Format: Kindle, 512 pages
Release Date: May 7, 2024
Publisher: Entangled: Red Tower Books
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Genre: Fantasy
The king of Yusan must die.
The five most dangerous liars in the land have been mysteriously summoned to work together for a single objective: to kill the God King Joon.
He has it coming. Under his merciless immortal hand, the nobles flourish, while the poor and innocent are imprisoned, ruined…or sold.
And now each of the five blades will come for him. Each has tasted bitterness―from the hired hitman seeking atonement, a lovely assassin who seeks freedom, or even the prince banished for his cruel crimes. None can resist the sweet, icy lure of vengeance.
They can agree on murder.
They can agree on treachery.
But for these five killers―each versed in deception, lies, and betrayal―it’s not enough to forge an alliance. To survive, they’ll have to find a way to trust each other…but only one can take the crown.
Let the best liar win.
The five most dangerous liars in the land have been mysteriously summoned to work together for a single objective: to kill the God King Joon.
He has it coming. Under his merciless immortal hand, the nobles flourish, while the poor and innocent are imprisoned, ruined…or sold.
And now each of the five blades will come for him. Each has tasted bitterness―from the hired hitman seeking atonement, a lovely assassin who seeks freedom, or even the prince banished for his cruel crimes. None can resist the sweet, icy lure of vengeance.
They can agree on murder.
They can agree on treachery.
But for these five killers―each versed in deception, lies, and betrayal―it’s not enough to forge an alliance. To survive, they’ll have to find a way to trust each other…but only one can take the crown.
Let the best liar win.
Five Broken Blades is the first installment in author Mai Corland's The Broken Blades series. This book focuses on a group of people who are brought together in order to kill the King of Yusan who calls himself the God King. He claims to be immortal because he wears the crown of the former Dragon Lord who left powerful artifacts behind. But apparently, someone has found a way to kill the king, and replace him with someone who has been banished. As with most epic fantasy novels, this story takes our characters on a journey that will end in tragedy, or success.
The characters are Royo, a muscle for hire who vows to protect a young woman he barely knows; Euyn, formerly a prince of Yusan, and brother to King Joon, until he hunted people for sport; Sora, stolen along with her sister Daysum, she becomes one of only two poison maidens in Yusan but she desires to pay off her debt and be free; Aeri, the mysterious young woman who seems to be a really good thief, or a really good liar, who apparently wants to impress her father; Mikail, royal spymaster and lover of Euyn; and Tiyung, young heir to the man who turned Sora into an assassin.
Five of the most dangerous liars plus Tiyung have to learn to work together to commit an assassination. You get multiple different first-person POVs, and the characters were easy to keep separate because they each had their own unique personalities and wants/outcomes from the mission. My favorite character was Sora, the poison maiden. I found her character to be so unique and totally badass! She was one of 18 girls who were sold to a count and put through an illegal poison school where they were slowly dosed with poisons so they'd become immune.
If they want to survive, they have to trust each other, which is easier said than done since they all have their own secrets and only one of them can take the crown. It’s a fast-paced story with plenty of action and chapters that end in a way that makes you not want to put the book down. It can get dark and violent at times (not a complaint) and some of the backstories are truly disturbing in a world where indentured servitude, misogyny, and slaughter are the norm, but there are also lighter moments of humor, comradery, and romance as well.
The worse characters in my opinion were Mikail and Euyn. Mikail's actions in this book lead to heart ache and betrayal, while Euyn is just plain boring, and obsessed. Royo is a hardcase. He gets paid to be a strongman, but when he meets Aeri, he thinks he found a way out of the life he has been trying to get out of for years. Although this is sold as a Romantasy, I couldn't care less if the characters actually found love or not. And, finally, yes this book ends on a cliffhanger because the author needs a reason for readers to continue to read the sequel.
No comments:
Post a Comment