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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Disclaimer: I received this finished copy and e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.
Book: A Broken Blade
Author: Melissa Blair
Book Series: The Halfling Saga Book 1
Rating: 5/5
Spice: 2/5
Diversity: Sapphic couple mentioned, Bisexual MC
Recommended For...: fantasy, LGBT, new adult, romance
Publication Date: August 2, 2022
Genre: Fantasy
Age Relevance: 18+ (racism, violence, gore, alcohol consumption, death, war, sexual assault, colonizing, “blood purity”, cutting, slavery, cursing, romance, alcohol addiction, withdrawal, human trafficking, sexual content)
Explanation of Above: The book has a running theme and allusion to racism and discusses things like colonizing, “blood purity”, slavery, and human trafficking based on ones birth. There is a lot of violence, war, death, and gore in this book, specifically blood, corpses, and vomiting. Alcohol is consumed by the MC and other characters, but the MC is suffering from alcohol addiction and goes through withdrawal in the book. Sexual assault is alluded to but not specifically mentioned or shown. Cutting, specifically cutting names of people the MC murders onto her skin, is shown in the book. There is some cursing. There is some romance and some sexual content with scenes/body parts described in detail.
Publisher: Union Square Co
Pages: 431
Synopsis: Keera is a killer. As the King’s Blade, she is the most talented spy in the kingdom. And the King’s favored assassin. When a mysterious figure called the Shadow starts making moves against the Crown, Keera is forced to hunt the masked menace down.
She crosses into the magical lands of the Fae, trying to discern if her enemy is Mortal, Elf, or a Halfling like her. But the Faeland is not what it seems, and neither is the Shadow. Keera is shocked by what she discovers and can’t help but wonder who her enemy truly is…
The King that destroyed her people? The Prince that tortures them? Or the Shadow that threatens her place at court?
As she searches for answers, Keera is haunted by a promise she made long ago. A promise not only to save herself but an entire kingdom.
Review: I really liked this book! I thought it did so well talking about real life atrocities, such as Indian Boarding Schools, slavery and running away to freedom, and the creation of cops to stop run away slaves. The book focused a lot on the political/humanitarian side of the issues, a lot like Ash Princess, and it did well with the enemies to lovers romance (and there’s even a one bed trope!). Overall, I felt like the character development was well done and the world building was great. The book is very well written and I can’t wait for book 2!
However, I did have issues with the slow pacing of the book overall and I felt like the action build up was super slow as well. There were some time skips as well that I felt didn’t help further the plot. But my biggest issue is that I don’t understand why this book is shelved as young adult fantasy. The MC is 68 years old in the book and there are some graphic sex scenes in the book. There’s also a character in the book who is a teen that the MC sees as a child, which is a great indication of this not being a YA book. While the book could definitely be passed off as NA because the MC says that due to her slow aging, I don’t agree with the YA shelving because it contain NA/adult themes rather than YA.
Verdict: It was great! Highly recommend!
Book: A Broken Blade
Author: Melissa Blair
Book Series: The Halfling Saga Book 1
Rating: 5/5
Spice: 2/5
Diversity: Sapphic couple mentioned, Bisexual MC
Recommended For...: fantasy, LGBT, new adult, romance
Publication Date: August 2, 2022
Genre: Fantasy
Age Relevance: 18+ (racism, violence, gore, alcohol consumption, death, war, sexual assault, colonizing, “blood purity”, cutting, slavery, cursing, romance, alcohol addiction, withdrawal, human trafficking, sexual content)
Explanation of Above: The book has a running theme and allusion to racism and discusses things like colonizing, “blood purity”, slavery, and human trafficking based on ones birth. There is a lot of violence, war, death, and gore in this book, specifically blood, corpses, and vomiting. Alcohol is consumed by the MC and other characters, but the MC is suffering from alcohol addiction and goes through withdrawal in the book. Sexual assault is alluded to but not specifically mentioned or shown. Cutting, specifically cutting names of people the MC murders onto her skin, is shown in the book. There is some cursing. There is some romance and some sexual content with scenes/body parts described in detail.
