A review by smartflutist661
The Fallen Blade by Jon Courtenay Grimwood

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.25

There were some things this book did really well. I enjoyed the Venetian intrigues, the bits of Tycho's training we got, the smaller-scale combats. Plus the alternate-history Venice was excellent. Had it stuck to mostly politics and assassination, I think it would have been a pretty good book. The writing, on the other hand, was mediocre, and could have used a lot more attention from an editor. Worse, the ending felt weirdly out of place and rushed. The reasons for the Mamluk invasion felt like they were given the smallest possible amount of lip service throughout. And while there were interesting characters, none of them felt like they were actually affected in any meaningful way by the events of the story (and not in a good way). Overall, might be worth a read if you really like this kind of setting, but I probably won't be reading the sequels any time soon, and certainly wouldn't widely recommend it.