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gl_reads's review against another edition
4.0
Although there were some spots that I felt dragged on, I was hooked on this book from the first page. I wanted to learn more about the characters, the world, and the magic system. I loved the Ronin and the use of elemental magic! I don’t know when I’ll be picking up the second book in the series, but I’m looking forward to it!
diaryofthebookdragon's review
4.0
Matthew Wolf, you had me when you picked a book cover with dragon on it. Luckily, this time, my attraction to anything dragon related turned out to be a good thing because I enjoyed reading The Knife’s Edge, the first book in the The Ronin Saga.
The Knife’s Edge follows Gray, a young man, who has no memory of his previous life. The only clue is the tattoo on his wrist and the sword he owns. Gray’s training with stern mentor is cut short by a surprise attack and that’s how his adventure starts. There will be epic battles, magic, betrayals, big confrontations, …
Plot of The Knife’s Edge reminded me of The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan (WOT):
* The Origin of a hero is unknown
* The hero is learning to master his magical powers. There is a lot of struggling with darkness and his resistance to succumb to it.
* On his travel hero gathers large group of friends and allies. They even were similar to WOT characters, not in an appearance but in the behavior and in some character traits (Karil & Rydel – Moiraine & Lan).
Please, don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of original features in The Knife’s Edge. I am just talking about the general feeling. Also, The Knife’s Edge has so many things happening – it’s like you squeezed 3 or 4 WOT novels into one (for epic fantasy) short book.
That’s the biggest flaw of The Knife’s Edge – it needed more pages. When I started reading I was overwhelmed. I can not accuse Matthew Wolf of info-dumping. The story has a nice flow. But there is just so many things you need to remember. The scope of The Knife’s Edge is huge with a big land, long history and a lot of characters. I took Anya‘s advice and gone with the flow hoping that I will eventually memorize names of all countries, towns, kings, heroes, … More pages with more descriptions and time for us to process all the data could have solved this problem.
On the other had, if it was thicker, The Knife’s Edge would not have been such a page-turner as it is now. There is always something new happening and the intrigues and surprises keep you reading, because you never know what is going to happen next. I didn’t care that, sometimes, I could not place some names or remember how some creatures looked like. I was glued to the pages because I had to find out what will happen next.
Oh, and if you are wondering about dragons. The cover does not lie, they do appear in The Knife’s Edge. But dragons are evil and usually their biggest part of the story is that they fly down from the sky and skewer someone with their sharp talons.
IN THE END…
The Knife’s Edge is an intense start to a new epic fantasy series. If you are not easily overwhelmed with complex world building, it will be a real page-turner for you. Or maybe you will just go with the flow, like me, and enjoy it nevertheless.
Recommended for fans of classic epic fantasy adventure series like Wheel of Time, Lord of the Rings etc.
Disclaimer: I received this ebook from Kismet Book Touring in exchange for a fair and honest review. This text is also posted on my blog Bookworm Dreams in a little bit more styled edition.
The Knife’s Edge follows Gray, a young man, who has no memory of his previous life. The only clue is the tattoo on his wrist and the sword he owns. Gray’s training with stern mentor is cut short by a surprise attack and that’s how his adventure starts. There will be epic battles, magic, betrayals, big confrontations, …
Plot of The Knife’s Edge reminded me of The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan (WOT):
* The Origin of a hero is unknown
* The hero is learning to master his magical powers. There is a lot of struggling with darkness and his resistance to succumb to it.
* On his travel hero gathers large group of friends and allies. They even were similar to WOT characters, not in an appearance but in the behavior and in some character traits (Karil & Rydel – Moiraine & Lan).
Please, don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of original features in The Knife’s Edge. I am just talking about the general feeling. Also, The Knife’s Edge has so many things happening – it’s like you squeezed 3 or 4 WOT novels into one (for epic fantasy) short book.
That’s the biggest flaw of The Knife’s Edge – it needed more pages. When I started reading I was overwhelmed. I can not accuse Matthew Wolf of info-dumping. The story has a nice flow. But there is just so many things you need to remember. The scope of The Knife’s Edge is huge with a big land, long history and a lot of characters. I took Anya‘s advice and gone with the flow hoping that I will eventually memorize names of all countries, towns, kings, heroes, … More pages with more descriptions and time for us to process all the data could have solved this problem.
On the other had, if it was thicker, The Knife’s Edge would not have been such a page-turner as it is now. There is always something new happening and the intrigues and surprises keep you reading, because you never know what is going to happen next. I didn’t care that, sometimes, I could not place some names or remember how some creatures looked like. I was glued to the pages because I had to find out what will happen next.
Oh, and if you are wondering about dragons. The cover does not lie, they do appear in The Knife’s Edge. But dragons are evil and usually their biggest part of the story is that they fly down from the sky and skewer someone with their sharp talons.
IN THE END…
The Knife’s Edge is an intense start to a new epic fantasy series. If you are not easily overwhelmed with complex world building, it will be a real page-turner for you. Or maybe you will just go with the flow, like me, and enjoy it nevertheless.
Recommended for fans of classic epic fantasy adventure series like Wheel of Time, Lord of the Rings etc.
