Thursday, August 01, 2019

Books read in 2019: No. 37 -- The Blade Itself

by Joe Abercrombie

Started: July 20
Finished: August 1

Notes: I've heard much good about this author, specifically this book, and have been meaning to read one of his novels for some time now. Here goes.

Mini review: I have to say I was quite disappointed with this one until about the last third of the book when a number of scenes strung together suddenly made me a believer. The plot here is difficult to discuss other than to say it concerns a number of disparate characters and how they are finally brought together towards the end of this book so they can go off on an adventure in later books in the series. All in all decent writing with characters who are somewhat interesting. However, there were a lot of things here concerning characterization and even plotting which struck me as somewhat juvenile, like something a less successful self-published author would write, not something a major publisher would ... well, publish. But that sensation went away for me towards the end of the book, and in all fairness this was Abercrombie's first novel. Can I suggest this one for reading? Actually, despite my grousing, yes. Go read it. Give it a go.

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