A review by neenor
Blades of the Old Empire: The Majat Code, Book 1 by Anna Kashina

1.0

You know, kudos to me for being able to finish this disaster of a book. I bought it because I saw it in Waterstones, the cover reminded me of Throne of Glass, and the synopsis seemed unique and enticing. Do not fall for it, folks! This book promises and does not deliver. That badass looking character of the front? Wet lettuce. The rest of the characters? Also wet lettuces. The only person I could stand was Ellah, because for all her whining and angst, her point of view was interesting. Everyone else just made me want to jump off a metaphorical cliff of despair. I think it was just the writing - the writing was amateur, to say the least. It's the kind of thing you'll find on a fanfiction site, if I'm being honest (not the good fanfiction, but the fanfiction written by 13 year olds). Sex scene? Oh yes, we'll just write about how the two bodies have been merged into one and are floating in some ethereal paradise of ecstasy. Someone is going to die from an infectious wound that in no way will ever get better? Oh look, some written-in character who has some dandy skills that will heal absolutely everything! Someone has died? We'll just find a convenient way to bring them back! No one can resist this awesome power apart from one guy? Let's give him all the skills and turn him into some frickin' superhero who can transfer his powers of resistance to other people!

I'm going to stop this review before I change my mind and give it 1 star instead of 2. All in all, it's a bad book. The only reason I'm not giving it the worst rating is because of Ellah and the fact I managed to finish it (with a lot of skim reading)