A review by batesbarb
A Broken Blade by Melissa Blair

adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The central concept and world building of this book were really interesting. Unfortunately, the actual writing is clumsy enough in places that it gets in the way of the story at times. The descriptions are often overwritten in a way that clashes with the close first person viewpoint. It feels artificial and grating, which makes it harder to get invested in the characters and events. The characters are all supposed to be well into adulthood (even in the context of long-lived elves and halflings), but they all seem to act and speak like teenagers. Combined with the writing style it winds up feeling much more YA than I think the author intended. 
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