The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie has just come out in the US. I was wondering if anyone's read it yet and what their impressions were.
Over in England, Abercrombie seems to be doing pretty well. And according to a bunch of reviewers here in the USA, he, along with Scott Lynch (The Lies of Locke Lamora), Pat Rothfuss (The Name of the Wind), and Naomi Novik(Temeraire/His Majesty's Dragon), is supposed to be one of the great new fantasy voices from the past couple years. Now, I really like Lynch and Rothfuss and Novik, but blurbs on the cover of the godawful The Fifth Sorceress comparing Newcomb to Martin got me to pick up one of the worst books I ever read. So now I'm cautious about comparisons. Outside of reviews, I'm looking for word of mouth. Anyone read this, and if so, is it any good?