papidoc 's review for:

The Sword-Edged Blonde by Alex Bledsoe

2.0

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It seems that my views are at odds with many others here, which just goes to show that different thing appeal to different people. The cover blurb seemed interesting...a cross between detective noir and fantasy. There are essentially two directions an author can go when combing two genres like this. Hopefully both will be done well, and blended to great effect. Alternatively, neither will be done well, and (usually) as a result any effort to blend the two genres will fail. Unfortunately, IMHO this novel falls mostly into the latter category. It was OK, but it could have been so much better. A little more action (with appropriate detail to fighting technique), a little more attention to transitions in the plot, and so forth would have done a world of good.