4.5 Stars!

Thank you Macmillan for sending me a free eARC of this book in exchange of an honest review.

Trigger Warning: Talk of murdered parents, on page killing

I just wrote a LONG review for this, and it all got deleted. So I'm super pissed... but anyway... TAKE TWO!

Tricia Levenseller has done it again! She continues to be one of my favorite, and one of the most underrated, authors. I have yet to read a book of hers that I do not love, and Blade of Secrets was no different.

Characters

Ziva is our leading lady, and the person whose POV we are reading from for the entire story. She was an amazing and unique MC to read about. She is 6 feet tall and buff, and not at all hard on herself about her appearance. She loves being a blacksmith and is proud of her strength! She also is dealing with severe social anxiety which was really refreshing to read about in fantasy and from a MC. My favorite thing about Ziva is how much she loves her sister and is willing to do anything for her.

Temra is Ziva's younger sister, and our other main lady. Where Ziva is shy, Temra is outspoken and fierce. It was impossible not to love her. I really appreciated that as the younger sister, she still felt a need to protect her sister.

Kellyn is a mercenary that the sister's hire to give them safe travel and to protect them from the one hunting them. He is a sexy redhead, and he knows he has good looks. At first, he seems rough around the edges, but you learn he has a heart of gold, and I really enjoyed getting to see more layers of him. He is the classic: looks like he could kill you, can actually kill you, and is also a cinnamon roll.

Petrik is our resident smart boy. He is a scholar that is studying magic, and wants to learn more about Ziva and her trade, so he follows the girls on their journey. He is definitely the: looks like a cinnamon roll, is actually a cinnamon roll character, and I love him for it! He constantly had me laughing, and I fell hard for him. I love me a nerdy boy. He is also a black character, which is really nice to see in fantasy! It was not spoken about often, or used as a developing point, but it was mentioned multiple times, and once was when we saw someone staring at him for his skin color.

Relationships

My favorite relationship was definitely between the sisters. I love how protective they were of each other, and how genuine the relationship felt. Yes, they fought, and said stupid things sometimes, but they always apologized and forgave each other. You can tell that they are the most important thing in the world to each other, and I loved that!

Ziva and Kellyn was a fun relationship! I think they suited each other really well, and helped bring out the best in each other. I hope we get to see them develop more, but I really did enjoy what we did see. Kellyn definitely turned into a soft boy around her, and it made my heart melt!

Temra and Petrik were an amazing relationship and I can't wait to see where it goes! We did not get to see as much of them because it was from Ziva's POV, but what we did see, I loved!

Plot

The plot of this book was really good, and it definitely had me hooked right away! I was into the story the entire time, and never found myself bored.

In true Levenseller fashion, there were also some twists along the way, and I loved every single one!

The last 20% of the book had me gasping, and screaming! And the ending was PERFECT!! I can't wait for the next book!

Why Not 5 Stars?

There is only one reason that this one did not get 5 stars from me, and that is the lack of world building. This is a common thing in Levenseller's books, and it normally doesn't bother me. With this book though, I really felt we were missing something by not having all of the background on this world.

There were two parts of the book where we got a paragraph worth of information on the world and how they feel about magic, but that was it.

Considering this whole book they are traveling and going to different places, and everything is happening based on a big event that changed the world years ago, I just felt that we needed more to really understand the context.

It was still fine, but I think it could have been so much better if we had this information.

Overall

Overall, I absolutely loved this book and I can't wait for the next one!

I highly recommend it, especially if you're new to fantasy, or don't like the info dumps.

I wasn’t sure what to think for the first couple of chapters. However, as I continued to read, the character quirks of Ziva made sense. I enjoyed all the characters and what they contributed to the story. The tall sexy mercenary with a soft heart. Ziva’s sister who is a firecracker warrior, and the scholar in the dress lol. I wanted to keep reading, there was too much going on, so much action, that couldn’t find a good spot to stop. I thought that I was a standalone and I’m pleased that it’s not.

