The Blade Itself
Logen Ninefingers, infamous barbarian, has finally run out of luck. Caught in one feud too many, he’s on the verge of becoming a dead barbarian – leaving nothing behind him but bad songs, dead friends, and a lot of happy enemies. Nobleman Captain Jezal dan Luthar, dashing officer, and paragon of selfishness, has nothing more dangerous in mind than fleecing his friends at cards and dreaming of glory in the fencing circle. But war is brewing, and on the battlefields of the frozen North they fight by altogether bloodier rules. Inquisitor Glokta, cripple turned torturer, would like nothing better than to see Jezal come home in a box. But then Glokta hates everyone: cutting treason out of the Union one confession at a time leaves little room for friendship. His latest trail of corpses may lead him right to the rotten heart of government, if he can stay alive long enough to follow it. Enter the wizard, Bayaz. 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 Logen, Jezal, and Glotka a whole lot more difficult. Murderous conspiracies rise to the s
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First in The First Law trilogy. Vain young swordsman Jezal dan Luthar trains for the contest, scarred Inquisitor Glokta breaks suspects in the cells, and the famous Northman Logen Ninefingers stumbles south alone.
Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy has three books: The Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged, and Last Argument of Kings. There are also three standalone follow-ups (Best Served Cold, The Heroes, Red Country) and the new Age of Madness trilogy.
Yes. The Blade Itself (2006) is widely cited as a defining grimdark novel, alongside George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire and the Black Company. Joe Abercrombie has been called the master of grimdark.
The Blade Itself was written by Joe Abercrombie, published in 2006 by Orion Publishing Group, Limited.
The Blade Itself is 531 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Blade Itself takes most readers 8 to 12 hours to finish.
The Blade Itself is a standalone novel by Joe Abercrombie, not part of a series.
The Blade Itself is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
