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3.21 AVERAGE
3.21 AVERAGE
Strong 3 and a half, almost 4 stars. Story building was good, character, strong and interesting. Looking forward to reading the others in the series.
Eeeeh. I'm the bestest super strong girl but I am shit with emotion thing starts to get old. Not bad, but not awesome either.
There are some interesting world-building ideas in here, and I quite like the two main characters, but the plot feels more like "a bunch of stuff that happens" than a real story, and there's at least one instance of cheap misdirection. Don't give me omniscient narration that turns out to be lie twenty pages later, especially when the truth was always more interesting anyway.
Meh.
I have conflicted feelings about this book. On the one hand, I think it does some things really well, like changing some tropes that are seen in all YA books. But on the other hand, there were still a lot of clichés and the protagonist was insufferable. And though I haven't read Throne of Glass, as I understand, it is very similar to it.
Things I liked about this book:
- It inverted the bad boy / good girl trope. Here, the strong character that took all the decisions and led the action was Sara, the main protagonist. Her friend Ezekiel was a nerdy and clumsy scholar with no fighting skills and a love for books (and apparently strange and misundrestood animals?). He's like a cheap copy of Newt Scammander, but less brave.
- There was no romance (for now). Though we see Sara and Ezekiel relationship evolve through the book, and how they care about each other, there's no hint of romance beyond their friendship.
Things I hated about this book:
- Essentially Sara. She was a failed attempt at making a strong, independent female protagonist; she was annoyingly perfect and absurdly conceited.
- Lots of typos and sentences that didn't make sense. For example:
- The fighting scenes: they were boring repetitions of the same moves.
- The part when they had to guard Cormar's artefacts room was sooo boring. People kept coming in to try and steal things and Sara would beat their asses and they would go back to guard the things.
I have conflicted feelings about this book. On the one hand, I think it does some things really well, like changing some tropes that are seen in all YA books. But on the other hand, there were still a lot of clichés and the protagonist was insufferable. And though I haven't read Throne of Glass, as I understand, it is very similar to it.
Things I liked about this book:
Spoiler
- It inverted the bad boy / good girl trope. Here, the strong character that took all the decisions and led the action was Sara, the main protagonist. Her friend Ezekiel was a nerdy and clumsy scholar with no fighting skills and a love for books (and apparently strange and misundrestood animals?). He's like a cheap copy of Newt Scammander, but less brave.
- There was no romance (for now). Though we see Sara and Ezekiel relationship evolve through the book, and how they care about each other, there's no hint of romance beyond their friendship.
Things I hated about this book:
Spoiler
- Essentially Sara. She was a failed attempt at making a strong, independent female protagonist; she was annoyingly perfect and absurdly conceited.
- Lots of typos and sentences that didn't make sense. For example:
the magic flowed out of her reach with each breathe
- The fighting scenes: they were boring repetitions of the same moves.
- The part when they had to guard Cormar's artefacts room was sooo boring. People kept coming in to try and steal things and Sara would beat their asses and they would go back to guard the things.
I bought an ecopy of this book last year, when it was released, and it's been on my TBR shelf for a while. When I found out I won an audible copy of it, I decided to download it to my kindle. Maybe it's the kid in me, but I enjoy reading along with someone. So this is both the audible and ebook review.
Seeing a women, Sara, taking the roll of protector was something I enjoyed. Not only was she strong, but she was also quite smart. With this being a YA story, I felt she was a good influence on young women. I'd also like it known that Ezekiel is already my favorite, and I'd be very upset if anything were to happen to him.
I really liked the narrator of the audiobook, Sylvia Roldn Dohi. I felt she did a great job getting into each of the characters. I was quite impressed with her performance and would be interested in listening to more stories narrated by her.
I look forward to reading the next book!
4/5 Platypires
http://www.platypire.com/j-hooligan/blades-of-magic-by-terah-edun
Seeing a women, Sara, taking the roll of protector was something I enjoyed. Not only was she strong, but she was also quite smart. With this being a YA story, I felt she was a good influence on young women. I'd also like it known that Ezekiel is already my favorite, and I'd be very upset if anything were to happen to him.
