Available Formats
Paperback
Published: 10th May 2007
Hardback
Published: 15th November 2022
Hardback
Published: 11th October 2016
The Blade Itself: Book One
By (Author) Joe Abercrombie
Orion Publishing Co
Gollancz
10th May 2007
8th March 2007
United Kingdom
Paperback
544
Width 132mm, Height 198mm, Spine 42mm
376g
Inquisitor Glokta, a crippled and increasingly bitter relic of the last war, former fencing champion turned torturer extraordinaire, 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, shallow, selfish and self-obsessed, 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 in a hole in the snow 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 really, really hard indeed...especially when Bayaz gets involved.'I might not end up marrying this book, but I'm certainly infatuated with it right at the moment. It's delicious, the characters sharply drawn and their motivations believable, the clash of cultures (always particularly difficult for an author to pull off) believable as well.' -- Lilith Saintcrow
Joe Abercrombie is a freelance film editor, who works on documentaries and live music events. He lives and works in London. The Blade Itself is his debut novel.