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A review by tenoko1
Bloody Spade by Brittany M. Willows
4.0
I really enjoyed reading this book! I was ecstatic about it from the moment I saw the cover! And, yes, the book is Very Anime™ in all the best ways.
The author does a wonderful job of writing this book so you visualize it like an anime in your head, everything from the characters, their interactions, transformation scenes, Moments™, are familiar and easy to imagine. If you are a fan of anime, you will recognize a number of tropes, and your brain supplying you with overlay scenes not necessarily detailed, but familiarity with anime does a lot of work for you, building on what is there by presenting it, mentally, how you know the camera shots and such would be done from storyboard to screen.
I really enjoyed a number of elements in this, the playing card themes, an organization with extraordinary teenagers in training to be the heroes that save the day, expressive cat ears, the magical transformation element is very RWBY and Sailor Moon-- and it's delightful.
One of my favorite early scenes is when the "Jokers"-- the students studying to be heroes-- face off against Iori-- known as the "Keeper of the Spade"-- for the first time. They square off against one another, the Jokers calling forth their weapons as their uniforms becoming costumes, followed by all of them leaping in rushing forward assault against Iori. You can picture the way the frames and angles would switch up and change to capture and emphasize this larger-than-life battle.
I think familiarity with anime is, while not necessary, extremely helpful with this sort of story since it is a genre of its own and relies on a completely different type of storytelling not really seen in the West, with its own tropes, scene transition style, character paradigms, etc.
All of my other favorite moments revolved around Iori and Ellen-- enemies-turned-friends-turned-dot dot dot.
Ellen Jane is the younger of two siblings, newly sworn in as a Joker at Cardplay after graduating-- joining the ranks of her elder brother Alexander, Cardplay’s top Joker. The two of them are orphans, with the head of Cardplay-- Hikaru-- and his right hand and wife-- Elizabeth-- becoming their guardians, then into Found Family dynamic.
For all that they’ve grown up under the same roof, Ellen and Alexander are alike in appearance only. Ellen can’t NOT care about the health and well-being of others, with a kind, patient, and eternally optimistic demeanor that pairs well with it. Alexander’s character is vastly different.
Though initially introduced as a stoic, brooding hero and adoring older brother, you never see that. He’s hot-headed, impulsive, and overly dramatic-- and under the right circumstances, can go out of control like a spark morphing into a forest fire.
The story is at its strongest when it comes to Ellen and Iori, as individuals and when you put the two of them together. They have their own unique complexities, polar opposites in personality and life experiences, but they come together like pieces fitting into place.
I love the flirty moments-- like the ballroom scene-- and the tender moments-- the blanket fort scene-- and I adore the vulnerable moments-- like sharing a bed because neither of them wanted to be alone with their fears and nightmares. I loved the dreamscape sphere at the beginning and the tower rescue toward the end.
They were poignant, perfectly visualized scenes I could see play out like a real anime in my head.
They, more than anything else, carry the story.
Now. Reading enjoyment is subjective, so if you would like to stop reading this with only the positive things in mind, now is the time to do so. Below, I’ll go over the things that either rubbed me wrong as a reader or had the writer part of my brain (hello, ADHD, a brain like multiple computer tabs running at all times) pointing out issues like this was a writing exercise or something I was betaing for a friend, or even how I knew my beta would respond were this a project we were working on.
That's all said because the below is longer than the afore, but only because it requires more detail into why these elements didn't work for me or could have worked better with a bit more sanding and polish to smooth out the edges.
Ready?
You sure? As I said, these things are subjective, and I don’t want to color your reading experience if you haven’t read the book yet.
Alright, this part won’t be quite as linear.
1) There are A LOT of characters thrown at you from the very start. In visual media, this is less of an obstacle, because you’ll visually recognize them even if you don’t remember their name, and the scenes flow easily because of it.
Not the case with written media. I couldn’t remember all their names at the start, so I tried to remember them by association: the girl’s friends. Her brother’s friends. Guy. Girl. Gay. etc. But this was further complicated by names I couldn’t associate on sight were one gender or another. So then it was a lot of trying to remember who that character was, what their gender was, their sexuality, not even mentioning what they looked like. I still don’t have a mental image of what the friends of both siblings looked like. Wondering “Wait, which one are they?” throughout the book really messes with the submersion.
