Book review: Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland

I am going to be completely honest for a moment, when I bought this book I knew absolutely nothing about it. I was in Barnes & Noble for a completely different book, saw the gorgeous cover and sprayed edges, and immediately needed to buy it. It wasn't until after I bought it that I read the plot synopsis - and immediately knew I would love it.

And I was right! Not only is the book gorgeous but it's filled with morally gray characters who each have their own motivations for wanting the crown that makes King Joon immortal. They not only plan treason but to betray each other, in a way that will keep you turning pages to find out what happens next.

There are six points of view in this book, and I am glad I didn't know that going in. The last book I read with this many different POVs was A Game of Thrones, and George R.R. Martin is not my favorite fantasy author. However, where his characters all are on different plotlines, the six narrators of Five Broken Blades all provide different views on their mission to assassinate the God-King Joon. I found it a brilliant way to show the cracks within the team, the ebbs and flows of trust, and the secrets each of them are keeping. It was a powerful narrative device that was necessary to make the book as good as it was.

In addition, I would consider this book more of a character study - which is very much what it needed to be. It takes about half of the book for all of our main characters to meet up as each has to be recruited to the mission and travel to the city where they would start. It gave the reader a lot of time to get to know each character and watch them form bonds with each other. This book felt like it was setting up the next, and I think there will be a lot of payoff within Four Ruined Realms. Where getting to know the characters was this book's focus, seeing what they do now that so many of their secrets have been exposed will definitely drive what I predict to be a more plot-heavy book two.

The romance in this book also plays with a bunch of tropes. Mikail and Euyn are a second-chance romance, though their reluctance to talk shows they have not worked through their issues. Royo and Aeri are a grumpy and sunshine pairing, with Aeri quickly becoming my favorite character due to her nature among all of the other Blades. Tiyung and Sora are enemies to lovers, and I truly appreciated how they became the strongest pairing because of their willingness to not only let each other in but also actually communicate. All of the relationships hit a very intense breaking point at the end of this book, and I am interested in seeing how that changes within the next.

I truly did not believe this was a debut novel as I was reading it, Mai Corland did a beautiful job in making this world come to life. Between the heists, the romance, and the intricacies between each Blades member I truly am anxiously awaiting her return to this world in Four Ruined Realms. I am glad the novel didn't end on a cliffhanger, but instead opened up the plot of the sequel - and I am ready to follow these characters through whatever it takes for them to get their revenge.

Five Broken Blades is available through Entangled Publishing.