The Blade Itself

Executive Summary:I really enjoyed the book, but it felt mostly like setup for the rest of the series. Most trilogies at least have some short-term goal accomplished in each book, but I felt like that was missing here.Full ReviewOne of the very first things Good Reads recommended me to was this book. Well this and [b:Gardens of the Moon 55399 Gardens of the Moon (The Malazan Book of the Fallen, #1) Steven Erikson http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1355144064s/55399.jpg 2646042]. I ignored both books until convinced otherwise by friends of mine. Apparently good reads recommendation engine knows what it's talking about, and I shouldn't ignore it. I really enjoyed this book. It took me a few chapters to get into it, but once I was it was hard to put down.It's often described as gritty fantasy, and it certainly delivers on that front but I didn't find this book as dark as either Malazan Book of the Fallen or Song of Ice and Fire. It's certainly not a book to share with your younger kids however.This is the first book I've read by Mr. Abercrombie, and his first published work. It doesn't show. The book is very well polished. The characters are interesting, diverse and have a lot of depth.If you would have told me I'd like an arrogant spoiled rich noble, and deformed malicious torturer as characters before this book, I wouldn't have believed you. And that's neglecting to mention Logen “The Bloody Nine”. He's got a reputation as a viscous killer, and numerous enemies who want him dead, yet for most of the book you wonder how that's possible. He seems more like a grizzled warrior whose simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time for most of his life, but somehow manages to survive.“I'm still Alive!”Eventually however, you learn that his name is well deserved.I think Mr. Abercrombie does a good job of painting a world that is not black and white. His characters all have flaws, some of them major, yet I find myself liking and rooting for them all somehow.I have two small fall criticisms of the book that prevent me from giving it a 5:1) Lack of strong female characters. They aren't absent, just secondary. Both Ardee and Ferro are well developed in this story, but most (all?) of the point of view story telling is from the various other male protagonists, of which there are 5, compared to only 2 females, one of which only appears occasionally (Ardee) and the other (Ferro) who isn't introduced until much later in the book.One thing I think that [a:George R.R. Martin 346732 George R.R. Martin http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1351944410p2/346732.jpg] does well is providing a sense of realism, yet still offering a good mix of female characters. I'm hoping we see more from Ardee and Ferro in the next book, and hopefully some additional woman as well.2) As I mentioned in my summary, this book lacks some kind of short term goal. If there is any goal, it's essentially getting the group together to go on a quest of sorts. That's not really explained very well. The stopping point for this book was reasonable, but it was just that, a stopping point.Say one thing for this book, say it's an enjoyable read. I mean, you have to be realistic about these things.