Throwback Thursday - The Blade Itself

Original Release Date: March 2007

Publisher: Gollancz

Author: Joe Abercrombie

Series: The First Law #1

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 with a bloody past, is about to wake up in a hole in the snow 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 really, really hard indeed...especially when Bayaz gets involved. A bald 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 Glotka, Jezal and Logen a whole lot more difficult...

I find that either people really love this book, or they really don't enjoy it all for a wide variety of reasons.  Personally, The First Law series is one of my favorites I've every picked up.  Usually I'm slow to finish a series once I started it. Not because I don't like it, but because once I finish a book sometimes I need to pick another in a different genre.  Which then leads me to another book, and before I know it weeks, or months, have past between book one and two.  This was not one of those series.  I actually picked up one after the other, because every single books leaves you needing to know what's going on!  Luckily I stumbled across this series after all three books in the trilogy was posted. In the last few years three stand alone books have been added to the series and also a collection of short stories.  

So for the fans of Game of Thrones, The Dagger and Coin Series, or any other High Fantasy book I can't currently think of.  I recommend this book to you!  The language that's used his course, it is definitely an adult age book due to many different graphic scenes.  It's not a happy shiny book, but it's totally worth a read.