Disclaimer: I received this ebook from Kismet Book Touring in exchange for a fair and honest review. This text is also posted on my blog Bookworm Dreams in a little bit more styled edition.
pemdas97's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-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? It's complicated
3.25
lavilian's review
3.0
Basically anime in literature form. I've heard too many "I have to get stronger"s for it to be a new concept for me. But I think the series as a whole has potential, even though this first one was a little boring, I will listen to the sequels in the future.
blackmetalblackheart's review against another edition
2.0
I enjoyed the concept and world more than the actual book.
junelouise's review
4.0
Book review:
- Dreams of a reaver (Smaller novella, book 0,5)
- A knife’s edge
By Matthew Wolf
I was gifted these AudioBooks in exhange for a review.
The first is a short novella that gives you a better understanding of the backround to one of the main charachters.
This was very interesting and helped during my listen on "A Knife`s edge".
The knife’s Edge was a very good fantasy book. If you like adventures like the hobbit, LOTR and the shannara chronicles this is definitly a story for you.
It really reminded me of the writing style of Terry Brooks.
The narrator Tim Gerard Reynolds was really good and his reading style really fits this story.
And the story i would clasify as adventure/ high fantasy.
The story follows "Grey", which does not know his past. He suddenly appered in a forest where he meets the a loner who takes him in.
Slowly the plot thickens and we get to know more around the world building, the legends that come alive and the quest where Grey is destined to play a part.
He needs to bring the destined sword who has choosen him to the dark gates.
On his travels he meets and gets strong friendships and gets plenty of enemies.
Old legends come back to life and maybe the stories heard from childhood is not so true after all. Maybe the enemies turn out to be the heroes?
On his journeys Grey learns more about his background and his magic abilities.
And yes, there are also dragons! and other magical beings in this story.
I love how this book with its major plot is only the start of this book series.
The plot in the book is wrapped up really well in this book, but we get smaller details that starts a new adventure.
I am looking forward to continuing with the next book in the series.
The author has also written a third book which came out yesterday.
If you, like me enjoy a good adventure with charachter driven plots, destinies to unfold and magic, dragons and mythical beings, this is a story you should check out.
All books are on audible :D
- Dreams of a reaver (Smaller novella, book 0,5)
- A knife’s edge
By Matthew Wolf
I was gifted these AudioBooks in exhange for a review.
The first is a short novella that gives you a better understanding of the backround to one of the main charachters.
This was very interesting and helped during my listen on "A Knife`s edge".
The knife’s Edge was a very good fantasy book. If you like adventures like the hobbit, LOTR and the shannara chronicles this is definitly a story for you.
It really reminded me of the writing style of Terry Brooks.
The narrator Tim Gerard Reynolds was really good and his reading style really fits this story.
And the story i would clasify as adventure/ high fantasy.
The story follows "Grey", which does not know his past. He suddenly appered in a forest where he meets the a loner who takes him in.
Slowly the plot thickens and we get to know more around the world building, the legends that come alive and the quest where Grey is destined to play a part.
He needs to bring the destined sword who has choosen him to the dark gates.
On his travels he meets and gets strong friendships and gets plenty of enemies.
Old legends come back to life and maybe the stories heard from childhood is not so true after all. Maybe the enemies turn out to be the heroes?
On his journeys Grey learns more about his background and his magic abilities.
And yes, there are also dragons! and other magical beings in this story.
I love how this book with its major plot is only the start of this book series.
The plot in the book is wrapped up really well in this book, but we get smaller details that starts a new adventure.
I am looking forward to continuing with the next book in the series.
The author has also written a third book which came out yesterday.
If you, like me enjoy a good adventure with charachter driven plots, destinies to unfold and magic, dragons and mythical beings, this is a story you should check out.
All books are on audible :D
michaelwindrunner's review
4.0
I really liked this book.
I did find myself a bit disoriented along the way. I think the book would have been easier to follow with more visuals and descriptions. I'm still not exactly sure what happened in some of the scenes or what some of the enemies look like.
I hear that the next book is even more polished and that Mr. Wolf intends to revisit this book to make it clearer.
In the pros side - I think that Gray is pretty interesting character. I also really liked the Ronin. I really liked their team dynamic.
I did find myself a bit disoriented along the way. I think the book would have been easier to follow with more visuals and descriptions. I'm still not exactly sure what happened in some of the scenes or what some of the enemies look like.
I hear that the next book is even more polished and that Mr. Wolf intends to revisit this book to make it clearer.
In the pros side - I think that Gray is pretty interesting character. I also really liked the Ronin. I really liked their team dynamic.
theaudioauditor's review
2.0
Audio book review.
DNF.
I can't say it's any one thing that caused me to not connect with this book. I'm a very character-driven reader, and I did enjoy some of the scenes where it's just one character talking to another. But all of the action sequences and world building just have me, dare I say, bored? Which sounds ridiculous. I can't say I'm rooting for anh character, because I haven't been given enough pages to connect with them as a person. I did also enjoy the Avengers Assemble moment with the Rodin all armoring up with their magic and weapons. That was fun to visualize. Otherwise, I just find myself lost and bored with this story and characters and world. Need more emotional connections, I guess. Must just be personal preference. DNF about halfway.
DNF.
I can't say it's any one thing that caused me to not connect with this book. I'm a very character-driven reader, and I did enjoy some of the scenes where it's just one character talking to another. But all of the action sequences and world building just have me, dare I say, bored? Which sounds ridiculous. I can't say I'm rooting for anh character, because I haven't been given enough pages to connect with them as a person. I did also enjoy the Avengers Assemble moment with the Rodin all armoring up with their magic and weapons. That was fun to visualize. Otherwise, I just find myself lost and bored with this story and characters and world. Need more emotional connections, I guess. Must just be personal preference. DNF about halfway.