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A review by beforeviolets
The Fireborne Blade by Charlotte Bond
I have a lot of friends who recommended this to me as a book they would compare to THE SIX DEATHS OF THE SAINT, and sadly, I think this comp really ruined the book for me, because I have to disagree.
Though this is a twisty knight tale, the thing that works so well about THE SIX DEATHS OF THE SAINT is that it stretches the capacity of its format with brilliant tact. It's the triumph of telling an epic tale in a couple dozen pages. And I think this story is far from a mastery of format. In fact, it feels confined by its length.
I understand why my friends made this comp, and I think it'll help bring some of the right people to this story but it didn't work for me. But comp aside, let's talk about this book.
I hate when I have this opinion because it's such an annoying opinion to have, but I do really think this would work better as a long epic novel that combines this plot and whatever happens in the sequel. It was obvious from the get go that there would be some big twist about the narrator being unreliable, and so these 170 pages are really just spent in wait for that reveal. I would've been far more interested in a story that takes its time to set up this world and this character and her backstory beyond the here and now. As it stands, the payoff of the twist is weak, because the author gave me like 100+ pages to come up with theories of my own and nothing else to occupy my attention.
The world-building, the politics, and other goings-on are SO interesting but because of the urgency of the task at hand, feel irrelevant and tangental, so that the shifts beyond the task (especially towards the end) are disorienting and lack impact. There is so much to praise about this world. It does feel really lived in, and I have so many curiosities I'd love to dig into: the naming system of the knights, the history of hunting dragons, the viewpoints of magic, etc. And I think it's fine and good when worlds have details that go unexplored to focus on the direct plot, but I think time spent in this world-building would've actually much better aided the end of the narrative.
I think my favorite element is the epistolary entries about dragon hunting, and honestly I could have done with even more of them, especially if they aided the story more than they do (which isn't much at all, Bond could've really made use of these and hidden some lore elements and foreshadowing into those instead of just using them as ambiance).
I did overall enjoy my reading experience of this, and I think many people will too, but my expectations were just placed wayyyyy too high.
Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
CW: animal death, death, dead body, emesis, violence, alcohol, amputation, fire, hallucinations, body horror, blood & gore, self harm (for magic), child death (past)
Though this is a twisty knight tale, the thing that works so well about THE SIX DEATHS OF THE SAINT is that it stretches the capacity of its format with brilliant tact. It's the triumph of telling an epic tale in a couple dozen pages. And I think this story is far from a mastery of format. In fact, it feels confined by its length.
I understand why my friends made this comp, and I think it'll help bring some of the right people to this story but it didn't work for me. But comp aside, let's talk about this book.
I hate when I have this opinion because it's such an annoying opinion to have, but I do really think this would work better as a long epic novel that combines this plot and whatever happens in the sequel. It was obvious from the get go that there would be some big twist about the narrator being unreliable, and so these 170 pages are really just spent in wait for that reveal. I would've been far more interested in a story that takes its time to set up this world and this character and her backstory beyond the here and now. As it stands, the payoff of the twist is weak, because the author gave me like 100+ pages to come up with theories of my own and nothing else to occupy my attention.
The world-building, the politics, and other goings-on are SO interesting but because of the urgency of the task at hand, feel irrelevant and tangental, so that the shifts beyond the task (especially towards the end) are disorienting and lack impact. There is so much to praise about this world. It does feel really lived in, and I have so many curiosities I'd love to dig into: the naming system of the knights, the history of hunting dragons, the viewpoints of magic, etc. And I think it's fine and good when worlds have details that go unexplored to focus on the direct plot, but I think time spent in this world-building would've actually much better aided the end of the narrative.
I think my favorite element is the epistolary entries about dragon hunting, and honestly I could have done with even more of them, especially if they aided the story more than they do (which isn't much at all, Bond could've really made use of these and hidden some lore elements and foreshadowing into those instead of just using them as ambiance).
I did overall enjoy my reading experience of this, and I think many people will too, but my expectations were just placed wayyyyy too high.
Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
CW: animal death, death, dead body, emesis, violence, alcohol, amputation, fire, hallucinations, body horror, blood & gore, self harm (for magic), child death (past)