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A review by queenterribletimy
Blade's Edge by Virginia McClain
3.0
Blade's Edge is one of the SPFBO5 finalists I've read as a judge. Find out what my team had to say about it in our joint review. We gave it an overall score of 7.1/10
Here follows my own review. I personally rated Blade's Edge 7/10 which translates to 3.5*
I have a bit of mixed feelings about Blade’s Edge in general. It took me a long time to get into it and get over my annoyance to actually enjoy it. Blade’s Edge is the story of Mishi and Taka and all the girls in this world who didn’t have a chance in life due to the brutality of the Rōjū council’s rule.
The story is definitely engaging as we follow the two girls finding their own paths in life. While turning the world upside down. There is a lot to like about this book, and I can see why it was picked as an SPFBO finalist. First, we have two very different kick ass characters – Taka and Mishi – with their totally different skills and powers. They balance each other out pretty well and their bond is something that I enjoyed reading about. I also liked the magic system and the fact that both girls had a mentor of mythological being. In Taka’s case a tree kami (spirit) and in Mishi’s case a dragon. Mitsuki’s appearance and the hint about his and Taka’s relationship is something I considered a nice touch. There were some really nice twists along the way and the pieces fell nicely together by the end.
And while overall I enjoyed Blade’s Edge, I also had a number of issues with it, especially in the first half. At the beginning, I felt like some things weren’t explained well and I had a hard time to get the terminology sorted out in my head. I think the worldbuilding needed some more to be added about the magic, about the council, about the aforementioned mythological beings, about why Kishosi needs to complete a task, about why the Josanko was so strict and cruel to the girls, etc. Sometimes the sudden jumps in time were disorientating – one moment Mishi is sent to the dragon, the next 1 year passed and they are training. I was left blinking, thinking “Wait. What? How did THIS happen?” I had a few instances like that. I’m also not very much of a fan of that kind of storytelling where something happens then it’s left unexplained but gets hinted at in later conversations and eventually cleared. Somewhat. It works in some cases, but I don’t think it did here. I was especially annoyed with Taka not seeing through Kiko’s lies. I wanted to shout at her “ARE YOU DAMNED BLIND? IT’S. SO. DAMN. OBVIOUS. WHAT. HAPPENED.” I mean, Taka was supposed to be a smart girl and a close friend to Kiko. Anyone would have put that together in about 5 minutes, but it had to be someone else telling her what happened much later. Seriously. Maybe because of this, but I wasn’t able to really connect with either of the characters.
Blade’s Edge is a pretty decent coming-of-age YA(ish) fantasy novel, in which the two main characters discover their strength and worth in a world which outlaws them. Set in an Asian inspired world, tradition and “modern” ideologies clash with each other, determining the future of Gensokai, in which equality might become a reality. It definitely has an interesting world, I just wish we got to know it a bit more to be able to immerse ourselves in it. Virginia McClain is sure one of the authors we should look out for in the future.
Here follows my own review. I personally rated Blade's Edge 7/10 which translates to 3.5*
I have a bit of mixed feelings about Blade’s Edge in general. It took me a long time to get into it and get over my annoyance to actually enjoy it. Blade’s Edge is the story of Mishi and Taka and all the girls in this world who didn’t have a chance in life due to the brutality of the Rōjū council’s rule.
The story is definitely engaging as we follow the two girls finding their own paths in life. While turning the world upside down. There is a lot to like about this book, and I can see why it was picked as an SPFBO finalist. First, we have two very different kick ass characters – Taka and Mishi – with their totally different skills and powers. They balance each other out pretty well and their bond is something that I enjoyed reading about. I also liked the magic system and the fact that both girls had a mentor of mythological being. In Taka’s case a tree kami (spirit) and in Mishi’s case a dragon. Mitsuki’s appearance and the hint about his and Taka’s relationship is something I considered a nice touch. There were some really nice twists along the way and the pieces fell nicely together by the end.
And while overall I enjoyed Blade’s Edge, I also had a number of issues with it, especially in the first half. At the beginning, I felt like some things weren’t explained well and I had a hard time to get the terminology sorted out in my head. I think the worldbuilding needed some more to be added about the magic, about the council, about the aforementioned mythological beings, about why Kishosi needs to complete a task, about why the Josanko was so strict and cruel to the girls, etc. Sometimes the sudden jumps in time were disorientating – one moment Mishi is sent to the dragon, the next 1 year passed and they are training. I was left blinking, thinking “Wait. What? How did THIS happen?” I had a few instances like that. I’m also not very much of a fan of that kind of storytelling where something happens then it’s left unexplained but gets hinted at in later conversations and eventually cleared. Somewhat. It works in some cases, but I don’t think it did here. I was especially annoyed with Taka not seeing through Kiko’s lies. I wanted to shout at her “ARE YOU DAMNED BLIND? IT’S. SO. DAMN. OBVIOUS. WHAT. HAPPENED.” I mean, Taka was supposed to be a smart girl and a close friend to Kiko. Anyone would have put that together in about 5 minutes, but it had to be someone else telling her what happened much later. Seriously. Maybe because of this, but I wasn’t able to really connect with either of the characters.
Blade’s Edge is a pretty decent coming-of-age YA(ish) fantasy novel, in which the two main characters discover their strength and worth in a world which outlaws them. Set in an Asian inspired world, tradition and “modern” ideologies clash with each other, determining the future of Gensokai, in which equality might become a reality. It definitely has an interesting world, I just wish we got to know it a bit more to be able to immerse ourselves in it. Virginia McClain is sure one of the authors we should look out for in the future.