Reviews tagging 'Death'

A Broken Blade by Melissa Blair

59 reviews

chrisb913's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

Please read the trigger warnings.

This was an absolute fantastic read from start to finish. Everything from the character growth and the world building was on point.

We start off the story with Keera, the Blade to the King and leader of his Arsenal. As the story progresses we see Keera struggle not only with her personal flaws but her commitment to the King. The character development of Keera through out the book had me desperate to continue the story.

This story has a little bit of everything. Lots of action, a mystery surrounding what is truly happening in the kingdom, a fantastic slow burn enemies to lovers subplot, and an absolute badass master assassin that is not ONLY a FMC but truly feels as though they have earned that title. Melissa writes Keera in such a way that truly outshines many other popular female lead assassin books out on the market today.

This is the first of the four book saga and i will absolutely be continuing on with this story. The first three books are out now and I HIGHLY recommend you pick this up and give it a try.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Slavery, Alcoholism, Racism, Addiction, Alcohol, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Self harm, and Xenophobia

bergha1998's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

3.75

I was not expecting this book to be so unique, I thought it would just be a Romantasy. But it’s so much more dialogues about racism, addiction, slavery. Very well done and interesting. I’m excited to read the second book. 

Fantasy, Enemies to Lovers, Character Development, 2 🔥

“And still he found beauty in the darkness of it, in my light and my shadows.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Genocide, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Alcohol, Classism, Grief, Racism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, Addiction, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual content and Sexual assault

rachelfayreads's review

adventurous dark 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Alcoholism, Death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Colonisation

Moderate: Trafficking, Addiction, Torture, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, and Kidnapping

ruthannejoy's review against another edition

The violence just was too much for me. Torturing and killing good people is not something I'm down to read about right now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Torture, Xenophobia, and Murder

Moderate: Genocide

Minor: Child death

elskede's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Vomit, Racism, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Violence, Murder, and Death

anntharai's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

I do wonder if this book is a victim of its own hype. I was hesitant to read at first due to the hype around itd then when it came up available on my library app I thought it had been long enough but I still found myself with expectations. It was fine. I'm not sure if it felt like a cliff hanger, Straight up sequel bait, or like they wanted to write a longer book but split it in two... 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Xenophobia, Violence, Racism, Murder, Classism, Death, Blood, and Colonisation

Moderate: Torture

daysireads's review

I was so excited to get this book! Which makes it even worse that I am almost half way through and am feeling so disappointed. I may return to it, but my initial feelings are holding me back from spending more time on it. 

The world we are thrown into seems vicious and terrible, but it lacks a bite.  Keera is very juvenile for someone who is supposedly a highly competent soldier/leader. TBH I am squinting to see the qualities that would enable her to hold such an important position in her kingdom. Hint: I still can’t see them. It’s unfortunate, but for the role she holds and from what we’re told about her character, she doesn’t seem to be very fleshed out.  And even though the book is exclusively from her POV, I hesitate to say I know anything of substance about her. 

It feels like this book is an amalgamation of several other popular books which wouldn’t be so bad if it executed those tropes and themes well. Ultimately, I think you either love it or you just walk away feeling meh about it. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Classism, Genocide, Blood, Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Self harm, and Slavery

Minor: Death of parent, Misogyny, and Torture

opaquehour12's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Violence, and Self harm

Moderate: Blood and Physical abuse

selena13's review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Alcoholism, Death, Xenophobia, and Sexual content

trippyotter's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Torture, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Medical content, Sexism, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Body horror, Bullying, Violence, Medical trauma, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, and Death