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A review by elizalicart
Balanced on the Blade's Edge by Lindsay Buroker
3.0
A slow start. I will admit I almost put it down to move onto another book on my list! Fortunately I persevered, and I do love the characters. I felt I was able to connect with both Ridge and Sardelle, and I loved the humour that Jaxi brought into situations. I also loved that Sardelle's reactions towards coming out as a witch were quite believable, as were Ridge's thoughts and opinions. I loved their dynamic, but I was totally not expecting that steamy scene in the cave! (Not that I didn't like it... I mean... It was kind of sexy...*cough*).
Anyway! I will say that the story felt very short - it's hard to tell the true length of something on a Kindle, but it did feel like not much happened from beginning to end. However, it terms of writing style, there were a few things that stood out to me;
The first was world building, it was done very well and in a very believable way! I can't imagine how much work it must have taken to create this entire new universe from scratch in the way Buroker did.
The second is about the mental dialogue between Jaxi and Sardelle - I thought it flowed very well between Sardelle's thoughts, to Jaxi's responses, and Sardelle's responses, without ever explicitly saying what was what.
The third, of course, is the layout of the chapters and 'sub-chapters'. I loved the way the point of view changed between Ridge and Sardelle, and by following each character more questions were raised about the other, and also some were answered from the previous section. Very clever, and had me hooked! Each section had it's own consistent tone, which I loved.
In all a good read. I have the first three books and will definitely be continuing onto the next ones. I have no idea what direction they'll take, but I'm hoping for much more magic! I gave this three stars because I felt the story really could have gone on. I don't think very much happened, and I wasn't as hooked as other books have lead me to be. It was incredibly well written, and that's what the majority of my rating is attributed to.
Anyway! I will say that the story felt very short - it's hard to tell the true length of something on a Kindle, but it did feel like not much happened from beginning to end. However, it terms of writing style, there were a few things that stood out to me;
The first was world building, it was done very well and in a very believable way! I can't imagine how much work it must have taken to create this entire new universe from scratch in the way Buroker did.
The second is about the mental dialogue between Jaxi and Sardelle - I thought it flowed very well between Sardelle's thoughts, to Jaxi's responses, and Sardelle's responses, without ever explicitly saying what was what.
The third, of course, is the layout of the chapters and 'sub-chapters'. I loved the way the point of view changed between Ridge and Sardelle, and by following each character more questions were raised about the other, and also some were answered from the previous section. Very clever, and had me hooked! Each section had it's own consistent tone, which I loved.
In all a good read. I have the first three books and will definitely be continuing onto the next ones. I have no idea what direction they'll take, but I'm hoping for much more magic! I gave this three stars because I felt the story really could have gone on. I don't think very much happened, and I wasn't as hooked as other books have lead me to be. It was incredibly well written, and that's what the majority of my rating is attributed to.