Fantasy/Sci-Fi Lovin' GIVEAWAYS!

"Hah!" he cried, switching suddenly onto the attack, catching his opponent off-balance with a savage cut, sending him stumbling back. The crowd came alive, roaring their support. He jabbed and jabbed again. Broya blocked desperately, all off-balance, reeled backwards, parried on last time then tripped, his arms flailing, short steel flying our of his hand, and pitched out of the circle onto his arse.

There was a wave of laughter, and Jezal could not help but join in. The poor dolt looked quite amusing, knocked on his back with his legs in the air like some sort of turtle.

"Captain Luthar wins!" roared the referee, "two to nothing!" The laughter turned to jeering as Broya rolled over. He looked on the verge of tears, the oaf. Jezal stepped forward and offered his hand, but found himself unable to entirely wipe the smirk off his face. His beaten adversary pointedly ignored his help, pushing himself up from the ground and giving him a look half hating, half hurt.

Jezal shrugged pleasantly, "It's not my fault you're shit."

~Excert from The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

Say one thing about Joe Abercrombie, say he's blunt.

I finally got a chance to read "The Blade Itself," probably one of the most talked about books on the fantasy book review blogs. And once I read a few chapters I began to understand why. It is one of the most interesting fantasy books I have read in a long time. Abercrombie takes a lot of fantasy clichés and tweaks them with more than a little satire.

In many respects "The Blade Itself" is the setup for a trilogy that is to be continued with "Before They are Hanged" and "The Last Argument of Kings." It could be argued that not a whole lot happens in the first book and it is a fact that you will walk away with more questions than answers. But Abercrombie does a masterful job of setting up story lines that will undoubtedly intersect in the near future and his character development is outstanding.

Instead of the noble, self-sacrificing hero, Abercrombie's would be knight-in-shining-armor is a selfish, self satisfied jerk. Jezal dan Luthar (the swordsman in the above excerpt) spends most of his time trying to figure out how to be famous and important without really having to work too hard at it. He's also convinced that his noble blood grants him a natural superiority to the rest of the world and yet finds himself falling in love with a common woman who more or less despises him. By the end of the book he is forced into a joining the traditional band-of-companions seen in so many fantasy books, but in Abercrombie's version, it may be the set-up for Jezal's comeuppance.

Inquisitor Glotka is, by early appearances, the man who could be the villain of the story. Once a proud champion he has been reduced into a terrible cripple after being tortured as a war prisoner. Ironically he later becomes an Inquisitor for the crown and employs many of the methods used to ruin his own body. Glotka's inner dialogue is probably the most fascinating part of this book for me. Looking for a reason to get out of bed everyday and suffer the indignity of existing as a ruined version of himself, he is by turns cynical and realistic, but never self-pitying.

Bayaz, as the First of the Magi, is sort of the requisite mage of the story. And like many we've seen before he can be cranky. But Bayaz is not one of those characters who hides his power or claims weakness once it's been demonstrated. He uses it with a ruthlessness that lets us know he isn't just some kindly magician.

I could go on and on describing characters but you'd be better off buying the book. Sprinkled with political intrigue and short, messy battles, "The Blade Itself" is packed with action for sure, but it's also an amazing work of character development. Abercrombie's characters are profane, complex and never boring--which is exactly how I would describe the book.

A few reviewers have compared Abercrombie's work with David Eddings but I think the comparison could be misleading. There's maybe a little of Eddings' fantasy formula in "The Blade Itself" but I think it's intentional. Abercrombie does have a way of giving us satisfying characters to read about but they're not the one-dimentional characterizations I think Eddings can produce. Abercrombie's people are not precious and they're not predictable and neither is "The Blade Itself," which is just the way I like it.

The Fantasy Book Critic also did an interview with Abercrombie (if you're interested in the book or the author it's a must read) and Abercrombie describes what he was aiming for when writing "The Blade Itself" and gives us an idea of what to expect in the next two books. I am now on pins and needles to read "Before They are Hanged" because I expect to learn a whole lot more about what is really going on and because the 'group-of-adventurers' will be heading out on their mysterious quest and I seriously doubt they're going to get along.

I finally have a rival for "The Name of the Wind" as my favorite book of the year.