2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge discussion

This thread is to discuss The Blade Itself, the first book in the First Law series by Joe Abercrombie.

Pages: 515 pages

Length: 1 Month (January)

Participants: Sinisa, Sara, Kathelijne, Raviteja.

Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.

I plan to start this next week. I got a lot of suggestion praising this author and I haven't read any of his work. One of things that made me pick this for January was his character development which was "as good as Frederik Backman's" and I absolutely love Backman. So let's see if it is true. Having pretty high hopes from this one

Hi! I haven't read any work by this author either, but I've heard really good things about his writing and this trilogy in particular so I have pretty high hopes. I'm probably going to start reading right after New Year's.

I will be reading this during second week of January. I too have seen a lot of praise for the author and a few of my trusted reviewer friends on GR recommended it. Cant wait to dive in!

Hi! I’ll probably start in second week of January as well. Never read anything by this author yet but heard a lot of good things about this!

Hi! This will be my first buddy read! I plan on starting this book in the first week of January. Can't wait to start it.

I am pass 100 pages which is around 20% in my eddition

I like this set up of the book a lot, different characters point of view in alternating chapters. This start keeps feeling strange because to me looks like i missed something, like it was a book before this. Book starts with action and you get your world building as a bonus to that. I had to check do I have a first part after few pages. But you get used to it pretty soon and so far it is pretty interesting

At page 230 or 40%

I am loving it, the complexity of that world and characters makes it so interesting. Still a mystery to me what kind of place this is and how powerful some things are but that character driven story is captivating. That quote by Brodsky on beginning of part 2 is great

"Life - the way it really is - is a battle not between Bad and Good but between Bad and Worse."

I'm on Chapter 7 - I feel it is starting a bit slow with a lot of character development and minimal plot lines. However the characters thus far are intriguing and I'm looking forward to seeing how they all end up relating to each other.

I have finished and I liked it a lot.Was between 4.5 and 5 stars but I did enjoyed it a lot reading and as I heard this was his first book so 5 for me. This second to last chapter was crazy, I loved all the action, eminent danger and intensity. There is a point towards the end where I realized this will look like "to be continued" end so I slowed down a bit with reading and took me extra few days then I planed. I loved all the characters but I think female ones should had a bigger role like more of them and more time for those two we got here. Ardee especially was super interesting to me so I hope we get more of her in next book. There are few great little revelations moments that I enjoyed and one that comes to mind without spoiling it is about Collem West and Sand dan Glokta old friend from the army.

Glad to see you enjoyed the book Sinisa!
I want to start the book tomorrow so then I'll start responding to your thoughts :)

Sinisa wrote: "I am pass 100 pages which is around 20% in my eddition

I like this set up of the book a lot, different characters point of view in alternating chapters. This start keeps feeling strange because to..."

I am at about the same point as you were then. I definitely agree with this! It kinda feels like you've missed something. It took me a while to get used to it.

However, enjoying the characters so far and curious to see what the plot of the book will be.
(view spoiler)[ Also I feel like the book might be set in different timelines? Don't know if that's just me but Logen's part of the story feels so different than the one of Glokta? Maybe it's just me.
I'm definitely loving Glokta's chapters the most so far! (hide spoiler)]

Sinisa wrote: "I am pass 100 pages which is around 20% in my eddition

I like this set up of the book a lot, different characters point of view in alternating chapters. This start keeps feeling strange because to..."

I started this a couple of days ago, currently at 13% (reached chapter 'The Morning Ritual' now). I agree with your views.. The start feels very abrupt like we joined someone's story in the middle. But after a few chapters, I got used to it.

So far my favourites are Logen's.. Glokta's are a little violent and gruesome to my taste 😅 Jezal's chapters felt boring, but then Ardee came along in the previous chapter and I loved it.

Cant argue with anything you both said glad you 2 are enjoying it.
(view spoiler)[
What is great most of characters are mix of good and bad and only Jezal is introduced like a hero at start and then we had a glimpse into his bad traits that were annoying as hell for me. His story is more annoying when we introduce Ardee into it and she is like perfect character strong, smart, funny so any tiny misstep there with her and Jazal just makes me hate him more.
Logen is like a bad barbarian at start and then we got all of his good traits so it kind of grows on me even tho he was a brutal killer
Glokta is just abomination, while and evil and later on we got his back story so you kind of feel sorry for him. Oh and Glokta internal monologues were great, I loved those
(hide spoiler)]

Sinisa wrote: "Cant argue with anything you both said glad you 2 are enjoying it.."

I've finished part 1 and I agree with your thoughts.
(view spoiler)[
Jezal feels like a spoiled rich brat who has means and opportunities to become something he desires but is too lazy to put the hardwork needed to get there - and all the traits that come with this behaviour. His reaction particularly when Ardee calls him a whining baby is one particular example. For what ever is the reason, he seems motivated to prove himself by the end of this part, and that is a relief. As for Ardee, I hope either Jezal gets out to be good enough for her, or she finds better.

Glokta is that bitter person who used to be great once up on a time, but has gone down from there and he shows it at multiple points. I liked his conversation with Jezal, throwing the truth at his face. I do love his inner monologues and hopefully his chapters will have lesser violent torture.

