Take a photo of a barcode or cover
lemcleni 's review for:
A Broken Blade
by Melissa Blair
I came into this book with very low expectations after a string of horrible booktok/bookstagram recommendations, and I was pleasantly surprised. This book wasn't perfect by any means, but if your worries are that this will be another seemingly unedited kindleunlimited-esque nightmare, I'm here to put you at ease.
I'm going to list some things that I liked and some things that I didn't and go into why, and maybe that will help you make a decision on this book. Spoilers marked.
Things I liked:
Characters 3.5/5
There's absolutely room that the characters in this book still have to grow, but because this is a series and the missing pieces of the characters have been hinted at, I'm willing to hold off judgment on that for the moment. That being said, I find our main character very refreshing. Not only does she start the book as competent, smart, and skilled (and not a child), she's gritty in a way that's really necessary for a character of her profession. Keera is an assassin. She is a killer. And she's been a killer for a long time by the time we meet her. We see that she doesn't enjoy her job, but she's found ways to cope with it (as unhealthy as those ways may be). And we also see her have a very complex relationship with death. How she views it as both a punishment for some and a kindness for others. I also think is interesting and is probably the thing that would keep me reading the series to see if my predictions are correct. The fact her skills are hers alone and are not credited to the male lead or her new friends was a breath of fresh air. Too often in romantasy lately I feel like we get these false strong female leads that start the book being a sneaky thief or good with a bow or some other thing she needed to learn to survive but then as soon as we meet the male lead suddenly she’s actually not that good and the strong man needs to train her to fight. Keera is not like that. This girl has lived this long because she knows how to take care of herself, and that doesn’t change. She’s a strong female lead that remains a strong female lead.
A lot of the side characters are interesting and though most aren't fully fleshed out, we know enough about a few of them that they could be explored in lots of ways in later books.
I think the one character I felt needed to be more rounded in this book was the male love interest, (for spoilers sake, I will just refer to him as MLI from now on). He oftentimes just felt like a plot device to bounce Keera's insecurities off of, or a way to show us how hardened she was as a person. Beyond just never fully understanding MLI's motivations, I feel like we never get an explanation as to why he's attracted to Keera specifically. Very early on we see MLI express interest in Keera when he but we never really figure out why he did that.
Conflict/Morals 4.5/5
The conflict in this book is complex in a way that I enjoy. Though there is clearly a “good” side and a “bad” side, our main character’s loyalties are more complicated than that. It poses an interesting conversation about how sometimes your actions are not entirely your own and how people often are trying to do the best they can working within the systems that are present.
Things I didn't like:
Writing 3/5
I'm putting this first because it almost should go in an "indifferent" section. The writing in this book is what it needs to be. It's not artistic or poetic. Blair isn't painting us landscapes and you won't feel like you can taste the wines. But there's no cringing at word choice or annoying repeating phrases either. This book is pretty decently written and well edited. I think Blair could use work on her writing of combat and other kinds of high tension scenes, because in those instances specifically, she tends to start being very "I did this" "He did that" "I did this" "They did that again" heavy for some reason. Is the writing amazing? No. Is it eons better than what I think we've been getting out of new fantasy lately? Yes.
Romance 2.5/5
We are not getting Very Old Immortal Man X Freshly Legal Naive Girl in this story! Hooray! Everyone cheered.
I actually really liked the romance in this book initially. Even though it was clear we were headed in an enemies to lovers direction, it didn't feel forced. The reason they were enemies made sense. The reasons they repeatedly had trouble trusting each other made sense. The reason they ended up having to spend so much time together made sense. It felt like there would be a logical progression of Enemies > Allies > Friends > Lovers. But they so obviously skipped stage 3 and you're just kind of left spinning. Instead you get Enemies that actively try to kill each other to Allies who pointedly do not trust each other to Lovers who are overly obsessed with each other.
Continuity/Logic 2.5/5
There were some things in this book that I felt were obviously decisions made to help the author move the book in the direction she wanted, while ignoring things that would obviously happen in certain situations.
I think there's room, especially in fantasy books, for plausible deniability. It’s fiction, none of it is real, I get that. But if everyone in the situation would have to be an idiot for your scenario to work, that's just bad writing.
Examples all contain spoilers
• Keera was glamoured at the ball so it makes sense that she could lie to the king about being there, but Killian can't. Killian lying and saying he was never there is such an easy thing for the king/Damien to accidentally find out the truth about. A lord mentioning it in passing to the king isn't even unlikely. This was a stupid lie from someone that we find out is pulling major strings.
• Keera seems to know next to nothing about fae magic yet carries a handy vial of Gwyn's blood around to be able to make a pair of magical fae alarm earrings that only she could use...what? stop. I know if she uses these in the next book to warn them about Damien, it's going to annoy me because they're just so stupid, I'm sorry. She hasn’t been shown to have any real knowledge about anything Fae or Elven—in fact, she’s basically shown to be clueless in that regard—there’s no way she would’ve known this kind of magic existed.
All-in-all this book wasn't amazing, but it wasn't bad either. I think it's worth checking out from the library if you're looking for a new fantasy series and seeing if you enjoy it. As someone that did buy it, check it out from the library.