2) There is a lot of narrative dump, exposition, and showing without telling. Everything is spelt out for you, rather than woven in naturally here and there-- like lore on the suits or history-- or letting unspoken things tell their own story, like body language or the items in (or obviously missing from) a room. ‘Visual’ cues that allow the audience to read between the lines and put the picture together themselves. Some things are dumped on you when the story cannot move forward without those things being known-- like Ellen being gray-ace. Rather than us seeing her gym shirt when she runs into Iori, or noting her ring during a conversation when she gestures, a list of visual clues Iori catalogued are dumped in your lap because the direction of the romantic subplot hinges on him not pursuing things with her, at the moment, anyway.
3) Further, there are a lot of things that should have been a continual part of the narrative that were either glossed over or missing altogether. Why does Iori have cat ears and a tail when no one else has animal features? Why aren’t more characters reacting to something so strange? Wonder, awe, curiosity, wariness, rudeness, or just their eyes automatically tracking movement and then looking away? Why don’t we get more reaction from Iori about them? He’s completely different from everyone else in the book, unnaturally made that way, further isolating him from others but it’s never an issue, and it isn’t until much later in the book we’re told why he has them. That’s only compounded when we’re introduced to Kyani, and compounded on top of that is why she’s sick but Iori isn’t-- yet he’s the one with the ‘corrupt’ suit. What do they mean corrupt? How should his suit be if not like this? None of these are cleared up.
3a) Also, Iori’s trauma and the gaps in his memory, what triggers a panic attack versus living with a daily reminder of how different he is now, yet the daily reminders aren't an issue? Or a bigger issue? Mirrors are mentioned, but, again, it’s glossed over like a point that needs to be touched rather than a facet of a three-dimensional character. There’s so much telling rather than showing, not only regarding events but the characters' personalities and how/why they react.
4) I cannot stand Alexander. His entire character arc does not work for me. We’re not introduced to a character, made to love them, and then forced to watch them tragically spiral.
Instead, we’re introduced to an overprotective brother whose actions to protect his sister are actually belittling and condescending. Then, from there, every scene is just him reacting in such an over-the-top fashion and lashing out-- while still somehow being the victim? A victim of Iori’s scheming?? Yet only Alexander can see the Truth™???--, especially because we don’t have any idea why he has such an issue with Iori and is so obsessed with him. Alex genuinely comes across like a psychopath in later scenes where he puts people in danger and assaults Iori just so he can prove he’s ‘right’ and feel validated, having constructed this narrative in his head where he and Iori are arch-enemies in a constant battle with one another.
At one point, I threw up my hands, legit yelling, “Oh my god! Get the fuck over yourself! He hasn’t done anything to you! Iori’s living rent-free in your head while you obsess over him, but Iori never thinks twice about you!!!”
Then, when we get the info dump explaining to us (and Iori) why Alexander has such an issue with him, it just falls horribly flat. His reasons are so over-the-top and illogical, it's incomprehensible how he can believe it. Alexander's thinking doesn’t make sense. Not even a little. Made worse still by it being the first we’re hearing of this major thing he's holding Iori responsible for. Like, Alex, you’re drunk. Stop making an ass of yourself in every scene. Go home.
So, then, we shift from that into Alexander's false defeat, Darkest Night, then redemption arc, but none of it works because you haven’t been made to like him, much less sympathize, and you’re wondering how someone so volatile was, at some point, revered and seen as a model figure and leader.
And all of this with Alexander really hobbles the novel, the effect snowballing as the story continues and the plot points are woven into a streamlined arc rather than separated A-story and B-story, causing the novel to start out strong, stumble, struggle to regain balance, then-- finally succumbing to momentum and gravity-- faceplanting at the finish line.
Like I said, though, YMMV. I *did* enjoy the book a great deal and want to know what happens in the next one, but Alexander’s importance to the plot really worked against the overall story as we weren’t first made to like him, much less understand why he was acting the way he was. It left me trudging through his scenes and only enjoying the ones that didn't involve him.
