Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Five Broken Blades

Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland

49 reviews

valegn1210's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Content Warnings

lydiazwag's review against another edition

2.75

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Didn't care about the character's at all. Basically an adult version of six of crows but nowhere near as good.

Content Warnings

hazza29's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

It can be gruesome, but not beyond what is typical of the fantasy genre. Criticisms of this book that I’ve seen I think aren’t taking into account both the historical prevalence of sexism both in real life and in the genre, and also fail to grasp it as a direct commentary on both as well as a pertinent narrative device. I will also say that the first person POV may have bothered me more if I hadn’t listened to the audiobook, but there are six different distinct voices narrating and so it was very clear who was in charge of the story at all times.

Content Warnings

lattepixie's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

This started out really slow up until the point (a little over halfway) when more than the individual pairings of characters actually meet. Then it picked up a lot and the end was honestly a bit mind blowing.

Content Warnings

chiggins1213's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-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: Complicated

Content Warnings

helenleone's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

alisaur's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

First, it's impressive that they managed to get six audiobook narrators to come together in a seamless story (when it works, you hardly notice it, but when it doesn't work... I'm thinking of some of the choppy and awkward graphic audios, you know?). Second, I'm ridiculously pleased that all six narrators were Asian American actors. It must have been a choice, and I am thankful for whoever on the team made that choice and then carried it through.

In a story that has so many povs, a well done multicast narration can help bring out the distinct energy and personality for each character and nuances between their interactions, even when sometimes you think the writing may beabitlackinginplaces,sorry.

The narrators' performances really carried this for me, and I will be listening to the rest of the series on audio 🎧

Content Warnings

alisaur's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I listened to this over a very distracted vacation, and then read the book with my eyes to see if I found any differences in my own comprehension, retention, and overall impressions. I would give the written book a 3 and the audiobook a 4. The multicast narration really brought depth and character to the voices, and I would recommend listening over reading with your eyes for this book (and likely for the rest of the series.)

The story is entertaining and not a bad balance of multiple-pov storytelling. And I am engaged in the plot enough to want to read on. But the reviews are right when they all provide caveats related to "constant telling and not showing" (Booklist), and "underdeveloped" prose (Kirkus). The writing choices jumped out at me sometimes to distraction when I was reading the physical book (and I found them more forgiving when processing the same passages as audio).

Content Warnings