The Blade Itself

Ecstatic About Fantasy

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Author, editor and blogger Jeff Vandermeer offers a round-robin interview of four new faces in fantasy on the Amazon Editor’s Blog, Omnivoracious. In Heroic Fantasy Part I, he talks with our own Joe Abercrombie, author of The Blade Itself,as well as new writers Karen Miller, Brian Ruckley, and Brandon Sanderson. Additional interview material, which didn’t make it into the Amazon Blog, is available on Jeff’s website, Ecstatic Days.

Joe says: “I try to write fantasy…with all the grit, and cruelty, and humour of real life, where good and evil are a matter of where you stand, just like in the real world.”

Update 10/26/07: Jeff informs me that Heroic Fantasy Part II is now online. Here is Joe Abercrombie on his literary influences: “Off the top of my head and trying not to get too pretentious–Charles Dickens (for weird and wonderful characters and dialogue), Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn (for how people really behave under pressure), James Ellroy (for shocks and surprises in both plot and character), Philip Larkin (for fearlessness, brevity, and withering cynicism). Okay, so that was pretty pretentious, but hey, I’d stick J.R.R. Tolkien, Ursula K. Le Guin, Michael Moorcock, and George RR Martin in there with ’em. That’s quite a dinner party, thinking about it. Then a lot of writers of history as well–let’s pick out Shelby Foote for his Narrative History of the Civil War. But I’m a film editor by trade, and so I tend to find a lot of inspiration in film and television as well–everything from Manga, to Westerns, to Film Noir, to Cop Shows.”

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Killswitch & The Blade Itself: Come for the Battles, Stay for the Characters

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Two more great Pyr reviews in my in-box this morning.

Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist says that Joel Shepherd’s third and finale (for now) Cassandra Kresnov novel, Killswitch,is “yet another intelligent, action-packed and kick-ass scifi thriller!” Patrick says the book is “highly recommended” and explains that, “The characterization is probably my favorite aspect of this trilogy. Cassandra’s moral awakening has been a fascinating facet to follow thus far, and I like how the author raises a number of philosophical issues through her character. Those moments are interwoven almost seamlessly into the plotlines, which is no small feat.”

Overall, he finds the book, “A remarkable blend of political thriller and thrilling science fiction adventure… an exciting closing chapter to a terrific series. Shepherd brings the story to a satisfying ending, though the door is left open for possible sequels…Readers who relish strong female characters, complex storylines, and incredible action and battle scenes should give this trilogy a shot. Chances are they won’t be disappointed!”

Meanwhile, Fantasy & Sci-Fi Lovin’ Book Reviews weighs in on Joe Abercrombie’s debut fantasy, The Blade Itself.” 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…“

And, in something that made me smile, they add, “I finally have a rival for The Name of the Wind as my favorite book of the year.”

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Isn’t It Romantic: The Blade Itself in RT

Joe Abercrombie’s The Blade Itself,as reviewed in Romantic Times magazine, October 2007:

“Abercrombie kicks off his series masterfully with a heroic fantasy without conventional heroes. Its clearly the characters that take center stage here. Their dialogue is full of cynicism and wit, their lives full of intrigue, battles and magic.”

Also awarded 4 ½ stars and defined as “Fantastic — Keeper.” Sweet.

Meanwhile, a Reader Review on SFFWorld, from PapaJ, which describes the book as “tight, character driven and with characters that are ‘believable’ and ones that I could identify with easily, yet complex and mysterious. The universe feels expansive yet is without the fluff of detail that bogs down many fantasy novels… All round well balanced, tight, quality fantasy fiction.”

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Interview: Joe Abercrombie

Joe Abercrombie is interviewed today on Fantasy Book Critic. They talk about The Blade Itself, the whole of the First Law trilogy and beyond, movies, books, video games and much more. Many words of wisdom and mirth.

Words of wisdom: “What’s more important to you? Your family and friends or your house? One’s your life. The other’s the setting for it. That’s a no contest in my book. Worldbuilding’s great, in its place, I just don’t feel that it should ever cramp the characters or the story. It should always be revealed in passing, as the background for the action, never be the focus of anything.”

