Taking the world of Booktokkers and Bookstagrammers by storm was A Broken Blade by Melissa Blair.

In the first book to the series, an assassin Keera is requested by the King to hunt down the Shadow and defeat him.

In the process of fighting him, Keera and the Shadow learn they want the same thing: the king to d!3.

With its action packed fantasy and slow burn romance readers are just going to enjoy the epic adventure. On a side note it’s for new adults and not for the younger generation.

Now I’m on the hunt to find the next two books in the series in the lead up to the fourth book being published in 2025.

Thank you Netgalley and Union Square & Co for the digital copy of A Broken Blade for reviewing purposes.

This was such a fun read and definitely should have read sooner.

There is really interesting world that the story takes place and I can't wait to explore it in book 2. Absolutely worth the hype.

"A Broken Blade" totally swept me off my feet! It gave me all those vibes I love from books like "ACOTAR" and "The Shadows Between Us", so you can imagine how pumped I am to dive into the next books!

What I loved most about "A Broken Blade" was how it sucked me right into its world from the get-go. The world-building was so vivid and rich, with all its mysteries and magic. I found myself itching to learn more about the intricate political plots and the different magical powers that infused the story.

What an amazing debut!

The world-building in this book is simply marvelous. The author has crafted a captivating dark magical realm inhabited by humans, fae, and elves, each adding depth to the narrative.

The characters are exceptionally well-developed, with intricate layers that make them feel incredibly real. Keera, our morally gray main character, quickly became a favorite, and I found myself wholeheartedly invested in her journey. The character growth throughout the story also impressed me immensly.

Besides the exciting plot, the slow-burn romance is the highlight of this book. They started of as enemies and I loved the way their relationship slowly changes into something else.

Furthermore, the story is packed with action and filled with shocking twists that kept me on the edge of my seat. I'm very curious to see how the plot will unfold in the second book!

I really enjoyed the first installment of Keera's story. She is a badass that has a tough exterior but is all compassion on the inside. Keera is a half long forced to serve as the King's blade to kill others of her kind until she meets the Shadow who is working against the king. Keera needs to make a decision on where her loyalties lie and who she can trust. Tropes include enemies to lovers, who did that to you, one bed, morally gray characters, and LGBTQ+ representation.

I unfortunately don't think it is a book for me.

A Broken Blade has a lot of great attributes, and I really admire this author, beginning with Booktok and having a great community to help them grow & develop their story to publishing. I love that; that stuff makes me so happy.

I found the beginning to be the usually heavy information dump that many fantasy novels have, but something about how this was done didn't work for me. I struggled to connect or care about the information as it tied into the story. I found there were way too many people introduced to show the backstory & character of Keera j the beginning too.
Something was missing in this magical world. I found something lacking, and I cannot entirely focus on it. I found this book entertaining enough but not enough to adore or continue.

Thank you Net galley for sending me a free copy of a Broken Blade in exchange for a honest review!



Due to my large list of books I want to read,I ended up reading this a bit later than most.


I honestly wanted to rate this book at least one star higher, considering the excellent world building,well crafted politics and diverse characters.


I absolutely adored the MC,and her character development was extremely well written.


The only things keeping me from giving this a rating of 5 stars is the romance. The development of the romance felt unstable.



Overall I enjoyed this and will be looking forward to the next book!

This book was an entertaining read! I really appreciated the diversity in representation of the characters and the world building was good. The main character is feisty and that's really relatable. I'm glad the series in continuing so that more of the story can be developed.

Firstly, the covers are spectacular and those alone generated my initial interest in this series.

Keera, our heroine, who is imperfect, quick on her feet, and fearless. This series is a little darker than many of the other fantasy series. I liked the world-building, character diversity, and the lack of biases with which the characters were treated. Keera was the angsty, salty problem solver we'd all like to be in our daily lives. I will definitely read all the sequels.

This was a fun, darker and grittier fantasy romance novel - I liked how it didn't shy away from some heavier topics. While it took me a few chapters to get into the story and characters, I got sucked in and flew through the story and even read Book 2!

This one is a DNF for me. The writing was very basic and almost choppy with lots of shirt sentences. The way it was written didn't alow foe me to get into the story.

Exciting, gripping, heartbreaking, this book really had it all. Keera is the Blade to the king, a halfling assassin who wants the king dead for everything he has done. Keera has been sent by the king to hunt for the shadow, a rebel who has been causing trouble for the king. I can't say much more without giving anything away but it's a very interesting story and I look forward to seeing the characters grow and the plot progress.

So So So Good. Strong female characters - check. Sapphic - check. Badass fantasy novel - check, check, check!

Enjoyed this book so much and I can't wait to see what comes next from Blair. Also, I know you aren't supposed to judge but... look at that cover!!

I will admit this one pleasantly surprised me. There was a lot of hype surrounding this book and I was skeptical but I went into it with an open mind. I mean, the synopsis kind of sums up all my favorite things in a fantasy read and I am a sucker for a book with Fae. 😂

Keera is an assassin and a spy, she’s the Kings Blade. No spoilers but this book is full of action, intrigue, and tension. I like the writing. It was easy to get into and follow the story. The story itself kept my attention the majority of the book. The writing was well done and I was a little shocked to find out that this is the authors debut.

