A review by senqin
Pennyblade by J.L. Worrad, James Worrad

5.0

"Sometimes you have to throw it all away, Sister. Cast off your trappings and stand free."

★★★★½

Well this was certainly...different. Crude and violent but also captivating in its unflinching vulgarity and its lack of desire to fit into any preset fantasy molds. This book honestly could have easily ended up being a complete disaster but it all actually kind of works.

➺ Not your typical fantasy elves

Pennyblade is the story about the rise and fall of the commrach/elf named Kyra, whose exile from the esteemed Cal'Adra family currently sees her eking it out on the human mainland as a low class mercenary. Unfortunately, with the betrayal of a fellow Pennyblade after her most recent job, Kyra finds that the past that she's been running away from for so long might finally be catching up to her.

We follow two separate story threads in the book that are depicted in alternating chapters. The first is about present-day Kyra as she becomes increasingly entangled in the web of a church figure named Sister Benadetta and her secrets. The other is about past Kyra in the time leading up to her exile. Unfortunately, I was not as invested in these "flashback" sections, which seemed to be more about worldbuilding and setting up the horrible, hypocritical nature of the commrachs. J.L. Worrad has taken the usual concept of elves and completely turned it over its head. Despite how beautiful, sophisticated, and holier-than-thou they appear to be, these elves are no better, and in some ways are indeed much worse, than the humans they look down upon. The commrachs really do feel alien. It's actually pretty clever. However, sometimes it does seem like the story is trying to be a little...too clever. I am not so subtly rolling my eyes at the multiple depictions of these "seasons" that the commrach go through, complete with this cringy "mating call." I can see what the author was attempting to do with this but that doesn't change the fact that it was physically painful to read.

➺ Characters you love to hate

"You wretches are a compost heap of lies, arrogance, rapaciousness, and vanity. So much so..." She sighed. "It would be a sin if I did not keep an eye on you."

Part of the reason why I was wayyyy more interested in the present-day Kyra storyline was her interactions with this unusual bunch of people she's fallen in with. It's really this group dynamic that I absolutely loved the most about Pennyblade. We've got Sister Benadetta, a Perfecti aka a magical nun (?) with a mysterious past who is at war with her sexuality, Nails, a young half-commrach half-human who is quick with knives and quicker to stab you in the back, and Shortleg, who I believe is our token straight character. Honestly, they're all horrible people but there are these brief flickers of humanity that make them really interesting to read about. The banter among them is top notch. In fact, I wouldn't have minded at all if the entire book was just about them tearing at each other.

➺ The unsexy sex scenes

"You want their bodies, Cal'Adra. The sickness of a soulless thing." She paused. "But women - their minds, their choices - you detest. You fear their power over you. Whenever you talk of women you reduce them to...matter. Fodder."

Also, I disagree with the notion that Pennyblade was written to fulfill some sort of male fantasy on the part of the author. Pennyblade does feature a LOT of sex and sexual thoughts/language, but it seems to handle this in a unique way. Most of these scenes appear purposefully written to be over the top and mechanical and came across as satirical to me. In contrast, I don't think that any sort of sex that occurs between the central romantic relationship is actually ever depicted. Also, our main character Kyra, while being bitter, self-serving, haughty, and in no way the most morally upright or likable lesbian to ever exist, is still very complex, darkly humorous, and surprisingly "human" despite essentially being an elf. Her character grows and changes throughout the course of the story in such an organic way, which I always find to be an incredible feat for any author to accomplish. I absolutely adored the final closing sentences.

Be forewarned that this book will definitely try its best to disgust and disturb you. However, underneath the dirt and grime is a rollicking good story with multifaceted characters and some fresh concepts.

— ♩♫♩ ~ Act of Demon or Work of God