The Blade Itself (The First Law: Book One) - Softcover

Abercrombie, Joe

Softcover

ISBN 10: 159102594X ISBN 13: 9781591025948

Publisher: Pyr, 2007

Synopsis

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, dashing officer, and paragon of selfishness, Captain Jezal dan Luthar 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 surface, old scores are ready to be settled, and the line between hero and villain is sharp enough to draw blood. Unpredictable, compelling, wickedly funny, and packed with unforgettable characters, The Blade Itself is noir fantasy with a real cutting edge.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

Epic fantasy. It's all the same, no? There's a grumpy wizard, a deadly barbarian, a jumped-up nobleman and some feisty girl, more than likely. They're all engaged in a mysterious quest to bring that from there, and they're all made out of cardboard. Probably there's a dark lord of some kind involved. They talk like extras from a bad soap opera. They fight like extras from a bad cop show. Probably there's a prophecy, and a farmboy with mysterious parentage, and if not a magic tower, then certainly a strange tall building of some kind. There'll be battles, there'll be intrigue, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if a magic sword came up somewhere along the way.I don't need to read that again.I want to read a fantasy with all the grit, and cruelty, and humour of real life. Where good and evil are a matter of where you stand, just like in the real world. I want dialogue that actually sounds like people talking, and action that actually feels like people fighting. I want magic and adventure, sure, but I want it to hurt. I want blood, sweat, and tears, and plenty of them. I want to read about characters as selfish, as flawed, as complicated, and as unpredictable as real people. I want a fantasy that can shock and surprise, amuse and horrify, delight and excite me, all at once.I spent a long time looking, and I couldn't find a set of books quite like that. So I thought I'd write some.You like your fantasy with the edges left on? Try The First Law.

About the Author

Joe Abercrombie—a 2008 John W. Campbell Best New Writer Award Nominee—was born in Lancaster, England on the last day of 1974. He studied psychology at Manchester University, and for the last ten years he has worked in London as a freelance film editor, cutting documentaries and concerts for bands from Coldplay to Iron Maiden. He lives with his wife, Lou, and his daughter, Grace. In his spare time he writes edgy fantasy novels. He is the author of The Blade Itself—The First Law: Book One. Visit Joe Abercrombie online at www.joeabercrombie.com.

Edition details

• Publisher: Pyr
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 159102594X
• ISBN 13: 9781591025948
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 536