Reviews with content warning for Murder - Blade of Secrets

A customer pays a blacksmith to make a sword. She makes the sword then doesn't want to give it to the customer. The customer chases her down to get the sword she paid for.

Content Warnings added from Blade of Secrets by Tricia Levenseller - Book Trigger Warnings
Representation: Social Anxiety (main character/narrator)

Content Warnings

beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

So I didn't fall in love with Blade of Secrets.

Let's start with the good stuff first. Levenseller's depiction of the MC Ziva's social anxiety was very, very well done and realistic. I also liked reading about the relationship Ziva had with her sister, and the

slow-burn romance with Kellyn was also developed nicely

.

The main areas which I felt were lacking were mainly to do with worldbuilding and pace. As the novel began, I assumed it to be taking place in some kind of quasi-medieval fantasy setting - a country called Ghadra which is split into territories. But then I kept finding inconsistencies that took me out of the world completely. The really big one I noticed came when Ziva mentioned the term

"boomerang", a term which I believe originated with Indigenous Australians. How would she know this?

. I was also unclear as to what Ziva meant when she referred to the "world", because practically no broader context is given outside of Ghadra.

The pacing was also really weird. There were parts of the novel where not a lot happened, and when the action did take place there was no build-up, no suspense. For me, this meant whenever the characters were under attack by enemies, it took a moment for me to realise that "oh, they're meant to be in danger now."

I also wasn't clear on all aspects of how the magic was supposed to work. I felt Ziva's magic was described in most detail, but other parts seemed pretty vague.

All up, Blade of Secrets had some good, and some not-so-good. I'm not sure yet whether I'll continue with the series, given how this book ended on something of a cliffhanger. But we'll see.

Content Warnings

thecatconstellation's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Overall, I really enjoyed this. I found it to be a quick read. While Ziva’s social anxiety at times can feel overused, it was really nice to read about a character struggling in ways that I have. The main group of 4 characters make a good mix, and I enjoy seeing the relationships develop. I would not call this an “enemies-to-lovers” as I have sometimes seen it called, more of a “ugh he’s gross and selfish to lovers”. I do think the pacing was a bit odd at times, sometimes a bit slow and sometimes a bit fast. But I enjoyed it!

Content Warnings

rinku's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Blade of Secrets was such a disappointment for me. I was so excited to read about a main character with social anxiety, but this was almost all that was there to the story. Especially the fantasy aspects and the storytelling itself felt quite flat.

The general concept of the story was so intriguing: social anxious Ziva is able to forge magical weapons and makes good money selling them. One day, a woman called Kymera makes a commission for a sword that becomes more powerful than any sword Ziva has crafted before. She then overhears what plans Kymera has with the sword and flees with her sister and other travel companions from her. Sadly, that’s about it what is happening in the story besides an insta-lovey romance. The characters seem to have no other goal than fleeing which was bit boring. The book got better after the first half, but it was just not enough for me. There was also one of my least favorite plot twists towards the end when

it’s revealed that random characters are related to each other. At least, this didn’t make Petrik a traitor

My biggest critique with the book is probably the flat and boring world building. At the beginning, I even thought that the story would take place in our regular world because the world building was so simple. This is also caused by the writing style that barely describes something and if it does, th descriptions are often clunky. There’s also too much telling, especially when it comes to the behaviour of characters; one of them is called arrogant but is barely shown as being it.

Like I’ve said, it was very nice to have an MC with social anxiety. Ziva’s struggles because of it were well depicted in my opinion. Sadly, some things about her character were stereotypical, like the fact that she has a dead mom and that she’s not like other girls.

I generally liked the rest of the cast but especially the male characters were so cliché. Of course, the love interest is arrogant, flirty and muscular. Another problem I had with the characters was that they and their conflict were sometimes just annoying; for example, Ziva and her sister always argue about such childish things. One thing I liked though was the causal queerness of the story in some parts.

Blade of Secrets is another book that proves that a good idea doesn’t mean a good execution. I’ll maybe read the second book if my library gets it but otherwise, this series is sadly nothing for me.

Content Warnings

sealbrecht's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

melaniereadsbooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Thank you so much to Fierce Reads for a finished copy of this book!

Ziva is a smithy, working literal magic onto the weapons that she forges for those who can pay across the kingdom. But when she makes an indestructible blade for a warlord and discovers they want to use it for world domination, she has to face her fear of social situations and get help to escape the warlord and keep the blade safe.

I enjoyed the characters that Levenseller built in this book. Ziva was very interesting, and I really loved her sister. I also really liked the premise of this book, the way the magic worked and how few people had it. I loved the interactions with their estranged family and their group of friends.

This book definitely has a found-family dynamic which I loved! I did wish that some of the interactions were described better and that things weren't glossed over so much. I usually don't think this, but I honestly thought this book should have been longer. It cut out a lot of parts that I would have liked to see that would have helped develop the characters more.

I also didn't personally find the description of the panic attacks to be very realistic. Maybe others do, but it seemed to be more focused on depression than anxiety, even though the character clearly has trouble with anxiety. I also would have loved to see more diversity among the characters.

All that said, I will definitely read the sequel when it comes out and I still really enjoy Tricia Levenseller's storytelling!

Pub Date: May 4, 2021

Content Warnings

More...