This just had too many names in it.
Whether places or people.
Totally confusing for a short story.

Born to the Blade was created by Michael R. Underwood. You may be familiar with his Genrenauts series of novellas (also serialized. I'm sensing a theme here) originally published by Tor.com and finished on his own. It is an epic fantasy centering, at least initially, tightly in a neutral city where conflicts are resolved by formal duels by representatives of their respective nations. If that city is functioning in some ways as the United Nations of that world, the domineering Mertikan Empire appears to map to the United States in many ways.

Perhaps I'm reading a touch too much into this, and it may be that "Mertikan" echoes just a bit too close to "American" that I'm reaching for parallels that aren't intended. Certainly, Born to the Blade is not presenting as commentary on America today, but it is also something that won't go away in the back of my mind. We don't read in a vacuum, after all.

The first two episodes of Born to the Blade are written by Michael R. Underwood ("Arrivals") and Marie Brennan ("Fault Lines") and they both serve as introduction as well as hook. There's just enough cliffhanger at the end of each episode that I finish eager and ready for the next.

Thus far into Born to the Blade we are introduced to the politics of the island / city. At this point, Underwood and Brennan have only revealed the outlines of how things fit together. We know there was a rebellion, a captured "Golden Lord", and the Mertikans want him recovered and killed. We see how Kris, a young bladecrafter, is seeking a spot on the Warder's Circle - the first for his home country. We see Michiko work as a junior warder, learning the city, but also clinging to a fragile alliance. "Arrivals" and "Fault Lines" are apt titles for the first two episodes because Underwood and Brennan give us exactly that. They both serve as introduction and they are a fitting start to the serial. The fault lines are clear, the burgeoning conflict beginning to take shape. Our reading appetites are whet.

Given there was already one very significant surprise in the first episode, I have no idea where the writers of Born to the Blade are going to take this story. The one thing I do know is that I'm on board and along for this ride.

Reading this felt like being dropped into a Dungeons and Dragons game, and I *think* that's an intentional perk. I was excited to see Serial Box tackling high fantasy, and this has an intriguing enough world and sigil-and-sword-based magic system to keep me reading. That said, it runs up against two competing forces--the need for enough expository information to set the world up (which a novel would have more time and space to do) alongside the need of a serial story to keep things moving quickly, so the result is a somewhat hectic intro. Promising start, though, and I'll keep reading to see this story find its feet.

Serial Box is a concept I've been on since the beginning. Episodic fiction released on a weekly basis, covering the gamut from horror, to fantasy, chick lit to historical, YA to thrillers. Born to the Blade is one of the latest serials, and the first episode was intriguing.

It does start out as a collection of tropes. You have an empire spreading out (represented by a character whose name evokes the Roman Empire), a recently conquered, but not completely, realm that is very Japanese. There is an independent and trying to stay that way realm that hosts something of a league of nations, where disputes are resolved through ritual combat between wardens who work magic with their swords.

And yet, the realms are islands floating in the sky, but the mineral that makes it float is so valuable that it is mined, but if too much is mined, the island it's mined from will sink into the dangerous mists. And the spirits of your ancestors make their presence known verbally, giving advice. And in one realm, everyone changes gender from time to time.

The first episode introduces the characters in the story, starting out with the hostage lord of the recently conquered realm being rescued, then making a run for the neutral territory to try to find refuge. There are two prospective wardens, traveling to the same location, and everything comes together there, with a twist at the end that actually surprised me,

After reading the first episode, I promptly headed over to SerialBox.com and bought a season pass, adding the series to the list already in my library. I look forward to seeing where things go next.

a great new beginning to a new series!! it captivates the reader and is hard to put down.

I really like the way that serial box works and I thought that I'd give this new offering a try. This is a good opening gambit. The world seems like a very interesting one - five islands in the sky with ships piloting between them, lots of political machinations and a battle game that is used to solve disagreements. Couple this with a diverse cast of characters and I am sold. Looking forward to the next instalment and there are some good authors signed up for future chapters, so I hope the series will be the most compelling Serial Box offering to date.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Arrivals is the first instalment in a new series from Serial Box and since I had just finished this season of False Idols, I was looking for my next serial. It was quite a switch from False Idols, as Arrivals provide what feels like an old-fashioned but well thought of and enjoyable high fantasy.

