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A review by mellamaron
Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I have a lot of feelings about this book and I’m going to try to write it all out. I think this is like a 4.5 rounded down but I’ll decide once my review is done. (Nope, going down to solid 4 I think!)
I really enjoyed reading this book! Let’s get that out there first. This is an easily accessible multi-pov fantasy book. It is similar to Romantasy but I think it kind of toes the line too much and tbh, there ain’t no smut here. There are small inklings of content (you know they do stuff) but it’s not in any way explicit. I’d also argue that romance is not the main plot therefore it’s more like a low fantasy with romantic entanglements.
I loved Sora most of all. Her and Tiyung - although their relationship felt the most rushed. Sora, however, was a lovely character: she is everything I want in a morally grey fantasy heroine! I love that she’s a poison maiden and I love her past. I wish we got more Tiyung pov and more time of the two together.
I didn’t mind Royo and Aeri, though Aeri was a bit annoying. And Royo was… well… a bit bland? He felt like a bit of a stereotype at times: “dumb” strong man. I do like that we got some depth for him but I wish we had gotten more.
The other two? Oh dear. I actually didn’t like Euyn much but he was worlds better than Mikail. I don’t even know why I hate Mikail… maybe because he’s kind of a butt? 😂 Euyn too actually. They kind of deserve each other - I disliked their chapters the most. But like Mikail was too “I’m too cool for school” and it bugged me. 🧐 I just couldn’t like anything he did.
The book as a whole was fun and engaging but it wasn’t super deep. It makes sense that when you have six povs in a 470pg book, you’re going to miss a lot of things. You have to explain a lot of characterization that you wouldn’t do if you had less povs. I know other authors do it but usually their books are twice as long. And this book has huge font so that 470 is more like 350-400.
I come back to the fact that guys - I enjoyed reading this book! I think Mai Corland has talent. I’m excited for the next book. I just… I hope she expands in her writing. There are certain things that just made me pause: the fight scenes were pretty bad… just like logistically when trying to have multipovs in a fight scene and I don’t know what’s going on and who’s throwing what 😂 Like I said above, the minuscule smut was honestly a bit … unnecessary? Either have it or not, don’t give it to me halfway?
And then… the ending. No spoilers here but it didn’t hit right. I guessed some parts of it and looking back… I think it was too obvious? 😅 It sort of felt like she handed us that ending on a silver platter. I did like it! I just think it could have been reworked to be a bit better.
Anyway, all in all, I did enjoy reading this!! I would recommend this to new fantasy readers or to fantasy readers who want a very low fantasy or a character heavy fantasy - what I mean by that and I didn’t touch on this yet but it’s not a complicated world. You’re not getting Sanderson nor SJM levels of intricacies. We’ve got some countries and some relics and a plot to kill a king. It’s all fairly basic in that regard. It’s SUPER dialogue heavy too. I think big high fantasy fans will probably yawn at this book. 😅 I know my Stormlight loving husband would hate it. I’m sure some may love it but I can see most not.
I really enjoyed reading this book! Let’s get that out there first. This is an easily accessible multi-pov fantasy book. It is similar to Romantasy but I think it kind of toes the line too much and tbh, there ain’t no smut here. There are small inklings of content (you know they do stuff) but it’s not in any way explicit. I’d also argue that romance is not the main plot therefore it’s more like a low fantasy with romantic entanglements.
I loved Sora most of all. Her and Tiyung - although their relationship felt the most rushed. Sora, however, was a lovely character: she is everything I want in a morally grey fantasy heroine! I love that she’s a poison maiden and I love her past. I wish we got more Tiyung pov and more time of the two together.
I didn’t mind Royo and Aeri, though Aeri was a bit annoying. And Royo was… well… a bit bland? He felt like a bit of a stereotype at times: “dumb” strong man. I do like that we got some depth for him but I wish we had gotten more.
The other two? Oh dear. I actually didn’t like Euyn much but he was worlds better than Mikail. I don’t even know why I hate Mikail… maybe because he’s kind of a butt? 😂 Euyn too actually. They kind of deserve each other - I disliked their chapters the most. But like Mikail was too “I’m too cool for school” and it bugged me. 🧐 I just couldn’t like anything he did.
The book as a whole was fun and engaging but it wasn’t super deep. It makes sense that when you have six povs in a 470pg book, you’re going to miss a lot of things. You have to explain a lot of characterization that you wouldn’t do if you had less povs. I know other authors do it but usually their books are twice as long. And this book has huge font so that 470 is more like 350-400.
I come back to the fact that guys - I enjoyed reading this book! I think Mai Corland has talent. I’m excited for the next book. I just… I hope she expands in her writing. There are certain things that just made me pause: the fight scenes were pretty bad… just like logistically when trying to have multipovs in a fight scene and I don’t know what’s going on and who’s throwing what 😂 Like I said above, the minuscule smut was honestly a bit … unnecessary? Either have it or not, don’t give it to me halfway?
And then… the ending. No spoilers here but it didn’t hit right. I guessed some parts of it and looking back… I think it was too obvious? 😅 It sort of felt like she handed us that ending on a silver platter. I did like it! I just think it could have been reworked to be a bit better.
Anyway, all in all, I did enjoy reading this!! I would recommend this to new fantasy readers or to fantasy readers who want a very low fantasy or a character heavy fantasy - what I mean by that and I didn’t touch on this yet but it’s not a complicated world. You’re not getting Sanderson nor SJM levels of intricacies. We’ve got some countries and some relics and a plot to kill a king. It’s all fairly basic in that regard. It’s SUPER dialogue heavy too. I think big high fantasy fans will probably yawn at this book. 😅 I know my Stormlight loving husband would hate it. I’m sure some may love it but I can see most not.