I had heard a lot about Abercrombie’s writing style and about how it was dark and gritty – the kind of thing I have recently begun enjoying more and more in my fantasy – and I have to agree with those comments.

I had expected a certain amount of roughness to the book, but what I hadn’t expected was just how well Abercrombie had created his world, so that the harshness of the book’s universe was almost the normal state of balance. There is something that I get from this book that draws me into it. Whereas in other series I find myself drawn into a book through some kind of mutual bond with the characters, this story draws me into it because of the harsh reality of it as much as the descriptions of its characters, and to me that is quite intriguing and new.

The story is set around a number of main characters from many different places. From inside the Union you have Glotka and Captain Luthar, the bitter and cynical Inquisitor who’s working for a man who’s goals he isn’t sure of and he doesn’t want to know, and the vain and shallow soldier whose only care is himself and how others view him.

From the North you have Logen, a barbarian who has outgrown the carelessness of youth and now manages to weigh up his action and who can’t believe he is still alive. From Gurkhul there is Ferro Maljinn a woman who is extremely dangerous and is consumed with rage. Then there is Bayaz, first of the Magi, a man thought to be dead ages past, but has come back.

The Blade Itself is a perfect start to a series, it gives both backstory as well as character development, without seeming to take anything from the action and intrigue of the story which some writers run afoul of.

I am really looking forward to where this series is going and especially to reading more about Inquisitor Glotka whose dark humourous cynicism adds a fitting perspective to the machinations of the well connected, powerful and least trustworthy nobles.