**Special thanks to the author for sharing a digital copy of this anticipated novel in exchange for an honest review. I really *did* enjoy it.
The author does a wonderful job of writing this book so you visualize it like an anime in your head, everything from the characters, their interactions, transformation scenes, Moments™, are familiar and easy to imagine. If you are a fan of anime, you will recognize a number of tropes, and your brain supplying you with overlay scenes not necessarily detailed, but familiarity with anime does a lot of work for you, building on what is there by presenting it, mentally, how you know the camera shots and such would be done from storyboard to screen.
I really enjoyed a number of elements in this, the playing card themes, an organization with extraordinary teenagers in training to be the heroes that save the day, expressive cat ears, the magical transformation element is very RWBY and Sailor Moon-- and it's delightful.
One of my favorite early scenes is when the "Jokers"-- the students studying to be heroes-- face off against Iori-- known as the "Keeper of the Spade"-- for the first time. They square off against one another, the Jokers calling forth their weapons as their uniforms becoming costumes, followed by all of them leaping in rushing forward assault against Iori. You can picture the way the frames and angles would switch up and change to capture and emphasize this larger-than-life battle.
I think familiarity with anime is, while not necessary, extremely helpful with this sort of story since it is a genre of its own and relies on a completely different type of storytelling not really seen in the West, with its own tropes, scene transition style, character paradigms, etc.
All of my other favorite moments revolved around Iori and Ellen-- enemies-turned-friends-turned-dot dot dot.
Ellen Jane is the younger of two siblings, newly sworn in as a Joker at Cardplay after graduating-- joining the ranks of her elder brother Alexander, Cardplay’s top Joker. The two of them are orphans, with the head of Cardplay-- Hikaru-- and his right hand and wife-- Elizabeth-- becoming their guardians, then into Found Family dynamic.
For all that they’ve grown up under the same roof, Ellen and Alexander are alike in appearance only. Ellen can’t NOT care about the health and well-being of others, with a kind, patient, and eternally optimistic demeanor that pairs well with it. Alexander’s character is vastly different.
Though initially introduced as a stoic, brooding hero and adoring older brother, you never see that. He’s hot-headed, impulsive, and overly dramatic-- and under the right circumstances, can go out of control like a spark morphing into a forest fire.
The story is at its strongest when it comes to Ellen and Iori, as individuals and when you put the two of them together. They have their own unique complexities, polar opposites in personality and life experiences, but they come together like pieces fitting into place.
I love the flirty moments-- like the ballroom scene-- and the tender moments-- the blanket fort scene-- and I adore the vulnerable moments-- like sharing a bed because neither of them wanted to be alone with their fears and nightmares. I loved the dreamscape sphere at the beginning and the tower rescue toward the end.
They were poignant, perfectly visualized scenes I could see play out like a real anime in my head.
They, more than anything else, carry the story.
Now. Reading enjoyment is subjective, so if you would like to stop reading this with only the positive things in mind, now is the time to do so. Below, I’ll go over the things that either rubbed me wrong as a reader or had the writer part of my brain (hello, ADHD, a brain like multiple computer tabs running at all times) pointing out issues like this was a writing exercise or something I was betaing for a friend, or even how I knew my beta would respond were this a project we were working on.
That's all said because the below is longer than the afore, but only because it requires more detail into why these elements didn't work for me or could have worked better with a bit more sanding and polish to smooth out the edges.
Ready?
You sure? As I said, these things are subjective, and I don’t want to color your reading experience if you haven’t read the book yet.
Alright, this part won’t be quite as linear.
1) There are A LOT of characters thrown at you from the very start. In visual media, this is less of an obstacle, because you’ll visually recognize them even if you don’t remember their name, and the scenes flow easily because of it.
Not the case with written media. I couldn’t remember all their names at the start, so I tried to remember them by association: the girl’s friends. Her brother’s friends. Guy. Girl. Gay. etc. But this was further complicated by names I couldn’t associate on sight were one gender or another. So then it was a lot of trying to remember who that character was, what their gender was, their sexuality, not even mentioning what they looked like. I still don’t have a mental image of what the friends of both siblings looked like. Wondering “Wait, which one are they?” throughout the book really messes with the submersion.