I really liked the narrator of the audiobook, Sylvia Roldn Dohi. I felt she did a great job getting into each of the characters. I was quite impressed with her performance and would be interested in listening to more stories narrated by her.
I look forward to reading the next book!
4/5 Platypires
http://www.platypire.com/j-hooligan/blades-of-magic-by-terah-edun
Was this book ever edited? (Kindle version) The whole story lacked a singular plot (where's the ending?), the characters are flat, the action boring, and the whole thing was trying to be something it wasn't. Also there were too many writing flaws (including technical), word choice fails, and dialogue problems. This is supposed to be a YA fantasy, but I got new adult feels and the language/jargon was modern that it felt like it was some sort of fantasy world, but during our modern times - I know even that is difficult to understand 'cause that's how lost I was. Just avoid this book altogether.
If I had to choose one word to sum this up, I'd probably have to go with 'meh'. It was well enough, I suppose, for an easy, I-don't-have-to-think-at-all kind of read, but I was a bit insulted as to how much I DIDN'T have to think. I felt like I was being led by the hand through the Not So Wild Land Of Fantasy Tropes:
Talented, unbeatable super badass heroine- check
Insta-friendship with an odd but hidden talented male lead-check
A troubled past and a father to avenge- double check.
I can overlook tropes. Indeed, I frequently like tropes. But unfortunately for this, the story didn't even feel like it was happening in a place that was real. The dialogue switched from antiquated to slangy, the magic was subject to haphazard rules, and the world building was subpar; I felt like history of these characters and their world was being made up in the same way that you would make up a child's bedtime story. You know, throwing in random details to explain what was going on just to keep the kids listening from asking too many questions.
All told, this will never be my favorite. But if I ever make my way through my ever increasing stack of new books and find myself needing something to read, I'd not be wholly opposed to continuing the series.
Talented, unbeatable super badass heroine- check
Insta-friendship with an odd but hidden talented male lead-check
A troubled past and a father to avenge- double check.
I can overlook tropes. Indeed, I frequently like tropes. But unfortunately for this, the story didn't even feel like it was happening in a place that was real. The dialogue switched from antiquated to slangy, the magic was subject to haphazard rules, and the world building was subpar; I felt like history of these characters and their world was being made up in the same way that you would make up a child's bedtime story. You know, throwing in random details to explain what was going on just to keep the kids listening from asking too many questions.
All told, this will never be my favorite. But if I ever make my way through my ever increasing stack of new books and find myself needing something to read, I'd not be wholly opposed to continuing the series.
3.5 stars, solid first installment to a new fantasy series featuring magic and intrigue.
Blades of Magic follows Sara Fairchild, daughter of disgraced former gladiator and Commander for the Empress Vincent Fairchild. It's been months since her father was labeled a deserter and executed, but Sara and her mother never really were told why. After uncovering the mystery surrounding her father's death extends beyond the military's willingness to disclose the circumstances, she joins the mercenaries and goes to the frontlines of battle in the hopes of answers... but of course finds more than she bargained for.
Sara is the epitome of a strong female character, although her pride certainly gets in the way.I really like that (at least in this installment, I haven't read the second book in the series) there isn't a love interest... at all. It is sadly refreshing.
The reason that I rated the book 3.5 stars instead of four stars is solely due to the structure of the story. This is a fast read, but there are a few points in the book where I lost interest and skimmed for a couple of pages until my interest was regained. But my main issue with the book is that the world-building and exposition was left to the last 20% of the book and it felt rather unbalanced. I wish that there had been more world-building throughout (for example, not waiting until page 260 to finally explain what was going on with the civil war that had been mentioned multiple times throughout the book). I love character driven books, but I am equally interested in an understanding of the world that those characters inhabit - the politics, the war - especially when those things are crucial to the overall plot of the series.
Those that have read Edun's Courtlight series will notice a drastic improvement in the writing and editing of this book comparatively. This book is technically well written and edited well and has the air of a professionally written and edited book. Edun has the creativity to weave an interesting tale, and she is starting to come into her own as she continues to develop as a writer.
