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A review by icedpinecones
A Broken Blade by Melissa Blair
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
After a crushing DNF of a much anticipated fantasy book, I had to go back to something I could trust! A broken blade had an interesting premise, and while I didn't expect much, it certainly deliverered!
Warning: this book contains themes of abuse, sexual assault, self harm and alcoholism! Please check trigger warnings before reading.
The protagonist, Keera, is a flawed but great character to follow. She struggles with an alcohol dependency & memories of the past that haunt her. She's the kings assassin, unwillingly but without the motivation to do anything about it. She's tasked to find 'the shadow', a vigilante making a mockery of the king and driving Keera to her wits end but as their worlds collide it becomes clear that an alliance might just save them all.
The world building was rich and entrancing with various fantasy races with equally as different powers to note. However, they don't impede your read & I didn't get confused by any of it! The prose is great to follow along with and I didn't get bored at any point, I found myself flying through chapters which is unusual with me and physical books!
At first I found it quite basic in it's tropes, but I didn't expect to see the world expand and develop as it did. The side characters like Nikolai are equally as interesting and loveable as the main cast of characters & the plot points (while a little on the more predictable side as a seasoned fantasy reader) I found worked really well with characters not being as cookie cutter as standard books!
The romance was also GENUINELY a slow burn, not in the sense that they only hold hands by the end but in the sense that they've only really come around to eachother by the end of the book romantically and that relationship could very easily crumble with distrust.
I think the only thing I'd of wanted to improve was the plot points and twists being a bit predictable, but I've been reliably informed that the second book cracks the narrative right open (think throne of glass to heir of fire) so I'm really excited to continue the series later!
IG : @Icedpinecones ✨
Warning: this book contains themes of abuse, sexual assault, self harm and alcoholism! Please check trigger warnings before reading.
The protagonist, Keera, is a flawed but great character to follow. She struggles with an alcohol dependency & memories of the past that haunt her. She's the kings assassin, unwillingly but without the motivation to do anything about it. She's tasked to find 'the shadow', a vigilante making a mockery of the king and driving Keera to her wits end but as their worlds collide it becomes clear that an alliance might just save them all.
The world building was rich and entrancing with various fantasy races with equally as different powers to note. However, they don't impede your read & I didn't get confused by any of it! The prose is great to follow along with and I didn't get bored at any point, I found myself flying through chapters which is unusual with me and physical books!
At first I found it quite basic in it's tropes, but I didn't expect to see the world expand and develop as it did. The side characters like Nikolai are equally as interesting and loveable as the main cast of characters & the plot points (while a little on the more predictable side as a seasoned fantasy reader) I found worked really well with characters not being as cookie cutter as standard books!
The romance was also GENUINELY a slow burn, not in the sense that they only hold hands by the end but in the sense that they've only really come around to eachother by the end of the book romantically and that relationship could very easily crumble with distrust.
I think the only thing I'd of wanted to improve was the plot points and twists being a bit predictable, but I've been reliably informed that the second book cracks the narrative right open (think throne of glass to heir of fire) so I'm really excited to continue the series later!
IG : @Icedpinecones ✨