The First Law: The Blade Itself (spoiler free review) by Joe Abercrombie
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- Опубликовано: 17 окт 2024
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I messed up the audio a little bit on this video. The next one will have the same problem. But then after that we are BACK baby!
Lucky for you I was listening on my phone and didn’t notice 😂
What is really weird is that when I listen with both of my wireless buds in the audio is super clippy but okay. If I just have one earbud out the audio is super garbled and almost inaudible. I thought the left channel was just dead at first but then realized it wasn't if I had both earbuds on. I'm guessing it has something to do with my earbuds trying to turn the stereo into mono sound and in that conversion things cancel out?
Glotka's inner monologues are some of the best parts of any book ever.."body found floating in a river...."
Yeah, hard agree!
O freak, i just listened to that chapted like a half hour ago, so good, i love that line.
I love this series. I once had the opportunity to go to a Q and A session with Joe Abercrombie at a big bookstore and he was a really entertaining and funny guy. He even signed my copy of The Blade Itself.
#lifegoals. I hope to one day meet Joe Abercrombie. I'm a huge admirer of his work. Happy for you!
I just did a reread of this book in December, this time along with the Pacey narration and also feel it improved the overall rating of this book. I'm not big into audiobooks but so happy I did it with this reread.
I agree, currently on my first re-read and im just blown away by all the references and foreshadowing that flew over my head the first time. This series deserves to be reread, a few times probably. (Which i honestly didn't expect).
This got me so excited to go back. Loved my first read of this trilogy and want to get back to it. I want to do the other ones in that world too. Just amazing characters.
At 4:57 I expected a Brian Lee Durfee “don’t worry I’ll edit that out.” 😂😂
LOL I love when he does that.
Easily my favorite fantasy series and collection of audiobooks from start to finish. This really has me excited for the future of audiobooks in general. Do you have any recs (fantasy or non fantasy) for similar audiobooks with similar quality of narration, maturity, and characterization? Big fan of the channel, Matt! Thank you for a great review
I think Rupert Degas is right up there with Pacey on the Ketty Jay series by Chris Wooding. One of my absolute favorites!
The only other fantasy audiobook series that is on a similar quality (in my opinion) is Gentlemen Bastard. Start with Lies of Locke Lamora.
We are doing a buddy read of it starting on June 21st in my discord channel!
The Lamborghini metaphor is spot on. I just finished The Blade Itself and already feel like the bar for the next fantasy series is set incredibly high
Yes I couldn’t understand anything until I pulled out my one ear bud and listened to it on the phones speakers. Totally agree on this review. I actually just downloaded the audiobook before I knew how lauded it is. Such an amazing series and gripping tale, but the audio book is definitely 10/10. I love it, great review!
Love the series, and this is coming from a main science fiction reader.
Joe Abercrombie is the best.
Can’t wait for you to get to The Hero’s on Audio it was honestly my favorite stand alone because of the Audiobook
I'm planning on reading this soon and your video just made me even more excited about it. There is something special about writers who can pull off very dark characters and make the reader root for them, the Bourbon Kid series will always be my fav for this type of character. Thanks for the video :)
I tell anybody who will listen that Steven Pacey's reading of Sand dan Glokta, in particular, is one of the best performances in any medium ever recorded. Pacey is elite!
I loved the book on first read and thought it was 1000% better on an audio re-read. Glokta's performance is magic. The lisp was so logical and yet I never would have thought of it. After you read book 3 this book gets so much better. A fair criticism is the plot isn't easily apparent, an unfair criticism is it doesn't have one. It doesn't have a generic quest plot in book one, but all the dominos are being set up beautifully.
Dang what an amazing review. I felt the exact same way about the book/audiobook, and look forward to my own eventual reread!
Thanks Ben! Some rereads just feel like a waste of time...but that's certainly not true for this one!
This is one of my favourite fantasy series, and I originally read it on Kindle. I have heard so many good things about the audio version that I think I need to go back and “re-read” this via audio.
I finally convinced my brother n law to listen to the First Law Trilogy and he enjoyed it so much that he is never reading a physical book again, Pacey converted him to an audio listener! Once you have to get the bifocals on the glasses it just make sense.