I’m working through my backlog and am honestly disappointed that I wasn't able to finish/review this back when it originally released. There was a lot going on for me around this books release but I'm glad I have finally read it because I loved so much about this.
This was an enjoyable fast-paced book full of great banter, adventure and wonderful characters. I loved the friendships they developed but especially the sisterly bond between Ziva and Temra. There is also a sweet romance and I’m looking forward to seeing how it develops.
What I enjoyed the most was the social anxiety representation. As someone with social anxiety, I can relate to Zivas struggles and so much of how she thinks/feels when it comes to dealing with people. It was nice seeing how accepting everyone around her was.
The cliffhanger ending had me needing to pick up the next book ASAP.

Well I am working on cleaning up some of my NetGalley backlog and I can’t believe I waited so long to read this one! Blade of Secrets is a fantasy centered around an epic quest brought on by a magical sword forged by a magical smithy, Ziva. A quest can’t be completed without others and Ziva is lucky enough to be joined by her sister, an inquisitive scholar and a handsome mercenary. Together they battle many and fight amongst themselves often. I listened to the audiobook and it was incredible! Definitely add this one to your tbr!

One of my favorite reads, portraying mental health especially anxiety and the fantasy was a fascinating mix that I would love to see more of.

I love the premise of a main character who can craft magic into weapons and armor. I love the representation of someone with anxiety in a fantasy novel. I love the sisterhood dynamic being at the forefront here. Unfortunately, that's where my love for this book stops. The storyline felt muddled and confused. While I enjoyed the villain reveal, I found them to be very one-tone with no deeper motivations. I do want to try the sequel though, since I think that the basic premise and characters have promise, if they can be fleshed out more deeply.

Such and easy and fast paced fantasy that I didn’t know I needed! Ziva is a blacksmith and has created a weapon of mass destruction and she needs to go on the run with her sister. Mind you we also got a mercenary and a magic scholar rounding out this rag tag team to keep this weapon out of the wrong hands. Social anxiety rep, great banter and that cliffhanger! Running off to get book 2

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

Ziva is a magical blacksmith who creates weapons with a touch of magic added. She lives with her younger sister Temra. Their parents were killed when Ziva was five. They lived at an orphanage and then Ziva was trained by a blacksmith until he retired. Ziva and Temra now run a smithy business together. Ziva’s abilities are widely known and when a warlord gives her a job, she’s thrilled. Until she discovers the warlord’s plans to conquer the kingdom and enslave the people. She decides to take her magical weapons and run with her sister. They take Petrik, a scholar, and Kellyn, a mercenary, along for safety. They head to their father’s family that they’ve never met, thinking that’s the safest place to go. On their travels, they deal with ambushes and the worry of trusting Petrik and Kellyn. Their grandmother welcomes them when they arrive and they attend religious services with her. The priestess delivers the sermon about the dangers of magic and that magic holders should be and will be killed. Ziva and Temra are terrified. That’s just another dangerous situation among many that they have to deal with on their mission to protect the kingdom from the warlord’s lofty, greedy goals. The group dynamics are interesting and their banter made me laugh several times. The book started off a bit slow in the first few pages but then picked up the pace and then I couldn’t stop reading it! A fun, dangerous adventure with the added touch of magic, 5 stars!

I really enjoyed this! It's a fast story with a lot of action, and I appreciated how Ziva's anxiety was written. The sister relationship was top notch too, and both sisters got a lot of page time being very cool characters.

I loved Blades of Secrets!!! This novel is just full of a wonderful cast of characters who I feel in love with instantly. I also have already read master of iron which is the second book and it was EPIC!!!!

I really did enjoy this book, but I felt there were some moments in the book that were extremely rushed. The characters relationships were also built well, but then lacked connection towards the end of the book. The plot also felt like I knew what the ending would be (slightly overused plot).

