strong Northman has fought in wars most of his life and now stands against Bethod after working for him for years. Logen is smart, strong, and mainly relies on his aggression to get him through things.
Logen is separated from his group after being attacked by beasts known as Shanka or Flatheads. He is tumbled off a waterfall and from there, his journey leads him to Bayaz, the First of the Magi who will be very important in the story.
He’s written really well as a fish-out-of-water character when Bayaz takes him and Quai to Adua, the Center of the World. There aren’t really many Northmen up in Adua, and so Logen stands out and he feels it in the way people stare at him or interact with him. It’s really interesting to see how the culture shock clashes with him and how he doesn’t understand what the city’s societal expectations are.
We also get a glimpse of this more unhinged side to Logen, which is referred to as the Bloody Nine. We really got this vision at the end of the story where Logen goes ballistic on some Inquisitor Practicals and just rips them apart basically. It was crazy, but seems to indicate something about his psychological state.
Jezal dan Luthar
Ah, Jezal Jezal Jezal. He’s a bit stupid at times, but we’ll excuse that. Jezal is a rich, wealthy man who is set to compete in The Contest so that he can become the best swordsman in the Union. He has gotten the position of commanding officer in the army due to his connections and his wealthy family, but he’s definitely more interested in playing around than war.
Jezal is friends with Major Collem West, who has a sister named Ardee. She’s described as being of darker complexion, a bit crass at times, and has a drinking problem. However, Jezal falls in love with her and the two of them have a bit of a secret “romance” behind West’s back. West, however, doesn’t want Jezal near his sister for fear of her reputation and because West comes from a more middle-class normal family than a wealthy one. If Ardee’s reputation is ruined, to him, that means she doesn’t really have a future.
Jezal trains to fight in The Contest but when he actually gets to it, Bayaz helps him win. So, technically, he didn’t deserve to win, but he certainly feels like he is entitled to win. That’s just Jezal for you.
He’s a well-written character though and there’s a lot of funny moments with him throughout the story. Even if he’s a bit stupid sometimes, I find that there’s a uniqueness to his stupidity that helps make his character interesting and fun to read from the perspective of.
Ferro Maljinn
Ferro is crazy, and it’s very interesting to read from her perspective, but she’s insane for sure. Ferro was a slave for the Emperor in the Gurkish Empire and now she’s escaped and has sworn revenge against all the Gurkish peoples.
Ferro is vicious and basically uses violence to solve all her problems. She pretty much kills anyone that gets in her way and she doesn’t really find much use in diplomacy. She’s skilled with weapons and she doesn’t really back down from a fight.
Ferro meets Yulwei, a Magi who guides her to Bayaz in Adua where Bayaz determines that he needs her for something important. We don’t really find out much about what the important thing is, but we know that he needs her.
Major Collem West
Collem West is a major in the Union army and is the older brother to Ardee. He is a pretty interesting character, though we don’t see too much of his perspective in this book. Either way, he is friends with Jezal, though he doesn’t really like Jezal going near his sister at all. Additionally, he has to skirt around a lot of societal expectations because of his common background.
Collem also knew Sand dan Glokta and they were pretty good friends until Glokta was captured by the Gurkish Empire. After that event, even when Sand came back, the two weren’t really able to connect. However, we find out that Collem did try to speak with Sand but was turned away by Sand’s mother.
Collem seems to keep a level head for most of the story but he has the capacity for aggression, as we see when he gets angry at Ardee and hits her due to her secret meetings with Jezal. He fears that she will throw her life away, but the way it comes out is harsh. That was definitely an intense chapter and one that was built well from the start. You could really feel the tension picking up and then it exploded at one moment. Brilliant writing in my opinion.
The Lands
As you can see from the map above, there are quite a lot of countries and regions that exist in The Blade Itself (if you want to make your own fantasy maps, check out this post where I list a bunch of great tools for that). We don’t see all of them, but we definitely hear about a lot of them. For instance, Gurkhul, or the Gurkish Empire, is a very important place that we briefly see through Ferro’s eyes but we mostly hear about it through the words and dialogues of other characters. Suljuk is briefly mentioned but doesn’t make any appearances in the book.
The Union has several countries like Midderland, Starkland, Styria, Angland, as well as the cities of Dagoska and Westport. We see a good amount of these, with Midderland being the most featured one with the city of Adua.
The North is also featured throughout the book and we know that the North is engaging in a war with the Union over Angland, so there’s some conflict going on there. We also know that there is an Old Empire which pretty much nobody really goes to.
The Union is described as being an expansive area but they also have a terribly trained military and are more secular than the Gurkish, who have a monotheistic religion. Most of the men in the North don’t seem to have a particular religion either, but they sort of reference this concept of death and call it the Great Leveler.
The Union isn’t the greatest at getting things done and there’s a lot of internal fighting between the different groups. There seems to be a very thin fabric of stability that could be broken at any time and it definitely shows throughout the book.
We know that Bethod rules the North now and he’s described as a powerful, large and violent man who has determined that he wants to rule the North and wants to extend his range into Angland. His army is much more well-trained and brutal compared to that of the Union.
The Government
There are honestly so many governments that exist in The Blade Itself. We know that the Union has a council and it is presided over by a High King, except this High King basically doesn’t exist in power. He exists physically, but that’s about all he does. Instead, the Lord Chamberlain pretty much does the talking for the king and makes a lot of decisions.
The Closed Council does most of the governing in the Union and presides over the different aspects of life and rule in the Union. This includes war, the judicial system, the Inquisition, and other important things.