A) Logen is a good (not morally gray) person and I'll fight anyone who says otherwise. The Bloody Nine, on the other hand . . .
B) I was blown away with Glokta's narration. I love that he has a prominent lisp when speaking but doesn't when thinking. But another aspect of it is that there several times when he is dreaming, and he doesn't have a lisp there either. It's awesome
Wait a minute. Audiobook has Glokta voiced with lisp? Wow 😮 In the books his dialogues don't have it. It's Frost that has heavy lisp.
I'm reading the first trilogy for the first time, currently took a break in the middle of The Last Argument of Kings and I absolutely love the writing style. It feels so effortless but no one else does it like Abercrombie. I'm definitely doing re-read via audiobooks.
In the audiobook Glokta he has a noticeable lisp when talking, but none when thinking. This is due to the "teeth" problem he has.
Frost has a HEAVY, HEAVY, HEAVY lisp.
Definitely my next read! Awesome review mate
Totally a 5/5! Perfect book
No way you did a review on this! I just started reading this the other day on audiobook, I'm on chapter 9 :D
This is a fantastic series. Red country is my fav. Return off the bloody nine.
I 1000% agree! Especially with once you listen to it, nothing els really compares. Now going forward, all other audio books feel average lol
Haven’t gotten around to the sequel trilogy yet, but hearing how good it is makes me itch for a First Law reread. This video might have pushed me over the edge and I’ll have to put it on the schedule😬
Be sure to read the standalones before the last trilogy
Can’t wait to get to this series and now I feel like I’ll have to do it on audio!
Oh do, do! You won’t regret it.
I’ll definitely be doing a re-read for the movie! If you listen to the audiobook, like you said… Clokta is phenomenal! I love the descriptions, because I myself am a quadriplegic and can relate to him on the page many times🤘🏼
Yeah that's got to be extra cool for you!
Excellent review on an equally excellent book/series. I ran into this audiobook on RUclips. Pacey just crushes these characters and the atmosphere. I do think this is the weaker of the three due to a lack luster plot. However, it is more than overshadowed by the exceptional character work by Abercrombie.
Did you notice that at least one, if not several, of the duelists Jezal fights before Gorst make reappearances later in the series? The one I remember for sure meets with Vick in Styria in The Trouble With Peace
I did! That was an awesome little tidbit dropped in.
This is great video!! Happy reading to you!! 📖🎥
Also rereading this on audio and enjoying it more
I love books by Joe Abercrombie (apart from Shattered Sea trilogy). Apparently, Best Served Cold is getting a movie adaptation
If you get a chance, watch the interview Captured in Words did with Joe and Stephen, especially the bit where Stephen does a reading of one of the books (I can’t remember which) - OH MY GOD, is that man talented! I’ll never forget it!
ordered my copy a couple days ago.
Yeah Steven pacey has killed other audiobooks for me, he's just too good
Spoilers and Slander of series in this comment this is your warning
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I have read the first trilogy and I really liked the characters especially Nine fingers and Glokta and it was an enjoyable read for me.
However, I really don't understand why I hear many people saying this is their favorite Fantasy series of all time.
The characters were very good however the plot seemed to be all over the place and make no sense to me. Like they went on a random long journey for a rock because some Wizard told them and then the rock wasn't even there. Glokta defended a city for a while at great cost just to stall for a bit because the higher ups told him to, in the end Byaz was the evil mastermind behind everything through the power of... finance and banking?
I could name a bunch more things in the plot that just felt weird and random to me. Grim Dark is supposed to be more surprising because bad things can and will happen and this can make things more exciting because their is no absolute knowledge that the good guys will win. But there is a difference between bad things can happen and random plot lines for no real reason.
Like at the end it implied Ninefingers died (I think I haven't read past the first trilogy) but rather than feel dismayed or surprised that a main character I was fond of died I just threw it on the pile of things that happened in the book for no real reason with no build up to it of which there were many.
It just didn't feel like the plot had any point to it or underlying logic that a book should have. Now I still enjoyed the series but to me it played more like a comedy than a serious Fantasy book. I'd put it in A or B tier personally.