Words of mirth: “You’ve got to change and develop, even if that’s going to mean some wrong steps along the way. But never say never. Dead horse flogging can be a surprisingly profitable business and daddy needs a swimming pool…”

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The Blade Itself – Frustratingly Good

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Rob H. Bedford’s latest review on SFFWorld is up. This time, he proclaims his “frustration” with Joe Abercrombie’s The Blade Itself. “Abercrombie is a damned frustrating writer. He writes so well and his story is so infectious it is difficult to stop reading and even thinking about the layers of his story and world.”

Very gratifying to me are the comparisons with George R R Martin, Greg Keyes, and Scott Lynch. “The novel bears some comparison to Greg Keyes Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone and Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire for the multiple points-of-view and aforementioned wide screen action…” and “One thing I like a lot about Abercrombie’s writing was something I enjoyed about Scott Lynch’s writing – attitude.“

I’ve never read GRRM’s fantasy (I know, I know), but Keyes’ The Briar Kingis a favorite of mine as well as a yardstick for quality, whereas I picked up the Lynch when I was considering The Blade Itself specifically because I knew that Gollancz had marketed them together in the UK and I wanted to see how they compared. (I found them tonally very similar, which was one of the many data points that encouraged me to pick up Abercrombie.) So yeah, Rob, couldn’t agree more!

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A Realistic Assessment of The Blade Itself

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Grasping for the Wind chimes in on Joe Abercrombie’s debut fantasy epic, The Blade Itself (The First Law: Book One).They key off barbarian warrior Logen Ninefinger’s catch phrase, “You have to be realistic about these things,” noting the various elements of our own history woven into Abercrombie’s fantasy setting. (For my money, the novel also weaves aspects of Tolkien and Arthurian mythos together quite expertly.)

They say that Abercrombie is “a skilled writer whose clever turns of phrase are darkly funny… Each character’s motivations are different but compelling, and the fight scenes are impressively described.” Finally, they conclude, “The story is wickedly funny, the fight scenes memorable, and the characters fascinating. Nothing in this novel is as it seems, and Abercrombie’s contribution to the genre is sure to endure.”

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Various and Sundry

Great Publishers Weekly review for Joel Shepherd’s forthcoming Killswitch, the third and final (?) book in the Cassandra Kresnov series. PW loves the book, which they describe as, “Robert Ludlum meets Elizabeth Moon in this classic military SF adventure, buoyed by Shepherd’s knack for balancing crisp action with characters you can really root for.”

Nothing to argue with there, right?

Meanwhile, Fantasy Book Critic proclaims that “not only was The Blade Itselfbetter than I could have hoped for, but I find it hard to imagine anyone not liking this fantasy extravaganza…” Most appreciated are the comparisons to Glen Cook, Scott Lynch & Steven Erikson, as is the sentiment that, with it’s traditional quest set up, Abercrombie’s book is “simultaneously an homage to fantasy of old, a satirical riff on clichés common within the genre, and a contemporary revision.”

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They’re Here! Blade and River!

Ian McDonald’s Hugo and Clarke nominated River of Gods is now out in trade paperback. It’ll be in stores in early September, and is already listed as in stock at Amazon.com.

What’s more, Joe Abercrombie’s extraordinary fantasy debut The Blade Itself is also out. I just got my copies day before yesterday. Like River of Gods, its also on Amazon already. And Blood, Blade & Thruster magazine just posted this tremendous review. They introduce The Blade Itself in this manner: “Desperately in need of some genre fiction with character driven plot, plenty of violence, and strong anti-hero protagonists, but tired of waiting for George R. R. Martin to finish his epic Game of Thrones series?” Which is as nice an intro as I could ask for.

Reviewer Lucien Spelman goes on to say that Joe’s novel is “a fantasy novel full of enough ironic and slightly self-deprecating humor and Scorcese–esque violence to make the average hipper than thou non-fantasy reader want to learn more about the genre (my favorite kind to convert), yet filled with enough touchstones to make your average Tolkien weaned fantasy reader quite happy indeed.”

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