Publisher: Union Square Co
Pages: 431
Synopsis: Keera is a killer. As the King’s Blade, she is the most talented spy in the kingdom. And the King’s favored assassin. When a mysterious figure called the Shadow starts making moves against the Crown, Keera is forced to hunt the masked menace down.
She crosses into the magical lands of the Fae, trying to discern if her enemy is Mortal, Elf, or a Halfling like her. But the Faeland is not what it seems, and neither is the Shadow. Keera is shocked by what she discovers and can’t help but wonder who her enemy truly is…
The King that destroyed her people? The Prince that tortures them? Or the Shadow that threatens her place at court?
As she searches for answers, Keera is haunted by a promise she made long ago. A promise not only to save herself but an entire kingdom.
Review: I really liked this book! I thought it did so well talking about real life atrocities, such as Indian Boarding Schools, slavery and running away to freedom, and the creation of cops to stop run away slaves. The book focused a lot on the political/humanitarian side of the issues, a lot like Ash Princess, and it did well with the enemies to lovers romance (and there’s even a one bed trope!). Overall, I felt like the character development was well done and the world building was great. The book is very well written and I can’t wait for book 2!
However, I did have issues with the slow pacing of the book overall and I felt like the action build up was super slow as well. There were some time skips as well that I felt didn’t help further the plot. But my biggest issue is that I don’t understand why this book is shelved as young adult fantasy. The MC is 68 years old in the book and there are some graphic sex scenes in the book. There’s also a character in the book who is a teen that the MC sees as a child, which is a great indication of this not being a YA book. While the book could definitely be passed off as NA because the MC says that due to her slow aging, I don’t agree with the YA shelving because it contain NA/adult themes rather than YA.
Verdict: It was great! Highly recommend!
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
bland, unoriginal, painfully predictable, and the themes are practically spoon-fed to the reader
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Had to stop and start this one a few times because I wasn't in the right state of mind for it. The main character has a few trigger warnings attached to her like self-harm and addiction that I had to adjust to before I could get super into it. But in the end, I was super caught up into her journey and growth throughout the story, watching her really grow from her trauma. The ending got me, I am super curious to see where things go from here!
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
I wanted to like this book so much more than I did. I spent way too much of the book confused about the world building and what some of the main characters objectives were. Once I figured it out, it was definitely more enjoyable to read. There were many things that felt copy paste from popular romantasy books, which is unfortunate. I also found it annoying to constantly read about the FMC’s alcoholism and the focus around it. And the “big twist” at the end was rather predictable. The book picked up during the last 1/3 but it was pretty repetitive before that. The spice and one bed trope helped and the FMC was fun to read about once she stopped drinking. I’m not sure if I’ll read the next one or not.
have meant to re-read this whole series since the fourth, and last, book was published this past winter. The third one left me gasping, so I immediately ordered them all and pre-ordered the last one as soon as I finished them in audiobook form. Yet, here I am, just now getting to them.
This first was just as good as I remembered, maybe more so since I was reading a physical copy this time and not listening. I was definitely able to catch more this time around because of that.
Keera is a really dynamic character. There’s a lot of depth with her life and her story. There’s also this great tension playing out because she technically serves the King so she seems untrustworthy. But she opens eyes by flipping the script to show she’s really just enslaved to this life that was chosen for her. It really is such a great, and original story.
This first was just as good as I remembered, maybe more so since I was reading a physical copy this time and not listening. I was definitely able to catch more this time around because of that.
Keera is a really dynamic character. There’s a lot of depth with her life and her story. There’s also this great tension playing out because she technically serves the King so she seems untrustworthy. But she opens eyes by flipping the script to show she’s really just enslaved to this life that was chosen for her. It really is such a great, and original story.