Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

A Broken Blade (The Halfling Saga Book 1) by Melissa Blair

41 reviews

cryosphinx's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

 I did go into this not knowing much about it other than it was a debut from a First Nation author. When I started this, I wasn't sure if it was going to grab me. It took about around 100 pages for things to really start flowing but once it did, I started to really, REALLY enjoy this. The foreshadow was a bit too 'hey, look at this twist that's coming' so it was predictable. Keera is definitely the highlight of this book, being a bad ass but flawed FMC who has multiple struggles to work through and the back and forth with Riven is a delight. And there are parts that are so heart wrenching that i had to sit the book down and process it (Looking at you Ch. 25).

I can see why some people may not like this since it's a fairly trope heavy book. The author thanks BookTok and it does gear it towards that type of 'tell me the tropes' writing. My biggest complaint was about half way through the book I was over being reminded that Halfings had their ears altered. Very repetitive reminder to the readers to see it mentioned over and over. While there was a lot more political intrigue than I anticipated which I love as a trope, I feel like the colonialism could have been a bigger aspect. I hope the next books continue to talk about it but bring in more to the forefront.

But when I hit the 75% mark I immediately ordered the next one and pre-ordered 3 so I clearly enjoyed it. Give me tropey fantasy and I will devour it.





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readbynany's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

This the kind of book that white straight people would complain about on booktok 😭😭. The writing and story was impeccable and captivating, only thing I had trouble following was fight or action scenes. 
The fmc is bi and the mmc is a moc! 

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whatkireads's review against another edition

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

3.5

3.5⭐️
I don't know how to feel about this book because in the beginning, the main character threw me off.

 I didn't really like that she was wallowing so much, like girl how are you an assassin an also a drunkard at the same time?? but maybe I just haven't wrapped my head around flawed fmcs just yet. It was slow, and then suddenly I find myself staying up late to read and picking this up first thing in the morning to read for 3 hours straight. The "romance" here feels a bit rushed, it went from him hating her guts and barely trusting her to oh she broke her bones so I love her now, like the shift was a bit drastic. I didn't like how she just caved into it either, would have been nice to see more tension developed. The ending was...a little unexpected I can't say I saw that coming but it's also somewhat of a rushed ending too? It's a trilogy that has time to be adapted so it's fine but I did enjoy the book at the end of the day so can't wait to read the next few ones 🫶

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rogueaelin's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced

5.0


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ambersf's review against another edition

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

3.5


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triple_m's review against another edition

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

4.25

Really interesting world building and characters.

I love Keera as a character but I did get pretty over how much of a “bad ass” she is haha. Like yes she’s otherworldly tough—I get it. I did however love how flawed she is as a character and seeing how her forced assassin servitude weighs on her. 

It was disheartening to see Riven constantly trying to find ways to distrust her, but I get it. Overall the romance was fine. Not my favorite couple but I didn’t dislike it either.

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trippyotter's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • 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

4.0

Throughout the book, I teetered with my rated and settled on 4 stars for the treachery. 

Everyone has an agenda and will do just about anything to achieve their goals, including our heroine. 

Though many of their goals align, will they be ready for the truth of their actions and how they impact one another?

And I have to say, like many others, I'm not sure about the love interest. I kinda want it to be someone else, so we'll see how it all comes together in the end. 

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moodreadererin's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

A Broken Blade follows Keera , the king's blade . She is given a mission to find the new enemy of the crown: the shadow . We go on this journal with her find the shadow and everything that precedes/follows . This is a story of addiction , loss , love , revenge , and violence . 

Things I liked :

-enemies to lovers execution was fantastic 

- one bed trope

-bipoc representation 

- exploration of loss , addiction, recovery in face of violence . 

-found family 

Things I didn't like :

- the pacing was slower than I liked . I didn't like it until the end /last part of the book.

With that said , I still recommend this book. I am looking forward to the sequel .

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camillesevian's review against another edition

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It’s well written, but Dark Fae are just too tedious 

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lqvekanej's review against another edition

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

4.25


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