rebekah27 's review for:

A Broken Blade by Melissa Blair

3.5

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Likes:

• This cover, and all the covers in this series, are seriously so freaking gorgeous (AI could never)
• Love a good map 
• Love when a book has a content warning page
• This world is really beautiful 
• It’s interesting to think about how she’s forcing herself to sober up kind of as a punishment and not because she wants to
• I usually don’t really care wether or not it’s multiple pov or not, but I’m really glad that we’re only in Keera’s head 
• The friendship between Keera and Gwyn is so sweet 
• I really like that we’re exploring important themes like alcoholism and self harm cuz I feel like they don’t really get talked about in fantasy books. 
• I love the scene where Keera calls him a hypocrite cuz he kind of is. It’s like the perfect victim trope, where he says he wants to save all halflings, but he only is thinking of the ones in the most pain whereas he sees the halflings like Keera who have been forced into the kings service without any choice, as sellouts when they’re victims too.  
• I love the title even more now after reading the scene at the end of chapter 26 
• I love the growing friendships between Keera and Syrra and between Keera and Nikolai 
• I honestly love how we don’t know what the name is of the girls she’s dreaming about because it just shows you how much pain shes in and how much guilt she feels because she can’t even bring herself to say her name
• I love how she’s incorporated indigenous culture into the world like the three sisters for example
• I like how she actually talks about the sacrifices and the morals that need to be put aside/tested when waging a war/rebellion cuz I feel like not a lot of books (that I’ve read) actually talk about that

Dislikes:

• I feel like her deciding switch sides was really fast and rushed
• She’s not a super strong writer. She’s definitely good, but I do think there’s room for improvement (hopefully we see it in the next few books)
• I think the romance needs to work tbh. And I’m honestly really confused on why that first kiss happened. 
• I usually like faster paced and more plot based books but this one was so fast paced and so plot based that it left very little time for character work outside of Keera. 
• The scene where he sees her scars, I don’t like that it wasn’t completely her choice. He just walked in on her. She was eventually okay with it but I wish it had been a more conscious choice instead of and accident 

Random thoughts:

• I’m not sure if I completely trust the reveal in chapter 16
• I’d say it’s a fast paced book
• It’s advertised as a fantasy romance but I’d say it’s more of just a fantasy with a romance subplot 
• I really hope we can explore Keera’s past more in the books and she can find out about it cuz I feel like she’s setting that up but I’m not entirely sure
• I really hope Damien dies a slow torturous death and I hope Keera does it. None of that “if I do this I’ll be just like him” crap cuz 1) no it wouldn’t and 2) HE FUCKING DESERVES IT
• I FUCKING KNEW IT!!!
• 3.5 stars