The Blade Itself – The Review

Not a film review before you ask. To my knowledge there is no such film, though feel free to correct me if I am wrong. No, this is the book by Joe Abercrombie. I’ve only listened to the first three chapters (yeah it’s an audiobook, courtesy of Audible.com :)) and they are truly fantastic. Joe Abercrombie writes in a way that keeps you hooked and his characters are written so well that you can’t help but like them, even if they seem quite unpleasant (Inquisitor Glokta, I’m looking at you). And that’s not even the best thing. The best thing is the guy that reads it.

Steven Pacey. OK so when he started talking I was taken aback by his, well, voice. Not at all what I expected. He made me chuckle in the right places as he read and I was drawn into the book immediately. Then he started doing the voices. A lot of people can’t do voices when they read to people (I’m one of them, my American accent has gone down hill since Secondary school, along with my Scottish and Australian. I can do an OK Welsh accent though), but Steven Pacey  hits the mark every time. When he did his Glokta voice it was Glokta speaking, not Steven Pacey. It was better than anything I could hear in my head whilst reading a book and far more amusing at times.

I for one highly recommend this book, audio or otherwise (though you don’t get Steven Pacey with the regular book), and I can’t wait to start listening again!

~ by Jess on February 15, 2011.