Joe Abercrombie - The Blade Itself (First Law Trilogy Book 1)

A relatively unknown book. But i was deeply impressed by the writing style, it's dark, it's gritty but can also be really funny at times.
It has a huge variety of different characters, there are witty inqusitors, battle-proven northmen and spoiled younglings.

And Joe Abercrombie makes it work beautifully. Every character perspective is a good read, there are no boring chapters. It's really hard to pick a favorite since all characters are just awesome. 

It's hard to say something about the magic system since not much is explained to the reader, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. What we know about it makes it seem pretty standard although there are some special elements.

The world is beautifully built the cities are well described and you have a definitive image of them if you read the book.

Character developement is one of the greatest things in the book. Every single character has a certain kind of developement. Some of them unexpected some of them expected but all of them help to engage the reader even more.

If you like dark fantasy, black humor and great characters this is a must-buy for you!

Synopsis taken from goodread.com:

Logen Ninefingers, infamous barbarian, has finally run out of luck. Caught in one feud too many, he’s on the verge of becoming a dead barbarian – leaving nothing behind him but bad songs, dead friends, and a lot of happy enemies. 

Nobleman, dashing officer, and paragon of selfishness, Captain Jezal dan Luthar has nothing more dangerous in mind than fleecing his friends at cards and dreaming of glory in the fencing circle. But war is brewing, and on the battlefields of the frozen North they fight by altogether bloodier rules. 

Inquisitor Glokta, cripple turned torturer, would like nothing better than to see Jezal come home in a box. But then Glokta hates everyone: cutting treason out of the Union one confession at a time leaves little room for friendship. His latest trail of corpses may lead him right to the rotten heart of government, if he can stay alive long enough to follow it. 

Enter the wizard, Bayaz. A bald old man with a terrible temper and a pathetic assistant, he could be the First of the Magi, he could be a spectacular fraud, but whatever he is, he's about to make the lives of Logen, Jezal, and Glotka a whole lot more difficult. 

Murderous conspiracies rise to the surface, old scores are ready to be settled, and the line between hero and villain is sharp enough to draw blood. Unpredictable, compelling, wickedly funny, and packed with unforgettable characters, The Blade Itself is noir fantasy with a real cutting edge.