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A review by debchan
The Bladed Faith by David Dalglish
3.5
if there's one thing david dalglish can do it's create the most interesting words (queernormative too!) with angry characters who aren't afraid to stick their massive sword into the enemy.
i gotta say that first paragraph is so good. one of my favorite openers in books. this is quite a clear-cut fantasy book in that the main character is a revenge journey and he even has a training sequence, a reveal-to-the-public sequence, and betrayals and set-ups. so it was very straightforward. however, my biggest issue with this was that every other page was a fighting scene. now i love violence (gratuitous maybe). i really love punching and stabbing and swords, i'm a sucker for those. so you can imagine my shock when i was reading the 10th fighting scene like ok i'm actually a bit tired of it. i wish there were more character interaction and politics. while a fight scene can be tense, none of them felt really infused with tension (and thus excitement), leaving me to read the same thing over and over again. even that last battle scene when it was supposed to be the peak of the book, i never felt it. rip.
the ending though sets up something really exciting which i look forward to.
cyrus: our main character. he was removed from the throne and then imprisoned and then saved and now he has to be this assassin savior symbol. but the question is what will he lose and what is he willing to do? he's more afraid than most main characters bc his rage and anger is a bit too all-consuming. he fears it will eat him up and leave him a husk of himself. and i mourn that self that never got to grow up. we see hints of it when he's with his found family, his laughter, his humor, his smiles. even his honor, refusing to fight a helpless weaponless man. i see a crazed madman arc coming for him.
rayan: the paladin who rescues cyrus. he still clings to the old ways and tries to inspire the populace who are being forced to reject their old gods. but there's only so much one man can do against the empire. i love paladins in books - yes i love loyalty, i love knights, i love fighting until you have nothing left, i love the last man standing. and i'm glad cyrus had someone.
stasia: GIRL! my fav! she's known as the ax bc of her gigantic ax. she helps to train cyrus and i think their friendship is so cute too. she will always walk with cyrus every step of the way no matter how much he cannot keep on going. she knows how hard it is bc she did it all once. her glee at killing was refreshing. and her love interest, clarissa, i'm begging dalglish to let them be happy when everything is said and done. there's a moment when she says if clarissa wants her to live instead of fight, she would, and then clarissa said if she didn't fight she wouldn't be stasia. understanding girlfriends wow! none of this miscommunication. they know how hard it is to love each other and still do it fiercely.
mari: the lioness. i love mari!! the way she's so gentle and kind to cyrus. and the fact that almost every single person is terrified by that kindness. her sheer power is incredible and her abilities is so cool. to be able to commune with gods and be their champion. she wants to help people first and foremost and violence is simply a tool to achieve that.
arn: idk he was kinda funny ig. i feel like he will be much more used in upcoming books, especially his past. bc otherwise he was just part of the gang.
keles: let my girl be a paladin! she's the niece of rayan which is cute. i wish we did get to see her fight more, but at least there's someone cyrus' age to talk to. and perhaps a bit more than talk, dalglish said romance is NOT dead.
sinshei: our antagonist but tell me why i'm kinda rooting for her at the end. of course we don't know all her motivations and plans but wanting to be the first woman heir-incarnate when the empire is so sexist homophobic etc is great. still would choose cyrus over her though bc she's still a figurehead of the empire. her exasperation at magus and gordian was kinda funny.
soma: our antagonist's sidekick except is he really a sidekick. he's assumed a paragon and so is nigh indefeatable. and then we see he's ULTRA powered. who is he and what does he want? and why is he so loyal to sinshei?
not that it was bad, but i can for sure see that it is a book meant to set some things up. i hope at least. some scenes were so repetitive, namely the fighting. and the characters would fling speeches out as if i want to read about it. but the powers and abilities the main characters had were interesting. and i'm wary of cyrus' path he just wants to be safe and happy. :D
i gotta say that first paragraph is so good. one of my favorite openers in books. this is quite a clear-cut fantasy book in that the main character is a revenge journey and he even has a training sequence, a reveal-to-the-public sequence, and betrayals and set-ups. so it was very straightforward. however, my biggest issue with this was that every other page was a fighting scene. now i love violence (gratuitous maybe). i really love punching and stabbing and swords, i'm a sucker for those. so you can imagine my shock when i was reading the 10th fighting scene like ok i'm actually a bit tired of it. i wish there were more character interaction and politics. while a fight scene can be tense, none of them felt really infused with tension (and thus excitement), leaving me to read the same thing over and over again. even that last battle scene when it was supposed to be the peak of the book, i never felt it. rip.
the ending though sets up something really exciting which i look forward to.
cyrus: our main character. he was removed from the throne and then imprisoned and then saved and now he has to be this assassin savior symbol. but the question is what will he lose and what is he willing to do? he's more afraid than most main characters bc his rage and anger is a bit too all-consuming. he fears it will eat him up and leave him a husk of himself. and i mourn that self that never got to grow up. we see hints of it when he's with his found family, his laughter, his humor, his smiles. even his honor, refusing to fight a helpless weaponless man. i see a crazed madman arc coming for him.
rayan: the paladin who rescues cyrus. he still clings to the old ways and tries to inspire the populace who are being forced to reject their old gods. but there's only so much one man can do against the empire. i love paladins in books - yes i love loyalty, i love knights, i love fighting until you have nothing left, i love the last man standing. and i'm glad cyrus had someone.
stasia: GIRL! my fav! she's known as the ax bc of her gigantic ax. she helps to train cyrus and i think their friendship is so cute too. she will always walk with cyrus every step of the way no matter how much he cannot keep on going. she knows how hard it is bc she did it all once. her glee at killing was refreshing. and her love interest, clarissa, i'm begging dalglish to let them be happy when everything is said and done. there's a moment when she says if clarissa wants her to live instead of fight, she would, and then clarissa said if she didn't fight she wouldn't be stasia. understanding girlfriends wow! none of this miscommunication. they know how hard it is to love each other and still do it fiercely.
mari: the lioness. i love mari!! the way she's so gentle and kind to cyrus. and the fact that almost every single person is terrified by that kindness. her sheer power is incredible and her abilities is so cool. to be able to commune with gods and be their champion. she wants to help people first and foremost and violence is simply a tool to achieve that.
arn: idk he was kinda funny ig. i feel like he will be much more used in upcoming books, especially his past. bc otherwise he was just part of the gang.
keles: let my girl be a paladin! she's the niece of rayan which is cute. i wish we did get to see her fight more, but at least there's someone cyrus' age to talk to. and perhaps a bit more than talk, dalglish said romance is NOT dead.
sinshei: our antagonist but tell me why i'm kinda rooting for her at the end. of course we don't know all her motivations and plans but wanting to be the first woman heir-incarnate when the empire is so sexist homophobic etc is great. still would choose cyrus over her though bc she's still a figurehead of the empire. her exasperation at magus and gordian was kinda funny.
soma: our antagonist's sidekick except is he really a sidekick. he's assumed a paragon and so is nigh indefeatable. and then we see he's ULTRA powered. who is he and what does he want? and why is he so loyal to sinshei?
not that it was bad, but i can for sure see that it is a book meant to set some things up. i hope at least. some scenes were so repetitive, namely the fighting. and the characters would fling speeches out as if i want to read about it. but the powers and abilities the main characters had were interesting. and i'm wary of cyrus' path he just wants to be safe and happy. :D