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A review by infowitch
Swordcrossed by Freya Marske
Started this three times before I finally got into it enough to get past the first two chapters.
Liked it overall but I saw how the romantic knots would turn into rose-oiled bows basically within 10 minutes of starting, and the political machinations took way too long to get going. Also there was a lot of graphic sex that managed to be singularly unsexy. It was certainly detailed but something wasn’t telegraphing into emotion. I think this is partly the writing and partly some dom-sub energy that I found an icky (a lot of “bought you” language that I would like to never encounter again). But the world is great, really intriguing set up with guilds and deities and government that is a mix of commerce and nobility - and ok, so there was a bit of a Swordspoint vibe to some of the guild stuff and Luca’s secrets, but I love Swordspoint and it was only that one aspect (and ok, the swords and to some extent the role swordsmen play in society) so that’s fine. I’d love to see more set in this world, not necessarily with these characters — not that I would object but i think their story arc is nicely finished here.
Liked it overall but I saw how the romantic knots would turn into rose-oiled bows basically within 10 minutes of starting, and the political machinations took way too long to get going. Also there was a lot of graphic sex that managed to be singularly unsexy. It was certainly detailed but something wasn’t telegraphing into emotion. I think this is partly the writing and partly some dom-sub energy that I found an icky (a lot of “bought you” language that I would like to never encounter again). But the world is great, really intriguing set up with guilds and deities and government that is a mix of commerce and nobility - and ok, so there was a bit of a Swordspoint vibe to some of the guild stuff and Luca’s secrets, but I love Swordspoint and it was only that one aspect (and ok, the swords and to some extent the role swordsmen play in society) so that’s fine. I’d love to see more set in this world, not necessarily with these characters — not that I would object but i think their story arc is nicely finished here.