Published: August 2021
Pages: 738
Series: The Bladeborn Saga #1
Summary
In the heart of Vandar, as dark forces close in, Elyon, a gifted Bladeborn, fights for his family’s survival.
In the war-torn northlands of Tukor, a servant girl with a mysterious past is forced on the run, propelling her on a journey that will change her world forever.
From the Shadowfort, a secret power is unleashed, one that will set into motion a series of events that will bring the world to its knees.
With the world on the verge of chaos and countless lives at stake, a new First Blade must be selected, but obstacles stand in the way. Alliances are broken. Enemies are born. Only the strong will survive.
My thoughts
I really loved the premise of this one. The front cover caught my attention and the summary is what convinced me to start reading. I mean, dragons, sword fighting, magic and politics.. what is not to love? It is totally up my street. As I started, my general sense was that this reminded me a lot of Illborn. We have a similar situation where we have multiple character perspectives. They’re all connected through their bloodline but they don’t know it yet. It’s building towards something.. and although they don’t know it, us readers do. Which lies my issue with this story in that it is as subtle as a brick (I saw this figure of speech in another review and it captures my thoughts exactly.)
If you don’t mind an obvious storyline and you’re just enjoying the ride then it’s probably not a big deal. But I really dislike that. I like my plots to be complex and woven through together, taking all these different POVs and creating one whole story. Something that keeps you guessing and you don’t quite know where it’s going or how the pieces fall together. I’m thinking along the likes of Janny Wurts or Raymond E. Feist. Characters are not enough for me to keep me engaged.
“I was never born to be free, not of these shackles one cannot see.”
I personally found the writing to be good. It was smooth, descriptive enough without dumping information. There were a couple of small moments where the dialogue didn’t quite fit the historical setting but I can forgive that. It leads me to trying some of this authors other work as I did find that piece good.
I also really liked the world building. I think i just generally love historical settings. Take me back in time to cool sword art and medieval armour, I don’t want modern technology. I want battlefields and horse-drawn carriages. Anyone else? I think the setting up of the story and the world had so much potential but too many small niggles bugged me throughout that I didn’t get blown away.
“Wasn’t wisdom, in itself, merely an ability to listen, judge, and discern a conclusion based on the available evidence?”
When you have a story that changes POV multiple times I think its a given that the reader is going to enjoy more perspectives than others. That was certainly the case for me. The women in this book I found so incredibly boring to read. Is that what the author was going for or are they lacking when it comes to writing women? I can’t tell but the male characters were more entertaining and engaging than the others.
There were moments where the characters didn’t quite make sense but I think this is more down to the research. I understand its a fictional world so perhaps things are done differently – it can be tricky to apply real life logic in a fictional world but kings would not belittle their most powerful lords. It wouldn’t happen in our real world and I don’t see it happening in a fiction one, why? Lords are very powerful both politically and financially, and they are a huge source of the kings army. A king would not risk that relationship and losing a a large piece of his army over something (I feel) is very silly. There are small moments where I think it was more convenient for the plot for characters to behave a certain way or be in place they really shouldn’t have been, to keep the story moving.
My main bug-bearer is the other issue of characters doing things brilliantly the very first time. It infuriates me to no end and please don’t tag it as a ‘hidden power’, even hidden powers need to be practiced and nurtured..
Would I recommend?
I think if my niggles don’t bother you, then you would enjoy this one a lot! The writing is good, I loved the setting and the direction of the story. I just didn’t enjoy how obvious it was and with some characters more engaging that others, it impacted my experience. Still an author for me to keep an eye on as I think I would pick them up again in the future.