I hope he does reunite with his faithful cookpot. Why am I so attached to a fictional inanimate object? As I write this I am currently only 50% done with The Blade Itself, and I find myself wondering if he'll ever get it back. I confess, I teared up a little when Logen left behind his faithful, old, cookpot in order to carry Malacus Quai, because it reminded me of that painful, losing Wilson scene from Castaway, except replace Wilson with the cookpot. Malacus Quai is feverish, so Logen has to make a heroic choice. What has Joe Abercrombie done to me that I've become a member of Glokta the torturer's fan club? Help? How can you hate a man whose internal monologue is peppered with gems like 'Why do important people always have to be on the top floor?' and 'How long must we continue this sham of mutual respect?' I have to admit, the way they artistically positioned Glokta's internal monologue in all the panels of his meeting with the Arch Inquisitor is hilarious. It's a testament to Joe Abercrombie's writing skills that while Glokta is undoubtedly a bastard, he's also possessed of uber-sarcastic wit, which almost everyone likes. The art made me sympathize with him more than the novel did, especially when he finally says 'A man has to have hope, doesn't he?' The Gurkish torturers really did their worst on him over the many years he was held captive - subjecting him to permanent pain, ruining his leg, his back and even his teeth, which people take for granted until you read/see things like this.

Glokta comes out of his dream into his terrible reality. The art is beautiful, and was able to summarize a lot of information in graphic form, staying true to the original book without the reader feeling like we're missing out. This review will focus on how well the graphic novel is able to bring the book to life. Issue 3 of 4 of the graphic novel adaptation of The Blade Itself.

The blade itself goodreads