This book was SO GOOD!! I could not put it down, I read it in one sitting. It’s the perfect mix of adventure with a twist of fantastical elements and a bit of quest. I enjoyed the characters and relationships throughly. As someone who has two sisters I love how the author made you feel just how important Ziva and her sister were to each other. It was something I could relate to 100%. The main character Ziva is one I cant quite decide if I like or not. As someone who doesn’t struggle with social anxiety that much, I think I just had a hard time relating to and understanding her. Her actions are very contradicting and I find her to be very impulsive and unfair to some of the characters around her- Kelly’s especially- and she comes off extremely immature to me. I definitely look forward to reading the second book!

I finished this in one day. One. I adore Ziva, and the fact that horses and blacksmithing are featured because that's a new concept for me in Ya fantasy!! It seems like a small band of misfits/unlikely allies overcame so much, and found family is one of my favorite components. the twist was almost too much for my poor heart, and I'm so glad it worked out. Looking forward to the next one!!

I really enjoyed Levenseller's Daughter of the Pirate King duology, but I could not get into her Warrior of the Wild book, so while I was excited to read this book, I was also cautious in my enthusiasm.
I really did enjoy this book, and it was a pretty quick read for me, but it definitely isn't the best fantasy book I've ever read, though I am definitely not the target demographic of this book either. I loved the representation of social anxiety in this book, as it is something I deal with daily and also not something I see represented in books. I loved the action and sword fighting, I loved the banter in this books that was fun and never annoying or felt overdone or forced, the adventure was fun and left me excited to turn the page, and of course the romance was lovely.
There were moments while reading that I found myself looking for more, and there were moments where I found myself annoyed with the characters, but that's due to the ages of the characters and because this book was written for teens, so that's definitely a me problem.
I truly enjoyed reading this book and I am definitely excited for the sequel!

Ziva is unlike most heroines of fantasy – she’s crippled by social anxiety. Instead of being at the forefront fighting evil, she hides in the background, fearful of drawing attention to herself. Her skill at creating weapons imbued with magical powers makes her a target for ruthless people who want to control her.

Ziva and her sister team up with two young men. One is a mercenary and the other a scholar. Though they work as a team, they have their own motives. Primarily, they want to safeguard their land from a warlord who wants dominion over all the kingdoms. Ziva is considered key to gaining domination and her efforts to stay out of the hands of the enemy, may be impossible.

Like Bardugo’s characters, Ziva’s band is made up of uniquely different personalities who complement each other. And having a disabled lead character brings to mind Kemmerer’s fictional Harper in A Curse So Dark and Lonely. These strong characters are the heart of the book. They are unlikely heroes but they will endear themselves to the readers who will follow this duology with enthusiasm.

Review will be posted on Forever Young Adult on 3/28/22:

Cover Story: Fantasyyyyy! *Jazz Hands*

I joke, but as “classic fantasy” as an image of a cool sword is, it’s refreshingly different than the cartoon covers trend we’ve seen permeating every genre of publishing lately, so I’ll take it! And to be fair, that is a pretty badass hilt. If I could wield a sword with any kind of expertise, I wouldn’t be ashamed to have that sitting at my hip.

The Deal:

Magic was once outlawed in Ghadra—a country once united and now separated into six provinces, each ruled by the former king’s children—and mages were hunted and killed. But times are a-changing, and since there aren’t many magic-users left, Ziva’s talent with imbuing magic with weaponry means she is a hot commodity known throughout the land. As someone who struggles with social anxiety and would much prefer the solitude of her forge to dealing with, well, anyone, Ziva could care less about her social stature and leaves the customer interactions to her sister, Temra.

But then she catches the eye of Kymora, the old king’s former general, who now runs the largest mercenary army that roams the six provinces unchecked. Initially, Ziva is drawn to Kymora’s confidence and admiration for her work, but after creating a broadsword so powerful it can cut enemies without a touch and steals their very secrets from their minds, Ziva realizes that no one, especially Kymora, should have such absolute power within their grasp.

Along with her sister and a few other surprise companions, Ziva leaves in the middle of the night, determined to find a way to destroy her own creation. But Kymora won’t let go that easily, and the road isn’t a tranquil place for someone like Ziva.

