The Blade Itself

The First Law trilogy was on my to-read list for years. Literally, I am not kidding, I kept going “I will read you” for YEARS now. At one point I was even holding the book in my hand at a store, but as I was about to move back home from abroad, I wasn't sure it was going to fit into my bags, so I didn't get it.
Now I finally got around reading it and it was AWESOME.

Here we have a huge bunch of countries, the Union. It's quite prosperous, just after the war with the aggressively conquering Gurkish Empire, but right now they are facing a threat from not only the Gurkish people now, but also a newly formed Northern kingdom of barbarians.
We have multiple points of views, namely Logen, a barbarian from the North who is hated by the new king, Jezal, the super popular up and coming, snobbish and egotistic pretty boy, Glokta, the ex-pretty boy, now inquisitor after a horrible time being tortured as a prisoner of war, and Ferro, the ex-slave, now bloodthirsty savage looking for revenge. For some chapters we even follow Logen's old group he got separated from at the beginning and they were delightful as well.

For once an author managed to make it so I like reading all the points of views. Yeah, I am picky like that, I often dislike characters or just don't care and many times I feel that way about the popular, beloved ones. Pissed off many people with disliking their favourites in my day.
Here, though, they all had a place and had something interesting enough about them for me to not get bored. None of them are brilliant people, none are kind and perfect and morally great, they are all imperfect and yes, even shitty in their own individual way. That is what I love. The unique ways we all suck. :D Somehow stories with morally superior protagonists always feel a bit ridiculous and saccharine sweet to me, which greatly diminishes my enjoyment.

The world building was good. Nothing extremely new or unexpectedly original, which is not necessarily an issue, especially when it's already so entertaining. The magical elements are (at the moment) not too much, many things happen because of decisions made in a very human way, familiar conflicts, there is politics, corruption, greed... Sure, fantasy means fantasy elements, but it all feels much more realistic when it's not the only thing pushing the plot forward.
For a novel that was obviously not meant to be touching at this point, these human moments had surprising power sometimes, which was especially interesting, as I'm often not too invested when it's just the first part in a series. I loved the little conversation with the misunderstanding betweenGlokta and West, two of my absolute favourites.
There was some romance, there is always some. I could live without it, but here it wasn't too much, so I guess it was tolerable. Especially with some bromance and personality clashes happening. Those kinds of relationships are always better.

Another thing I found great was the scope. It was somewhere between the ASoIaF madness with a gazillion names and ranks and alliances and beefs, and us only seeing two towns in a world. It didn't feel limited at all, but it's suitable for someone not up for having to remember whose vassal is that dude who showed up in that one scene over dinner where there were 75 people with fantasy names and one line each.
In the sequels things will get more complicated, it's obvious, it is happening, but if it's taken step by step, then there won't be any issue.

One more thing where this book is great; it's dark, but not too dark. Horrible things happen. Glokta is a torturee-turned-torturer, so we can assume he is not going to make people confess through the power of laughter and unicorns. Ferro was a slave, again, not an enviable situation. Logan used to go around with his not-so-merry men, pillaging for fun. Jezal... has to survive living among people he doesn't love as much as he does himself? Okay, maybe not every single one of them are suffering equally, but nasty stuff does happen.
At the same time, it's a very approachable and fun read. The dark parts don't weigh it down at all, the action is fluid, it doesn't depress the reader too much.

As far as fantasy books go, this is a successful one. It's a safe choice in the genre, even if you are not going to be as in love as I am.
I definitely need to pick up the rest of the series.

Have a nice day and I am the law, not just the first one either!