Stopped reading at 13%.
I might give this another shot at some point, but for now, it actually felt kind of… childish? In one chapter, a character described everyone's personalities like this:
“He sat back in his chair and hunched his brawny shoulders with a frown that said, ‘I am big and manly, and have a quick temper, so I should be treated with respect by everyone.’”
[Brint] licked his lips with an expression at once careful and slightly desperate, an expression which seemed to say, ‘I am not young or poor. I can afford to lose this money. I am every bit as important as the rest of you.’"
There were like four or five character descriptions like that. It seemed so… juvenile. It was just a whole bunch of telling me who every character was, what motivated them, etc.
I know I didn't give it much of a chance, so I might give it another shot. Or I might just jump straight to A Little Hatred. I know The Blade Itself was Abercrombie's first book, so it might not necessarily be his strongest. And if I'm honest, A Little Hatred is the one that really interested me; I just picked up this one for the back story.