Reading The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie is like playing the first few hours of a role playing video game like the Final Fantasy and Dragon Age series . The novel has a 'gathering your party' feel to it as key characters are introduced. These characters find themselves working together in three separate groups, by the end of the novel. Nobleman Captain Jezal dan Luthar is an excellent fencer training for an upcoming tournament. Inquisitor Sand dan Glokta is a cripple and torturer, a shadow of the fencing champion and decorated soldier he once was. Logen Ninefingers, one of the fiercest barbarians of the north, finds himself defeated and alone he and his friends are ambushed by the humanoid Shanka. These are only three of many characters whose lives will change as the Union faces war on two fronts--from Bethod's army in the north and the Gurkish Empire in the south--and as their fates intertwine for better or for worse. What I liked: Inquis
So many books, so little time.