The blade itself had me hooked by the first page nay the second paragraph. I’m this close ( you can’t see what my fingers are doing) to rereading this book. Is there a plot peaking here and there? YES, is there cool mysterious things happening? YES. But above all this book is character driven. The characters are so well rounded, funny, scary, jaded, pretentious and relatable! The world of The Blade itself isn’t a new concept if you’ve read Game of Thrones or the icon Lord of the Rings you’ll find yourself in a DeJa’Vu trance. Joe Abrecrombie unabashedly accepts the influence those major writers had on his own work. Joe borrowed just a tad and ran with it hahahaha this is in no way belittling Joe's work. When it comes to grim dark Joes your guy. The scope of the world is contained.... for now. The main objective to this book was to set-up the trilogy and to indulge the readers with well written morally grey characters. I don't have a clear vison of what is to come but I can