Audio sounds fine now. Gotta admit that while I loved the Glokta character I got tired of hearing that he is running his tongue over his gums. But of course it helps keep us in mind of his inner life.
I just moved this up on my To Read list.😀
I’m on book 3 now and while it does retroactively make me like book 1 more seeing how all the pieces were laid in place, I also can’t help but feel like this should have all been spread out a bit more. Book 1 to me is still just so slow and if it wasn’t for the great writing and characters, there’s no way I would have gotten to book 3. I would have loved a bit of resolution to at least 1 of the minor plot lines, but book 1 really doesn’t have any kind of plot or resolution at all.
I'm also in the middle of book 3 and to me it seems like this could've been duology instead, with books 1 and 2 being combined into one ~650 pages long volume. Book 3 is much more fast paced.
I would agree. I would only give this a 3.5 star rating. although I enjoy his writing and his character development... That isn't enough to compensate for what I feel is slow movement and mediocre plot
My first fantasy audiobooks were the lord of the rings by Andy Serkis and I don't know if I'll ever love a narrator as much as I love Serkis but maybe I'll try the age of madness in audiobook form
Me too Serkis was my first!😜 other audio narrators that are S- Tier besides First Law’s Pacey are Jonathan Keeble’s reading of Warlord Chronicles & Rosamund Pike’s recent reading of the first 3 Wheel of Time books.
Came to this after watching the booktuber video. Unfortunately will not be staying😢 Wish you the best of luck
Is it because you don't agree with how I rated this?
Matt doing ASMR, i am in for it
I must admit I didn't like this book. Mostly because pretty much nothing happens in it :D It's like first act of a story dragged out into whole novel. I'm glad I then read Best Served Cold so it got me hooked on Abercrombie, because otherwise Blade Itself would likelly be the last book of his I've ever read.
Thanks for giving me hope
Spoiler. I would argue Logen is a gray character with a literal demon for an alternate personality. Maybe some would say that makes him black, but when he's in control he has a somehwat justifiable moral compass.
I recently finished the first trilogy and I can't decide if Logen or Glokta was my favorite charcter.
If you're reading these books and not listening to them, then you're seriously missing out
So true
💯💯💯
I read with my eyes
💯 best immersive reading experience ever!
I can’t ‘read’ any of Joe’s books, I HAVE to listen to Stephen Pacey’s narration!
Do you listen at 1.0 speed or faster? I feel like over 1.25x speed it’s like listening to chipmunks
1.5x. I feel like anything less is way to slow to be enjoyable. But to each their own!
Noooooo! 1.0 speed!!!!
I’m currently 30% into the blade itself, and unfortunately I’m struggling. I’m just bored and the characters (so far) feel overhyped
This isn't a surprise....this series is sooooo hyped and unfortunately the first book is the slowest/weakest(it was Abercrombie's first book, so not surprising) of any of the 9. It seems like it's said a lot with many series, but the series does get better and better and you will fall more in love with the characters as you go....unless this type of story just isn't your thing, I guess. With that said, I do really enjoy the first book as well, but I read it before there was quite the hype for the series, at least the hype it has now.
I took a break the first time I read it because I wasn't feeling it but I just finished it a couple days ago and it was great. For me it picked up just before part two and I finished it quickly after that
I put it down because it seemed too undeveloped. I'll try it again.
Surprisingly I’m already enjoying it much more. The past 50 pages have gotten a lot more exciting. I think you just have to be in the mood to read it. Great to hear everyone’s thoughts tho!
@@govannibarrett I think I’ve just reached part 2 so makes sense why I’m enjoying it more
This first book was so random. The worst point is probably that it has the less interesting world that I've ever read for now.
The writing is really average too but it's a first book.
The only part I like is Glotka character. It's a bit repetitive to say everytime the same thing with him being in pain but on the other side it makes him different.
The fact that most of those guys are grey feels forced to me. "Look at me I'm not a great guy" it feels wrong even though I hate perfect characters.
As for a book being slow it's definitely not a problem for me.. when it's not boring.
At the end it's not bad, just average 2.5/5 for me.
I hope the next one will be better.