Joe Abercrombie's The Blade Itself

[Shade]

I have a question for those of you who've read this book/series:

I'm about 250 pages into this book and nothing has happened. I see no sign of a major plot.

Before I invest much more time, can someone confirm that eventually there is a plot?

The book is really well-reviewed, but so far, I'm not seeing any indication why. The character development has been OK thus far, but I've got a stack of worthy books awaiting my attentions if this one isn't going to pick up.

Thanks!

 

[WayneLigon]

It does have a plot, and I'm not exactly sure what you're not seeing by that point. There are a lot of characters and it takes time to explore each one while braiding them into the main plots.

My recomendation hinges on how you feel about happy endings because I'll tell you right now there ain't one. You see some hints of it in the front part of book two but it's not until the last quarter of book three that everything unravels and things you thought were true are not and things you thought were going to happen, do not. People change (or actually reveal who they were all along) but the characterization stays consistant. I'll buffer that with: it still has some great characterization and there are innumerable things to steal for gaming, especially for political ones.

One review I saw says it best: Not a happy ending, but a realistic one.

 

[Shade]

Thanks.

I'm fine with an unhappy ending. The only hints of a plot I've seen so far...

Spoiler

Glotka tortures merchants' guild to defraud them.

Bethod is attacking Angland.

Bayaz refuses to serve Bethod, brings Logen along as muscle.

Jezal is a whiny noble with no real purpose (yet).

 

[The Human Target]

Heh, I'm probably 50 pages behind you and was wondering the same thing myself. I'm still enjoying the book, but I honestly couldn't say what its about other than 3 guys living their lives with a possible war brewing.

 

[The Human Target]

So I finished this the other night, and I ended up liking the book a lot. But other than the war in the North and the South, and maybe a banking conspiracy I'm not sure where its headed. It doesn't seem like there is a fantasy metaplot.

 

[Shade]

It did get much better in the final third or quarter of the book. I'll probably continue with the second eventually, but I'm in no great rush.

As for my suspected metaplot:

Spoiler

The ending seemed to hint at a group of elder beings that had warred in the past to determine the use of magic in the world, and it seems that one of them has "upset the balance" with the creation of the Eaters. It reminded me a bit of the Jacob/"Dark Jacob" element of Lost, so that alone keeps me interested in the series.

 

[Abe.ebA]

Maybe it's just me but, despite loving the hell out of the series, I didn't think that there really was much of a metaplot.

I mean, it does exist. I'd say that there's between one and four of them, some of which don't get resolved, depending on how you count it, but unlike something like Wheel of Time where the metaplot is the driving force, it's not really important to The First Law.

The story here is the people. Glokta's arc never really even gets tied into the other characters. Things happen that are important to both groups, but his story is pretty much his alone for the entire trilogy. If you're not interested enough in Glokta, Ninefingers, and the rest by the end of book one that you want to read book two just to see what happens to them then it may not be worth reading the rest of the series.

 

[Gregor]

I felt the same way when I started reading the first book in the series, I really did not think that anything was happening in terms of plot. However, after finishing the second book, I soon realized, and then learned to really enjoy, that the book is all about the development of the characters. Don't get me wrong, the second book contains alot more action and adventuring, but it is still driven by the overarching theme of character progress and development.