BFF Charm: Peas In A Pod

I will not pretend that I have anywhere near the level of anxiety Ziva feels in social situations, for which I am grateful, BUT I can totally relate to feeling uncomfortable in large groups, constantly second-guessing what you said, finding the right words one-on-one with someone you find intimidating (in a good or bad way), needing time alone, etc. etc. I’m an introvert who has definitely had to talk myself into attending certain events, or, heck, leaving the house on my own, and it was at once so nice to see that in fiction and so frustrating to watch Ziva go through this (because logically I know it’s FINE but anxiety isn’t always logical). Social issues aside, Ziva is hard-working, a bit naïve but loyal, and I’d be honored if she felt comfortable enough around me to call me a friend.

Also, shout-out to her sis, Temra, as she is a great sister and all-around cool-ass chick. She gets an honorary BFF charm too!

Swoonworthy Scale: 7

Since she’s so withdrawn from people, Ziva doesn’t have any romantic experience and hasn’t really ever felt attracted to anyone….UNTIL she sees the fine, golden-red haired specimen that is sellsword Kellyn. Their first interaction, as she and Temra are fleeing town and decide to hire a very drunk Kellyn to protect them, dulls the shine of him in her eyes, but by the time the book is done I was half in love with him myself. There are some great tropey moments to be found within the pages that I don’t want to spoil, but Levenseller does the blush of first love—and, more specifically, respectful yet cocky and hottie love interests—SO WELL.

Talky Talk: Familiarly Fun

As far as the general plot goes, if you’re a fantasy reader: you’ve read this before. This is a “run from the bad guys, make some new friends, journey around the kingdom—oops, something goes wrong and we gotta run again” kinda book. I, for one, like those a lot, and there’s something about Levenseller’s writing that I have consistently been drawn to, so picking this up was an obvious choice for me. Levenseller gave her story enough fresh details with things like Ziva’s social anxiety and blacksmith skills to keep me interested and wondering what would be next. It’s an easy, well-written read with likeable characters and two sweet burgeoning romances—it’s not going to reinvent the wheel or give you the most amazing world-building or most jaw-dropping reveals, but it’s familiar and comforting, and sometimes that’s exactly what I want!

(And luckily for me, because I waited so long to pick this up, the second part of this duology is coming out in May 2022 so there isn’t long to wait to see the resolution!)

Bonus Factor: Smithing

Metalworking is so fascinating. It’s often a very “masculine” coded job, but I loved how in Levenseller’s world this isn’t something people care about (they are, however, mistrustful of magic in general). I can only think of one other female character who specialized in metal and magic from another feminist writer, Tamora Pierce, and that’s Daja from her The Circle of Magic series. (In film, I immediately thought of Kate in A Knight’s Tale.) In addition, the way Ziva’s magic imbues the weapons she creates with different powers (a mace that can steal your breath, daggers that can shatter objects) is a fun and unique ability.

Bonus Factor: Found Family

Ziva only has Temra as their parents were killed when they were young, so as she begins to open up to her travel companions and form bonds, it’s very sweet to see. I love a good friends-to-family trope.

Relationship Status: Travel Companions

I wouldn’t be any good in a fight on the road, Book, but I’d be honored if you let me come along on your journey! I know there’s miles to go—and more stories to tell—before our time together is done.

FTC Full Disclosure: I received my free review copy from Feiwel & Friends. I received neither money nor peanut butter cups in exchange for this review. Blade of Secretsis available now.

This a an awesome book with a strong female lead who has very real issues that many struggle with. One of the best ways I have seen anxiety handled in a fiction book.

I think it's safe to say that Tricia ranks among my very favourite authors. Everything she writes is pure gold to me, and this one was no exception. I loved everything about this: the characters, the plot, the pace, the setting, the romance, everything. The main character's mental health issues felt very real to me, and I loved how it was portrayed in this book. I cannot wait for the second one!

As a big fan of Daughter of the Pirate King, I was very excited to read this book. While overall, it was a decent book, it did not grip me in the way that some of Levenseller's other books have.