Scan barcode
A review by frogggirl2
Seven Blades in Black by Sam Sykes
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
NOTE: This author was accused of sexual misconduct in the workplace, which he apologized for, then removed his apology from the internet. I own two copies of this book purchased before this was announced publicly, so I am choosing to read this. I add this note in case someone else decides that they do not want to read from this author, which I respect. What follows is a review of the book, not the author's conduct.
The magic is cool. The monsters are cool. The world building is continuous and integrated into the story - it is not dumped in tedious, unrelated chunks. It's easy to get into this book, which is not always the case with fantasies.
I've really grown to hate this unoriginal, distracting, unnecessary habit in fantasy of using an interrogation as a narrative frame.
"Had I known I was about to ruin his life, I probably would have felt bad right about then," (p. 66). I hate this kind of hokey, faux-cliff hanger chapter endings that keep happening throughout the book.
I don't know enough about the characters to care about the many long fight scenes. If you hide so much of the character's background, I can't invest in the character or the situation. No side character is ever fleshed out in a meaningful way.
There's a lot of redundancy around her relationship, her self-hatred, hiding who she is, and her relationship to the enemies of the book. It feels slow and it feels repetitive. This book is in desperate need of editing. If I wasn't so disconnected by the lack of information and annoyed by the repetiousness, I could have enjoyed this romantic relationship and felt more compassion for the main character throughout.
The magic is cool. The monsters are cool. The world building is continuous and integrated into the story - it is not dumped in tedious, unrelated chunks. It's easy to get into this book, which is not always the case with fantasies.
I've really grown to hate this unoriginal, distracting, unnecessary habit in fantasy of using an interrogation as a narrative frame.
"Had I known I was about to ruin his life, I probably would have felt bad right about then," (p. 66). I hate this kind of hokey, faux-cliff hanger chapter endings that keep happening throughout the book.
I don't know enough about the characters to care about the many long fight scenes. If you hide so much of the character's background, I can't invest in the character or the situation. No side character is ever fleshed out in a meaningful way.
There's a lot of redundancy around her relationship, her self-hatred, hiding who she is, and her relationship to the enemies of the book. It feels slow and it feels repetitive. This book is in desperate need of editing. If I wasn't so disconnected by the lack of information and annoyed by the repetiousness, I could have enjoyed this romantic relationship and felt more compassion for the main character throughout.