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zosia_rose 's review for:
Five Broken Blades
by Mai Corland
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The upsetting thing about writing this review is I really wanted to love Five Broken Blades. From the jump I could really tell the author loves this world sheβs created, and being inspired culturally and historically by Korean myth really got me interested.
Unfortunately it feels like Corland wanted to do too much at one time and in the wrong medium. This book simultaneously wants to be Epic Fantasy and Romantasy but has none of the structure or writing prowess to back that up.
It feels terrible to say but I feel the author has an extensive lore-book of history, figures, locations (physically or mentally) somewhere influencing the story, but without readers with any prior knowledge of this fantasy setting the whole book comes off as veryβ¦disjointed.
I found myself commenting to friends often while reading my frustration that the lackluster dialogue just seemed a way to shove bits of lore into the book so that the book could progress. It is a hard task of course, making a reader care about the plot in a way that references the world in which the characters exist, and I think she did what she could. Still, I tried through all 474 pages to care about the characters and even though Corland tried to tell me through seemingly meaningful dialogue, action scenes, and duplicitous characters/plotlines there was just something ultimately lacking.
I wish it were different, truly, but it really reads as if the world/setting here was written beforehand and the characters conveniently afterwards to facilitate the publishing of a ππ’π΄ πππ«π±ππ°πΆ π΄π¦π±π₯ πππ¦π ππ²π’π°π±π° ππ«π‘ βπ¬πͺππ«π±π¦π ππ©π¬π±π©π¦π«π’π°. I donβt know if this was a mismatch of my preferred writing style or intentional. The characters seem to have decent backstories and developed tropes, but they all felt distant.
The buildup to the final βheistβ was a constant flip-flop between lore-dump and bond building between characters; but that same disjointedness was constant until the last 100-ish pages, which I think were the best part of the story! I had even predicted half of the plot-twist and still enjoyed the ending because there was more emotion there and the promise of a deeper plotline! I didnβt read reviews but if this is just a writer I canβt gel with I do hope I am in the minority who struggled to connect with the book/characters because I can tell the author really cares about the world.
Being a ttrpg nerd I do think she has a decent module written and maybe the characters would feel less soulless (ouch that feels mean to say) if they were played in a game where PCs could give them more life! The entire setting is written, we just didnβt get enough of either the world or its people for me to be able to rate the book more highly. Like really, Iβd love to see what a good DM could do for their players if she wrote this as an adventure campaign, sadly until then I donβt even know if the obvious promise of the next novel (already published) would have me opening the front cover to read the synopsis.
Unfortunately it feels like Corland wanted to do too much at one time and in the wrong medium. This book simultaneously wants to be Epic Fantasy and Romantasy but has none of the structure or writing prowess to back that up.
It feels terrible to say but I feel the author has an extensive lore-book of history, figures, locations (physically or mentally) somewhere influencing the story, but without readers with any prior knowledge of this fantasy setting the whole book comes off as veryβ¦disjointed.
I found myself commenting to friends often while reading my frustration that the lackluster dialogue just seemed a way to shove bits of lore into the book so that the book could progress. It is a hard task of course, making a reader care about the plot in a way that references the world in which the characters exist, and I think she did what she could. Still, I tried through all 474 pages to care about the characters and even though Corland tried to tell me through seemingly meaningful dialogue, action scenes, and duplicitous characters/plotlines there was just something ultimately lacking.
I wish it were different, truly, but it really reads as if the world/setting here was written beforehand and the characters conveniently afterwards to facilitate the publishing of a ππ’π΄ πππ«π±ππ°πΆ π΄π¦π±π₯ πππ¦π ππ²π’π°π±π° ππ«π‘ βπ¬πͺππ«π±π¦π ππ©π¬π±π©π¦π«π’π°. I donβt know if this was a mismatch of my preferred writing style or intentional. The characters seem to have decent backstories and developed tropes, but they all felt distant.
The buildup to the final βheistβ was a constant flip-flop between lore-dump and bond building between characters; but that same disjointedness was constant until the last 100-ish pages, which I think were the best part of the story! I had even predicted half of the plot-twist and still enjoyed the ending because there was more emotion there and the promise of a deeper plotline! I didnβt read reviews but if this is just a writer I canβt gel with I do hope I am in the minority who struggled to connect with the book/characters because I can tell the author really cares about the world.
Being a ttrpg nerd I do think she has a decent module written and maybe the characters would feel less soulless (ouch that feels mean to say) if they were played in a game where PCs could give them more life! The entire setting is written, we just didnβt get enough of either the world or its people for me to be able to rate the book more highly. Like really, Iβd love to see what a good DM could do for their players if she wrote this as an adventure campaign, sadly until then I donβt even know if the obvious promise of the next novel (already published) would have me opening the front cover to read the synopsis.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence
Minor: Addiction, Rape