If you love fantasy reads with action, secrets, tension, and intrigue you might just love A Broken Blade. I will be reading the next one.

**Thank you to the author for the review copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

I typically try not to get into books that tik tok hypes up, but "A Broken Blade" was actually worth it. I'm always wary of people who compare fae/high fantasy stores to SJM or Holly Black because they almost never live up to those for me, but I would absolutely put this book up there with them.

Admittedly there were times I felt like I wasn't really paying attention to the plot because there were a few dry spots, and it was a bit confusing occasionally as I didn't fully understand the motive. But it was eventually all revealed by the end, I just needed to be patient!

Keera, Riven, and his whole crew - everything about them was *chefs kiss*. The romance was also incredibly well done and I worry for the future of this couple...

But seriously - this plot was soo soo good. I'm fairly good at predicting plot twists so I was actually pleasantly surprised this time around and I will give Melissa Blair props for being able to fool even me.

It was so much fun reading this book and I'm in the middle of waiting for the second book to be available through my library on hoopla so I can listen to it on audio this time!

The story was good but for some reason I couldnt connect with the protagonist. I found her quite frustating.
I liked thought reading her grow and change trought the book. The second characters were good and I liked (not loved) the love interest.
In general the book was okey but I think that maybe it just was not for me. It took me a long long time to get trough it, It just did not grab me, but for any good romance and fantasy reader, I think they will like it.

I really enjoyed this book. The characters and the world kept me hooked from the first page. The way Blair has created the world and how the character move through this world was great. The plot and background for each character was interesting and I can't wait to see what happens in the next one.

Was it predictable? yes, but did I still enjoyed every moment of it? Also, yes.

This book has a lot of Celaena Sardothien vibes. From the scars to the skilled assassin...and some other things that I can't say without giving it away....but again it's predictable so you could probably guess it as fast as I did.

But, it was nice to see her crawl back from the bottom of the bottle to help the people of her kingdom. I can't wait to get started on the next one

Thank you, NetGalley and Union Square, for this ARC!

I completely forgot I read this book, so here are my notes and thoughts.

Let us begin with the good things: I liked 1. the MC, 2. the representation, and 3. the action.

1. Keera is very different from other women leads in the Fantasy genre, so I enjoyed reading something different from our classical "She is so beautiful and so powerful, but she doesn't know any of this yet"; she knows she is dangerous, she is flawed, and morally grey (I am a sucker for this kind of MCs).

2. Everywhere you read, you will find diverse characters. LGBTQ, disabled, POC, you name it, and, in my opinion, this made the book stand out from most Fantasy books; it is my favourite genre, and I will read pretty much everything to find a new favourite, but it certainly gets boring when most authors make their characters identical in looks and experiences (God save R.F. Kuand, N.K. Jemisin and all the new Fantasy POC authors who are giving us different backgrounds!)

3. A Broken Blade is fast-paced and full of turns and twists. I appreciate a book with more than a romantic subplot (which ABB has, and it was pretty good!); there were so many political and historical things going on in this book that I thank the author for taking into consideration that not all Fantasy books need to be like ACOTAR (I love me some romance and smüt in all books, but I also like plots, you know?)

Now to the not-so-great stuff, shall we?

Although Melissa Blair has a fantastic storytelling voice, and I had high hopes for Keera, this book wanted to have everything and be everything. And I am sure 100% that without some of the MC's "adult" flaws, this saga would fit right in with other YA books, which does not mean YA is not great, but it felt written at times for a younger audience.

Now, yes, it does have a strong world-building and a historical/political side to it, Blair tried her best not to make it another Booktok book, BUT well, if you enjoyed ACOTAR, you will probably like this one too (and it is not just because of the fae factor.)

Overall, will I read the second one? Possibly, I want to see where Blair is going and how she plans to move forward with this story, so I shall continue once it is up for grabs in my public library.

This was a great introduction to what promises to be an amazing fantasy series. I loved Keera so much, not only because she’s a badass assassin but also because she has her own demons that she constantly battles with in an effort to do her job and not be dragged under. The only thing I loved just as much as Keera was the world building. I really appreciated how the author slowly revealed things about the world and the events which occurred long before the events of the book take place. This metering out of information made it easy to understand the world and how it works from the beginning, versus having everything presented right out of the gate and then having to read halfway through the book before finally understanding how everything works.

The pacing of the book kept me reading pretty much non-stop from the time I began until the book was over, I only set it down long enough to go grocery shopping for dinner. Unlike some fantasy books which can get really bogged down halfway through the story, I didn’t find that to be an issue with this book. I loved seeing what Keera would discover next and where her findings would take her.

The other thing I loved about this book was the slow burn romance that checked the box of enemies to lovers as well as the ever uncertain only one bed moment. I loved this debut and cannot wait for the next book to come out. After that ending, I needed it yesterday.