2) There is a lot of narrative dump, exposition, and showing without telling. Everything is spelt out for you, rather than woven in naturally here and there-- like lore on the suits or history-- or letting unspoken things tell their own story, like body language or the items in (or obviously missing from) a room. ‘Visual’ cues that allow the audience to read between the lines and put the picture together themselves. Some things are dumped on you when the story cannot move forward without those things being known-- like Ellen being gray-ace. Rather than us seeing her gym shirt when she runs into Iori, or noting her ring during a conversation when she gestures, a list of visual clues Iori catalogued are dumped in your lap because the direction of the romantic subplot hinges on him not pursuing things with her, at the moment, anyway.
3) Further, there are a lot of things that should have been a continual part of the narrative that were either glossed over or missing altogether. Why does Iori have cat ears and a tail when no one else has animal features? Why aren’t more characters reacting to something so strange? Wonder, awe, curiosity, wariness, rudeness, or just their eyes automatically tracking movement and then looking away? Why don’t we get more reaction from Iori about them? He’s completely different from everyone else in the book, unnaturally made that way, further isolating him from others but it’s never an issue, and it isn’t until much later in the book we’re told why he has them. That’s only compounded when we’re introduced to Kyani, and compounded on top of that is why she’s sick but Iori isn’t-- yet he’s the one with the ‘corrupt’ suit. What do they mean corrupt? How should his suit be if not like this? None of these are cleared up.
3a) Also, Iori’s trauma and the gaps in his memory, what triggers a panic attack versus living with a daily reminder of how different he is now, yet the daily reminders aren't an issue? Or a bigger issue? Mirrors are mentioned, but, again, it’s glossed over like a point that needs to be touched rather than a facet of a three-dimensional character. There’s so much telling rather than showing, not only regarding events but the characters' personalities and how/why they react.
4) I cannot stand Alexander. His entire character arc does not work for me. We’re not introduced to a character, made to love them, and then forced to watch them tragically spiral.
Instead, we’re introduced to an overprotective brother whose actions to protect his sister are actually belittling and condescending. Then, from there, every scene is just him reacting in such an over-the-top fashion and lashing out-- while still somehow being the victim? A victim of Iori’s scheming?? Yet only Alexander can see the Truth™???--, especially because we don’t have any idea why he has such an issue with Iori and is so obsessed with him. Alex genuinely comes across like a psychopath in later scenes where he puts people in danger and assaults Iori just so he can prove he’s ‘right’ and feel validated, having constructed this narrative in his head where he and Iori are arch-enemies in a constant battle with one another.
At one point, I threw up my hands, legit yelling, “Oh my god! Get the fuck over yourself! He hasn’t done anything to you! Iori’s living rent-free in your head while you obsess over him, but Iori never thinks twice about you!!!”
Then, when we get the info dump explaining to us (and Iori) why Alexander has such an issue with him, it just falls horribly flat. His reasons are so over-the-top and illogical, it's incomprehensible how he can believe it. Alexander's thinking doesn’t make sense. Not even a little. Made worse still by it being the first we’re hearing of this major thing he's holding Iori responsible for. Like, Alex, you’re drunk. Stop making an ass of yourself in every scene. Go home.
So, then, we shift from that into Alexander's false defeat, Darkest Night, then redemption arc, but none of it works because you haven’t been made to like him, much less sympathize, and you’re wondering how someone so volatile was, at some point, revered and seen as a model figure and leader.
And all of this with Alexander really hobbles the novel, the effect snowballing as the story continues and the plot points are woven into a streamlined arc rather than separated A-story and B-story, causing the novel to start out strong, stumble, struggle to regain balance, then-- finally succumbing to momentum and gravity-- faceplanting at the finish line.
Like I said, though, YMMV. I *did* enjoy the book a great deal and want to know what happens in the next one, but Alexander’s importance to the plot really worked against the overall story as we weren’t first made to like him, much less understand why he was acting the way he was. It left me trudging through his scenes and only enjoying the ones that didn't involve him.
**Special thanks to the author for sharing a digital copy of this anticipated novel in exchange for an honest review. I really *did* enjoy it.