I'd recommend this book to those interested in strong female characters, battles, magic, and the intrigue of uncovering a family secret. This book is the first in a series but does not end in a cliffhanger. It is currently on sale for free on Amazon kindle.
Blades of Magic follows Sara Fairchild, daughter of disgraced former gladiator and Commander for the Empress Vincent Fairchild. It's been months since her father was labeled a deserter and executed, but Sara and her mother never really were told why. After uncovering the mystery surrounding her father's death extends beyond the military's willingness to disclose the circumstances, she joins the mercenaries and goes to the frontlines of battle in the hopes of answers... but of course finds more than she bargained for.
Sara is the epitome of a strong female character, although her pride certainly gets in the way.
The reason that I rated the book 3.5 stars instead of four stars is solely due to the structure of the story. This is a fast read, but there are a few points in the book where I lost interest and skimmed for a couple of pages until my interest was regained. But my main issue with the book is that the world-building and exposition was left to the last 20% of the book and it felt rather unbalanced. I wish that there had been more world-building throughout (for example, not waiting until page 260 to finally explain what was going on with the civil war that had been mentioned multiple times throughout the book). I love character driven books, but I am equally interested in an understanding of the world that those characters inhabit - the politics, the war - especially when those things are crucial to the overall plot of the series.
Those that have read Edun's Courtlight series will notice a drastic improvement in the writing and editing of this book comparatively. This book is technically well written and edited well and has the air of a professionally written and edited book. Edun has the creativity to weave an interesting tale, and she is starting to come into her own as she continues to develop as a writer.
I'd recommend this book to those interested in strong female characters, battles, magic, and the intrigue of uncovering a family secret. This book is the first in a series but does not end in a cliffhanger. It is currently on sale for free on Amazon kindle.
Blades of Magic started off pretty well - with a warrior with a rare power skills in a kingdom that has mages (mostly elemental) and a drive to find out how her father had been executed. Sara has battle magic, which makes her a perfect warrior, if only she can rein in her power so that she doesn't go berserk. She is, however, due to the dishonor of her family, forbidden from being one, despite a lot of training since childhood. That doesn't stop her, however, from taking revenge and hoping to restore the family honor.
Sara's path through the book is very convoluted and the plot feels like it is going in a thousand different directions. New things are brought up constantly, and though I would consider it usual for a first novel, there is no central arc to the book. It is like a hundred discrete plot threads that have started and not even one of them is resolved, not even a minor one. Things keep being introduced even towards the end, and it left me with a feeling that nothing of note happened during the book. The problem here wasn't that the author was trying to write an epic fantasy with a single character POV, it is also that the plot was essentially not there. This format probably wouldn't have suited it - the storytelling style would have preferable as a graphic novel - the serialization like style to the story and the open plot threads are more a characteristic of manga.
The narrator was decent and easy enough to follow, but cross-gender voices (as in, male voices from a female narrator) came out weird. There are also a lot of characters in here, and the voice range does accommodate to include various accents - although, I should mention, I don't see why they were given different accents when they were from the same city. Nevertheless, it was easy enough to read this on audio and I consider the narration satisfactory.
Overall, I would say it has promising writing but the story needs focus and direction.
Sara's path through the book is very convoluted and the plot feels like it is going in a thousand different directions. New things are brought up constantly, and though I would consider it usual for a first novel, there is no central arc to the book. It is like a hundred discrete plot threads that have started and not even one of them is resolved, not even a minor one. Things keep being introduced even towards the end, and it left me with a feeling that nothing of note happened during the book. The problem here wasn't that the author was trying to write an epic fantasy with a single character POV, it is also that the plot was essentially not there. This format probably wouldn't have suited it - the storytelling style would have preferable as a graphic novel - the serialization like style to the story and the open plot threads are more a characteristic of manga.
The narrator was decent and easy enough to follow, but cross-gender voices (as in, male voices from a female narrator) came out weird. There are also a lot of characters in here, and the voice range does accommodate to include various accents - although, I should mention, I don't see why they were given different accents when they were from the same city. Nevertheless, it was easy enough to read this on audio and I consider the narration satisfactory.
Overall, I would say it has promising writing but the story needs focus and direction.