The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie: excellent debut novel

[Werthead]

Just did a review of this book for my blog, and thought I'd share with the good folk of DM.com:

 

If there was one book that emerged as the runaway most spectacular epic fantasy debut of 2006, it was Scott Lynch's excellent The Lies of Locke Lamora. However, in the fuss over this book Gollancz also slipped out a book that is very nearly its equal for quality: The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. No doubt the fact that Lamora was published very quickly in both the UK and USA, whilst Blade has to wait until September 2007 for its US debut is mainly responsible for this oversight.

 

The Blade Itself couldn't have a more traditional epic fantasy storyline: The Union of Midderland has become the most powerful nation in the east of its continent, but it has grown soft over the years, lazy and over-confident in its own power. From the north, a barbarian king seeks to reclaim a land conquered by the Union, whilst in the south a powerful desert empire marches on the Union's southern-most city. Beyond this is a mysterious supernatural threat, taking the form of savage, inhuman warriors waiting beyond the northern edge of the continent to strike and of powerful assassins working in the south. Against this broad canvas, a noble barbarian warrior, a callow and untrained youth, a mysterious old wizard and a crippled torturer are thrust into the centre of events.

 

Of course, there is little new under the sun, and in epic fantasy it's perhaps not the originality of the story that matters, but how the author approaches the material. Abercrombie's story is deftly told, with flashes of humour and a hint of otherworldly alieness (the time and space-bending House of the Maker is a strange structure at the centre of the Union which seems to hold many secrets within it). He also laces his characters with many unexpected secrets and depths. One particular character revelation at the end is so brilliantly handled it rivals George RR Martin's best plot twists.

 

Overall, The Blade Itself is a superb debut novel and I am eagerly awaiting the sequel, Before They Are Hanged, which will be published in the UK in March this year.