There is a lot of introduction of new characters which made it a little bit chaotic and I didn't feel a connection yet with the characters, but some of the things show promise to become very interesting. I particularly liked the floating lands.

For now I will continue.

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I’ve been wanting to check out one of the Serial Box stories from the beginning, so took a look at this one. And I do think it’s an intriguing story for which I’m not the ideal audience.

The swords-and-symbols magic system will probably interest many, while I got distracted thinking about the implications of a couple of non-dueling uses we see early on. It feels like a world of possibilities, where I happen to want to explore other facets.

I enjoyed the beginning of this story, but if you’re in the mood for swords with sorcery, you’ll probably enjoy it even more. I can readily think of friends I’d recommend the serial to.

TL;DR: Arrivals is a promising start to Serial Box’s Born to the Blade series. Recommended.

Serialized stories are not new. Magazines published novels and stories in parts, but this form of storytelling fell out of popularity as audiences wanted complete storylines. Novellas and novelettes also declined in popularity, but in the past few years, the form has gotten renewed interest. So, why not serialized stories? Serial Box is answering that question with high quality episodic tales. With The Witch Who Came in from the Cold and Bookburners, I’ve been interested in Serial Box’s offerings, but I haven’t yet had the Serial Box experience. Arrivals, episode one of Born to the Blade, piqued my curiosity. Formal, magical duels won me over, and I’m happy it did. This first episode lays a lot of groundwork down without overburdening the reader with world building. If you’re interested in sword fighting and sigil magic, there’s a whole lot more here for you.

Arrivals

Exploring the Serial Box website, you see that they organize their series by season and episode, which makes the comparison to television series unavoidable. The site lists eleven episodes for season one of Born to the Blade, and if each episode builds off this one, this will be an excellent story. On the website, Serial Box is listing four authors for this project: Michael R. Underwood, Malka Older, Marie Brennan, and Cassandra Khaw; all of these authors are well regarded and on my new writer (to me) watchlist.

Mr. Underwood wrote episode one, which introduces us to various countries of the sky. This action packed prologue gives us our first taste of the magic system, which at the moment is connected to the blade. I’m interested to know if the sigil requires only a sword or can other tools/weapons act as a substitute. The sky society revolves around swords; the magic system, even the government, is sword based; so, I’m guessing that magic is only capable with the sword. Dueling is an integral part of the society, and I look forward to seeing how its explored in future episodes. I liked how Mr. Underwood weaved the sigil magic in with the sword fighting; it worked. The worry about any magic system is always if magic exists, what are the limits on it? We see that even though magic exists in this world, Mr. Underwood shows that it’s not ominpotent, but the system is modifiable enough that the authors have freedom to expand. It reminded me of living card games, where you can add boosts to your characters, but Mr. Underwood did a better job with it than my description.

Writing

Episode one carries a large burden. It has to introduce us to the world, set up future conflict, maintain our interest in the story enough to continue, and be readable through action and tension. Arrivals pulls it all off. Many themes exist in this first portion; imperialism, cultural clash, the effects of propaganda, and political flexibility. With each chapter, the world of Born to the Blade deepened as the story flew through the sky. Mr. Underwood set the stage for adventure.

Serial Format

As I said, Arrivals is my first dip into the Serial Box offerings, and I liked it. The story is short, but Serial Box prices the episodes affordably. Though it ends with a major revelation, it didn’t end on a cliffhanger, which was my fear. It has a beginning, middle, and end. I wasn’t sure that I’d enjoy it knowing I wouldn’t have the whole story, but when I read the last word, I had finished a whole story that is also a puzzle piece for a larger story. After years of being programmed by reading large, door-stopping epics that sort of, kind of end but not really, I enjoyed that the story had an arc, not just a cliffhanger. In a way, it felt closer to television in that the episode had its own arc that fits into the overall arc. It seems likely this is a feature of the pilot episode and further into the story cliffhangers might be required. In short, though a quick story, Arrivals satisfied.

Conclusion

Arrivals starts off the Born to the Blade series in a fun, magic packed story. This opening teases at a larger, complex world where politics involves duels and airborne islands. Recommended.

7 out of 10

The Series didn't really hook in me so I won't be reading the rest of them!