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The Blade Itself

The First Law: Book One

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The Blade Itself

By: Joe Abercrombie
Narrated by: Steven Pacey
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About this listen

Inquisitor Glokta, a crippled and bitter relic of the last war, former fencing champion turned torturer, 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 and shallow, 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 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 hard....especially when Bayaz gets involved. An 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 Glokta, Jezal, and Logen a whole lot more difficult....

©2010 Joe Abercrombie (P)2010 Orion Publishing Group Fantasy Fiction Scary Suspenseful Combat Sports
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First of all, I have read all of Joe Abercrombie's books and I seem to be obsessed. His style of writing is definitely my cup of tea. It can be violent... Very violent, but also the most honest and the least cliche fantasy you will find today. He turns lots of fantasy themes and ideas on their head and does so with such wit, that you will find yourself grinning throughout. It can also be quite deep at times with its multi dimensional characters and it's cleverly woven plot.
This was my first audio book and Steven Pacey was great. He drew me into the book even further with his versitile range of voices.

Highly recommended.

Gritty, violent, dark..... And hilarious. Enjoy

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Do not hesitate.
Just get it and listen to it.
I do not regret one second that I spent on it.

This Audiobook Is Spectacular

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Say one thing for Joe Abercrom-fingers: say he's a legend.

The First Law Trilogy is fantasy as good as it gets, with action, noir/espionage thrills, redemption/punishment, twists, grand battles, illicit attraction, forbidden sorcery and fiendish webs of villainy. Best of all, it's laced with great humour and inverts most of the tropes into originality.

I've read all of Joe Abercrombie's books and listened through this series several times. He's in the same league as Tolkien, Martin, Sanderson, Le Guin and Gaiman.

Abercrombie's characters and plots show that he has the rare combination of penetrating insight into human nature (at both individual and societal scale) and the ability to artfully weave this insight into story. He seldom sacrifices truth-to-life or realism, within the constraints of the complex world he builds.

Consequently, his plots feel natural, often profound and captivating, where so much of the competion is contrived, derivative and off-putting.

His characters all feel like people you know or might meet; their actions all feel exactly like what that person would do in that circumstance. Most are so loveable or detestable (in their own warped, fallible ways) that they become instant classics.






One of the greatest fantasy series of all time

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This whole series is all HBO needs to make a "Game of Thrones" equivalent masterpiece, as long as they promise to finish it properly...

When will HBO take this on!

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This has to be the most brilliant narration I've ever heard for a fantasy novel and I've listened to hundreds. Just fantastic and what a story, the characters, dark and funny. A must listen for any fantasy fan

Best Narration, Absolutly Brilliant

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Grim dark but oddly funny at times.

i liked the narrator's voices.

good listen.

I enjoyed it for what it's worth

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pleasure to listen to! the narrator kept it very interesting and exciting and three more words to submit

very good

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This was a surprisingly good listen. The narrator is excellent. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.

Excellent

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Really enjoyed this book. It set the characters up very well and I'm looking forward to starting the next in the series. It was interesting how the author managed to make the reader invest in characters than weren't typical heroes or protagonists.

Great story and great performance

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I enjoyed it and listened to it with few breaks in between. I would give the overall performance 5 stars but for the painful manner the narrator pronounced 'grimaced.'
It was distracting, jarring and an error that could have been corrected.
Other than that, the story was thoroughly enjoyable, the narration was pitch perfect and the characters were quirky, colourful and flawed. I look forward to the sequel!

Gripping!

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