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  • The Blade Itself

  • The First Law: Book One
  • Written by: Joe Abercrombie
  • Narrated by: Steven Pacey
  • Length: 22 hrs and 15 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (1,263 ratings)

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The Blade Itself

Written by: Joe Abercrombie
Narrated by: Steven Pacey
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Publisher's Summary

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

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What listeners say about The Blade Itself

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A slow burn, but a good one

I've gone through a lot of the fantasy series, and was hoping to come across another good one that could keep me going for a while. The book, and the other 2 in the series, are slow but good. The narrator is amazing and makes a serious contribution to the enjoyment of the book/series; probably the best narrator i have yet to come across. As a standalone book, this one would not likely do, but if you're looking for a new series, and you like the fantasy realms, this is a solid choice.


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    5 out of 5 stars
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F*** is book awesome!

This is my favorite fantasy novel series ever. I've read got's five times. This is just as good if not better and Joe is consistently putting out new books! I'm so excited for you to come into this series with fresh eyes.. I'm jealous in fact. I cant say how much enjoyment I've gotten out of these books and recommend it to anyone who will listen. just... great .. that is all.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Stop reading, buy it already !

A very fine book. A masterpiece of a performance, if allowed I would give far more than 5 star to the narrator.

Not to say, the story isn’t worth your time its a wonderful bit of storytelling. Truly something not to be missed !

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Fantastic performance, character driven

The narrator was awesome. Voices for characters drew me right into the story. The story... the majority of the book.. is completely character driven but the characters are very interesting. There is also a quite interesting deeper story that is slowly, slowly teased out to the reader.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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The Blade Itself

The only thing I can really say about this one is, bravo to all involved! I supplement my reading of the physical book with the audiobook and everything flowed together beautifully. Mr. Pacey truly brings all characters to life with his vocal range and expression. Definitely a solid listen and I'll be purchasing the other audiobooks in this series because they're just that good!

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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Phenomenal book, hit or miss performance.

The book is impeccable. The characters are some of the most delightful I have encountered in fantasy. Even the most heinous bastard in the book had me caring what happened. The performance however is another matter. Some, like Glokta were perfect, but for some reason, a lot of characters sounded like they had speech impediments for no reason, it’s like the voice actor didn’t quite know how to portray the different accents so instead of accents he made everyone ‘foreign’ sound as if they had a sock stuck in their mouth. It was most distracting. A small blemish on a ridiculously good book.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Very Good Book

I needed a break from wheel of time, so I thought I’d give this a try.
This book is a pretty good fantasy book for sure. It isn’t full of death and destruction like I was led to believe but full of lots of likeable characters that you shouldn’t sympathize with but you do anyways. Performance is a tad over the top but all in all pretty fine story. Starting the next one now!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Outstanding

Phenomenal series. Love the gritty style, the character development, the political intrigue. Say one thing for Steven Pacey: say he's the best narrator in the business.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

very slow start.

the whole novel kind lf felt like one big intro/tutorial until getting to the end. the pay off is great, sure. but the process getting there isn't always fun. heard the next book gets better with pacing -since you already know the gang at this point.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Splendid!

Absolutely loved it! From start to finish I was enthralled. The format of the book is similar to SoiaF or GoT's, each chapter focuses on one of the main characters at a time usually and tells the tale from their PoV and inner thoughts. All of the characters are VERY lovable and I cannot wait to get into the 2nd book to figure out this mystery.

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