I'm going to list some things that I liked and some things that I didn't and go into why, and maybe that will help you make a decision on this book. Spoilers marked.
Things I liked:
Characters 3.5/5
There's absolutely room that the characters in this book still have to grow, but because this is a series and the missing pieces of the characters have been hinted at, I'm willing to hold off judgment on that for the moment. That being said, I find our main character very refreshing. Not only does she start the book as competent, smart, and skilled (and not a child), she's gritty in a way that's really necessary for a character of her profession. Keera is an assassin. She is a killer. And she's been a killer for a long time by the time we meet her. We see that she doesn't enjoy her job, but she's found ways to cope with it (as unhealthy as those ways may be). And we also see her have a very complex relationship with death. How she views it as both a punishment for some and a kindness for others. I also think
Spoiler
the confusion regarding her lineageA lot of the side characters are interesting and though most aren't fully fleshed out, we know enough about a few of them that they could be explored in lots of ways in later books.
I think the one character I felt needed to be more rounded in this book was the male love interest,
Spoiler
The Shadow/RivenSpoiler
kisses her after their fightSpoiler
I get that he has a whole bonus chapter and it gives more insight into him and more hints at his possible motives for the kiss, but I need more of that insight in the main story. I don't think you should have to read supplemental materials to understand one of the main characters.Conflict/Morals 4.5/5
The conflict in this book is complex in a way that I enjoy. Though there is clearly a “good” side and a “bad” side, our main character’s loyalties are more complicated than that. It poses an interesting conversation about how sometimes your actions are not entirely your own and how people often are trying to do the best they can working within the systems that are present.
Spoiler
Even though Keera punishes herself a lot for the lives she’s taken in her forced service to the king, she also defends herself and the other Shades and makes valid points that these spies were just children who were given a choice between death and becoming a villain, and that the Dark Fae/Elves of Faelinth were never forced to make that choice.Things I didn't like:
Writing 3/5
I'm putting this first because it almost should go in an "indifferent" section. The writing in this book is what it needs to be. It's not artistic or poetic. Blair isn't painting us landscapes and you won't feel like you can taste the wines. But there's no cringing at word choice or annoying repeating phrases either. This book is pretty decently written and well edited. I think Blair could use work on her writing of combat and other kinds of high tension scenes, because in those instances specifically, she tends to start being very "I did this" "He did that" "I did this" "They did that again" heavy for some reason. Is the writing amazing? No. Is it eons better than what I think we've been getting out of new fantasy lately? Yes.
Romance 2.5/5
We are not getting Very Old Immortal Man X Freshly Legal Naive Girl in this story! Hooray! Everyone cheered.
I actually really liked the romance in this book initially. Even though it was clear we were headed in an enemies to lovers direction, it didn't feel forced. The reason they were enemies made sense. The reasons they repeatedly had trouble trusting each other made sense. The reason they ended up having to spend so much time together made sense. It felt like there would be a logical progression of Enemies > Allies > Friends > Lovers. But they so obviously skipped stage 3 and you're just kind of left spinning. Instead you get Enemies that actively try to kill each other to Allies who pointedly do not trust each other to Lovers who are overly obsessed with each other.
Spoiler
Just because the lovers stage doesn’t happen until the last few chapters does not make it a slow burn. You can’t go from barely being able to trust his alliance to "The days spent without [him] were excruciating" in two chapters. You only decided you could fully trust each other (sort of) ten pages ago. Why is it suddenly impossible to be without him?Continuity/Logic 2.5/5
There were some things in this book that I felt were obviously decisions made to help the author move the book in the direction she wanted, while ignoring things that would obviously happen in certain situations.
I think there's room, especially in fantasy books, for plausible deniability. It’s fiction, none of it is real, I get that. But if everyone in the situation would have to be an idiot for your scenario to work, that's just bad writing.
Examples all contain spoilers
Spoiler
• The harvest ball: why were there no shades present at this massive party full of the wealthy and powerful when the king is so clearly distrusting of his lords right now? especially when we know there were at least 4 shades in the city. They would have been deployed at this party. You're running into spies randomly in the woods but not at an important ball? Sure.• Keera was glamoured at the ball so it makes sense that she could lie to the king about being there, but Killian can't. Killian lying and saying he was never there is such an easy thing for the king/Damien to accidentally find out the truth about. A lord mentioning it in passing to the king isn't even unlikely. This was a stupid lie from someone that we find out is pulling major strings.
• Keera seems to know next to nothing about fae magic yet carries a handy vial of Gwyn's blood around to be able to make a pair of magical fae alarm earrings that only she could use...what? stop. I know if she uses these in the next book to warn them about Damien, it's going to annoy me because they're just so stupid, I'm sorry. She hasn’t been shown to have any real knowledge about anything Fae or Elven—in fact, she’s basically shown to be clueless in that regard—there’s no way she would’ve known this kind of magic existed.
All-in-all this book wasn't amazing, but it wasn't bad either. I think it's worth checking out from the library if you're looking for a new fantasy series and seeing if you enjoy it. As someone that did buy it, check it out from the library.