Logen feels like a good man who did bad stuff in the past, for what ever reasons. I love the conversations between him and Bayaz and I am more interested to see his fights/battles soon.

I love Bayaz! He shows his experience in life during his conversations and I like the way he adds philosophy to it while keeping it straight-forward andfun st. I think its good that we got to see what he can really do, so we know that the first of the magi is not just for namesake. I still do not understand what makes him entertain?

Oh, by this point we know what The First law is but I am still waiting to find out its significance to this series. (hide spoiler)]

I'm currently at 60%
(view spoiler)[ Tbh, I'm having a hard time getting into the book. It's not that I don't like it, I'm just trying to figure out how it's all gonna fit together? I get that this book is more character-driven instead of plot-driven, which is not a bad thing at all and Joe Abercrombie definitely does a very good job at this because the book is definitely anything but boring. However I'm just not really connecting to the characters yet? Again, it's not that I don't like them but I don't love them either.

They do all seem to have some sort of connection or conversation with Ardee though? I feel like she's gonna be important in some way.
Also, Ferro is very interesting! Curious to see how she's going to fit into all of this.
(hide spoiler)]

Raviteja wrote: "Sinisa wrote: "Cant argue with anything you both said glad you 2 are enjoying it.."

I've finished part 1 and I agree with your thoughts.

Jezal feels like a spoiled rich brat who has means and opp..."

Definitely agree with these character descriptions!
(view spoiler)[ Especially with Logen, although he pretty much only does bad things, he feels like such a good man? (hide spoiler)]

About title from wiki that I don't think was mentioned:
The title of the first book is taken from a quote by Homer in The Odyssey: "The blade itself incites to deeds of violence."

@Kathelijne
(view spoiler)[
Yeah both Ferro and Arde are very interesting and mysterious, I wanted more of them and hope that is corrected in book 2.
Ardee connections are not strange to me, they are all made through her brother circle of friends. Ferro is unknown factor I expect she will have some bigger role and purpose. Best option they are both very important in book 2 .
(hide spoiler)]

I finished the book! I ended up really loving the last part and rated it 4 stars.
(view spoiler)[
This book really was an amazing set-up for the next of the series. It took me a while to get into it but I really like it. Super excited for the rest of the books.

Jezal is definitely an arrogant ass but that also means he has a lot of potential to grow right? :)
Also... that Logen/Bloody-Nine scene??? I was shocked. But it made a lot of sense, it felt like his whole character arc just came together (like the Logen/Ferro pair-up as well).
Glokta is just absolutely my favorite character!
(hide spoiler)]

Also, how do you feel about Bayaz?
(view spoiler)[ Bayaz seemed like a good man at the beginning of the book but isn't he kind of falling of the wagon? He seems to be taking more power than he should (breaking the first law as mentioned by Yulwei). I don't trust him and feel like he might become one of the antagonists? What do you guys think? (hide spoiler)]

I spent the night-out reading and finished it! I too enjoyed the last parts and those were gripping. I like how everything was setup for the next book.
(view spoiler)[ I guess this book is one-of-a-kind reads for me. I find the actual plot in the book quite thin, but I didnt feel bored with it at any point.

I echo with most of your thoughts..
I find it tough to pick a favourite character between Logen and Glokta. Both are contrasting characters, Logen being more philosophical and straight-forward while Glokta is more of a irritated person with sarcastic inner monologues.
Jezal certainly has more to grow and we could see some of it during the last 1/3rd.
I loved Ardee. Ferro is more mysterious to me, and I wonder what Ferro's inability to see colours mean to the plot.

I like Bayaz, particularly when he is in a good mood. I cant say if he is good or bad, he seems to be doing something that he believes he should, even if it sounds bad and reckless. I dont find him selfish, like someone who wants power to expand his own ideals or control. I guess that comes with the genre.

I think Logen has a split-personality.. The Bloody-Nine is either a personality or some kind of entity that comes to possess him. There are so many unanswered questions with him, like how he came to possess it, how he can talk to spirits etc and I would like to know more of his past.

A lot is unexplained.. the world's magic system, how the eater become what they are. We are told a brief part of history about the maker but not the circumstances that led to the events, the relation between the Maker's daughter and Bayaz (like what Yulwei tells Bayaz about Ferro). Too many unanswered questions for me. I hope we find more in the future books.
(hide spoiler)]

Sorry, I didnt post as much as I usually do. I hope to do better with the next book!

I'm so behind on reading this. Oh my gosh.

I'm 10% in and I'm not sure yet how to feel on this. Like some of you have said already, it feels like you get dropped in unexpectedly into the middle of the story. It feels like there was supposed to be a book before this or something. Also, I'm struggling to connect with any of the narrators. I'm going to keep on pushing through though. Clearly you all really liked it so I'm hoping I start feeling more into it as I get further along.

I finished the book about a week or two ago. I really enjoyed it but didn't really get all the characters or the plot. So I'm doing a second read and understanding them so it's even better.

@Scot
We are in the midle of reading book 2 maybe do that instead and jump in that discussion in February buddy reads, because this thread will be closed in couple of days. Also there is a 4 part comic done by this book and it is very good, that might help you understand and it is a fast read.