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mermads 's review for:
A Broken Blade
by Melissa Blair
This was a valiant effort as a first book, but ultimately it read like a debut book.
For the first few chapters there was a lot of telling instead of showing. It felt like the narration was repeating itself trying to make sure we understood the power dynamics of the world when half the information was easily inferred from character interactions.
The romance between Keera and [redacted] felt very surface level. I feel like there were a lot of good moments for them to connect and build an emotional relationship, but they didn’t reach their full potential. I feel like the whole romance was riding on this electric spark between them and a very shaky foundation of trust.
I was excited to see an Indigenous author's take on the very popular "morally grey assassin" character and the "over throw the colonizing kingdom" plot. There has been a lot of similar combinations over the years in various series. The tired but prime example being Sarah Janet's Thr*ne of Gl*ss series. I think Blair did a great job writing Keera as morally grey. Keera truly felt sorry for the inconsequential people she had to kill, but nothing was getting in the way of the plan. As for overthrowing the kingdom, there’s three more books for me to get through to see if she pulls it off.
Overall, I think there was an equal amount of strengths and weaknesses in this debut. But I think with more experience and more novels under her belt that Blair will write a solid fantasy romance.
For the first few chapters there was a lot of telling instead of showing. It felt like the narration was repeating itself trying to make sure we understood the power dynamics of the world when half the information was easily inferred from character interactions.
The romance between Keera and [redacted] felt very surface level. I feel like there were a lot of good moments for them to connect and build an emotional relationship, but they didn’t reach their full potential. I feel like the whole romance was riding on this electric spark between them and a very shaky foundation of trust.
I was excited to see an Indigenous author's take on the very popular "morally grey assassin" character and the "over throw the colonizing kingdom" plot. There has been a lot of similar combinations over the years in various series. The tired but prime example being Sarah Janet's Thr*ne of Gl*ss series. I think Blair did a great job writing Keera as morally grey. Keera truly felt sorry for the inconsequential people she had to kill, but nothing was getting in the way of the plan. As for overthrowing the kingdom, there’s three more books for me to get through to see if she pulls it off.
Overall, I think there was an equal amount of strengths and weaknesses in this debut. But I think with more experience and more novels under her belt that Blair will write a solid fantasy romance.