There is also the Open Council, which is a regular assembly of the noblemen that watch the Closed Council and try to keep it in check basically. They don’t really take it seriously though and they mainly send the younger sons to watch over it and represent them. People can also seek to be heard by the King in the council, but obviously the king is usually asleep throughout most of this.
The Inquisition remains outside of the main sectors of the government and keeps everything in check by rooting out corruption and treason.
We get to see a lot of the government through the eyes of the characters like Collem West, who spends time around Burr and Sand dan Glokta, who works for the Inquisition and is tasked by Arch Lector Sult to do a lot of Inquisition work.
The Magic
Magic, as with any fantasy story, matters a lot and in The Blade Itself, that’s true as well. We don’t know a lot about how magic actually works yet, but I anticipate that this is due to it being the first book and the trilogy is quite long from a page count perspective.
We know that there are Magi and they practice powerful magick, but we don’t see too much of it in this book. We know that Bayaz was able to help Jezal win The Contest and we also know that he blows somebody up at the end of the book, but we don’t know a lot just yet. I anticipate we’ll learn a lot more in Books 2 and 3.
We know that there are two laws that the Magi follow and that breaking them is very forbidden. For those who do break them, there are many things that can happen. For instance, the Second Law is that it is forbidden to eat the flesh of men, but those that do (Eaters) gain the power to shapeshift and have superhuman strength.
We know that there was a head of the Magi named Juvens who knew the most powerful forms of magic.
In general, there’s not a lot of magic that exists in The Blade Itself, but it’s hinted at quite often. We also know that there are spirits and the fact that Logen can interact with them is of great interest to Bayaz. It seems like the spirits are connected to the concept of The First Law.
Religion
Religion plays more of a background role in the story but we know that the Gurkish have a monotheistic religion, that they have a prophet, a prayer system, and that they consider those in the Union to be godless. We know that the Union seems to place little value on religion and we know that the Northmen don’t really seem to have a religion, but they do consider the concept of death highly and they refer to death as going back to the mud.
Religion doesn’t seem to be that important to the story, and I understand why that is, but from a personal standpoint, I always like to see religious systems in books. I would’ve liked to see some more of this, but it didn’t make the story less enjoyable in my opinion. Though, I suppose I wonder why, for instance, the Gurkish believe in a god but the Union doesn’t really. Additionally, what is the name of the Gurkish god? Is it just God? Why wouldn’t they have a more specific name for it? These are more just nitpicky questions, but I do like to see what fantasy stories do with the concepts of religion.
We know that something did exist in the Union because we know of the House of the Maker, which is a giant structure in the middle of Adua and the former home of Kanedias, one of the Magi. It was said that the house was the center of the Circle of the World. It does seem to indicate the presence of some sort of religious existence in the Union, but it also seems like everyone’s basically forgotten about it because nobody really knows what it is. However, Bayaz takes Jezal, Logen, and Sand into it near the end of the story.
The Economy
We have a present and existent economy throughout The Blade Itself and this was nice to see. We know that there is a trade commerce, that there is a slave trade in Gurkhul, that there are nobles who have more wealth, and that there are merchant guilds. We can tell that there is some level of organization to the economic systems. We also can see that there is evidence of a banking industry, which I liked. I often find it a bit hard to believe when stories don’t really include these details because banks and financial systems have existed pretty much forever in history.
The Society
For the most part, we don’t know too much about the Gurkish society, but we know a lot about the Union, especially Midderland’s society. We know that education doesn’t really matter much anymore to the Union and that universities and educational institutions sit in ruin. We also know that men hold most of the power in the Union and that women don’t really do much in terms of government and such things.
Additionally, we can see that there is a hierarchy and a division of social classes in the Union. There is a subset of the population that are very wealthy and hold all the power and everyone else sort of lives on the outside of this world. The wealthy make most of the decisions for everyone through the government system as well.
We know that there is a presence of entertainment in the city of Adua, like theater and comedies. The Contest is also indicative of the way people are, since they find it entertaining and determine the best swordsman in the Union through it. However, most of the competitors tend to be nobles. Still, commoners can take up good positions if they win a Contest, which is what Collem was able to do.
My Review of The Blade Itself
I think overall that The Blade Itself is a great book and I really enjoyed it. Joe Abercrombie’s writing style was able to sweep me in relatively quickly and I found the use of description fantastic. I was able to visualize much of what was happening. What was great as well was the fact that I was actually able to laugh at the humor in this book, as many books sometimes fall flat for me in the humor department. However, the jokes were great, the sarcasm was perfect, and it was a good blend of dark stuff with funny comments.
I thought that Abercrombie’s strengths in this book lay definitely in characterization and building compelling, well-written characters (check out this post if you want to learn how to write memorable characters). Logen, Glokta, Jezal, etc… were all really well-written and very fun to read about. I found myself really rooting for them and finding their adventures to be interesting to read about as well.
I think the world building was honestly pretty good. Could it have been better? Yes, I do think so. While there was so much detail put into things like the government systems and more, I felt like there was just something more that could’ve been done. Maybe a bit extra in the cultural aspects would’ve been nice. I also think the names of the countries and areas could’ve been a bit more creative. Gurkish sounds too much like Turkish and Angland just sounds like England. Suljuk is also basically just Seljuk. I feel like a bit more creativity could’ve been put into this part.
Overall though, this was one of my favorite reads of 2024. I think that it’s a great story and it’s got plenty of dark, twisted and corrupt pieces that make it a great grimdark story. I wish there was a bit more action, but the action we got in that book was absolutely fantastic. The fight scenes were a lot of fun to read and I think the characters were great as well.
I’m happy to have bought the whole trilogy at once because I’ve already started reading Before They Are Hanged and I can’t wait to see what happens in that one!
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