Imgur link goes to Instagram graphic scheduled for May 24th
Blog post goes live May 26th
To be discussed in April Reads pt 2

TL;DR: An absolutely banger - I was so surprised by this but delighted.
Source: NetGalley, thank you so much to the publisher!

Plot: This hops between three narratives. One is excerpts from a book about dragons and their slayers, and two following Maddileh in the past and present as she pursues the Fireborne Blade. They feed together fantastically.
Characters: We mainly focus on Maddileh, but I enjoyed all our secondary characters. Having seen the next book will feature Saralene as our primary, I’m SO excited.
Setting: The most interesting of settings were the insides of Dragon lairs, various ones described. That was unique and something I did not expect!
Magic: Some hints and drops at magic, specifically draconic magic. I am very interested to see where the next story goes.

Thoughts:

I had hopes that this would be at least fun, based on how gorgeous the cover was. It was legitimately a cover read. I can’t deny my thought process went ‘Badass lady warrior and a dragon? Yeah I’ll read that’. And read it I did and delighted I was. This one follows Maddileh who is seeking the Fireborne Blade, a historical and coveted sword kept by one of the oldest and strongest of Dragons within her lair. We follow her into that lair and also in the past as she seeks the pieces that will help her quest. We also see excerpts from a tome of historical attacks on Dragons and their lairs and what all that entails, and the history of the beasts. What a fantastically woven story.

The thing that impresses me the most here was how well I felt the world was built for being such a short book. The history is teased just enough to get me excited, the Dragons and mankind's interactions and how those affect the world were all so clear in my mind. I’ll be thinking about this for days to come. The characters themselves weren’t the strongest, but I enjoyed the journey we went on with them. I want to know more about what Saralene and Maddileh end up doing, the ending was a twist I never would have seen coming, and it has setup a series nicely.

If you want a story of women trumping the system to come out on top, especially in the face of betrayal and sexism. This is a great story. It’s not over the top and in your face, and it’s well drawn as a fantasy that doesn’t depend on just the conflict. I pre-ordered this after reading it and I can’t wait to read the next one in the series.

4.5 out of 5 truly terrifying Dragon Dead

This is a fast paced quick read, that’s high fantasy about knights who hunt dragons. A classic take on fantasy with a bit of twist with a woman knight, who is our main pov, trying to be equal with the male knights. She is after the Fireborne Blade which is held by the White Lady dragon, who no one has been able to kill yet. There is multiple timelines in this as well as excerpts from past knights accounts on hunting different dragons. I highly enjoyed all the different abilities different dragons possessed. The magic in this book was really intriguing as well. I felt a bit of sorrow over the dragons being slayed during this book 🐉 You could easily fly through this book in one or two sittings. I did have a jaw drop moment during this book, I would say this is great book if your in a slump 🖤 I’m really curious about the next book and looking forward to it ✨

What a fantastic novella! I saw the second novella in the series being advertised on Reactor and instantly became interested in the series. Tons of world building in a very short time, but it all makes sense and flows. I loved the use of flashbacks and records from archives. Excellent writing and a compelling hero, I cannot wait for the second book to become available!

3.5/5 but rounded to 4.
"Another dragon book?" If that was your first thought, you wouldn't be alone. While I love the dragon rider books I've read, I also reached a bit of a point in thinking "Ooookay, maybe not more dragon books?" But The Fireborne Blade sits out the outside of a typical dragon book. In fact, it kind of reminded me of Skyrim.

In this world, dragons and humans are enemies. Nothing revolutionary there. But the knights we hear about or their adventures are all about the dragons being killed. These little excerpts are known as The Demise and Demesne of Dragons. I really enjoyed these sprinkled between the chapters. I also really enjoyed the descriptions of the different effects of each dragon death. It wasn't the same for each one we get the record of. Nevertheless, the descriptions of the dragons’ deaths themselves actually were quite sad. "Right but it's a dragon. You know it would eat you?" And??? What am I bringing to the table that's so important?

As to how we get the records, that touches on the magic accessories of the world. Largely this seems to be orbs. Light orbs, chronology orbs, record orbs, they basically do all the things you'd expect from a flashlight, clock and camera but as orbs. Which in a world of mages, knights and dragons, I can get behind. You've got an orb that records sight and sounds for later viewing? Sure, why not.

Onto the actual story. We have Maddileh on a quest for The Fireborne Blade and we get to learn what this is while she's stalking through the caves and tunnels with her not very good squire, Petros. I really enjoyed the story within a story. It was short and sweet, and I liked it. Why is she on a quest for a mysterious blade in a dragon’s tunnel? Besides just being what knights do in this world, she punched her ex (I think it was her ex) in the face. We have Maddileh's flashback of his parting words to her and you know, I get why she was throwing hands.

Now, I'll admit I wasn't over the moon with the story or anything but there is a moment in the caves when all is said and done that is very good. I knew I didn't trust her squire, not least because we're given that vibe the whole book as Maddileh hates magic, but I didn't know why I didn't trust him. And again, that was VERY good.

The novella is packed full of dragons, knights and touches of magic, the back and forth of events in Maddileh's life to what she is progressing through in the cave is done well. I'd probably say I felt a bit of a dip and the end, chapter 22 if I'm being specific but the epilogue brought it right back. Which I appreciated, because again, the dragon deaths made me sad.

Oh snap! I did NOT see that coming.

This is a full on dragon quest. Grab your armour and your sword, WE GOING HUNTING!

We follow our queer FMC on different timelines throughout the book while she hunts one of the oldest dragons which is supposed to be in possession of a valued object that will get her back in the grace of the king after she punched the shit out of a lying wizard. She's in company of a hateful squire that thinks himself too good to follow a woman.

I ate this is one go. Yeah, it's less than 200 pages, but still.

There's only one question unanswered but the more I think of it, the more I believe you can just roll with it.

While reading it I thought the chapter half PHD research belonged better in a longer book, but those are there for a reason.

This could be a standalone and be good as it is, but the fact that there's a sequel makes me happy.

I loved almost every second of this book! Loved the simplicity of the writing style! The plot twist was unexpected too!

Well wasn’t this clever? Despite its length, Fireborne Blade gave us plenty of lore and worldbuilding with the segments from the dragon records - though I wish we knew the date of the present story to better put those tales in context. Maddileh was a complex character whose confidence in herself remains unshaken despite society’s view of her and women like her. Without going too far into the weeds, we got a very good picture of a sexist society and how hard women must fight (and how rules must be bent on their behalf, which requires money and/or power on the part of their benefactors) to become either knights or mages.

I would have liked a bit more of Maddileh’s backstory pre-disgrace, though I think we certainly got enough to understand her for the purposes of the plot. And I certainly wanted much more of Saralene, though I believe that will come in book two.

I also really liked how the story was laid out, with a big reveal coming late in the game which is handled brilliantly.

This book pulled off something relatively rare for me at this point, in that it took a turn that truly surprised me. An excellent, fun, dark novella.

This was an obvious request for me just based on the cover alone! I’m always on the lookout for the next great dragon book, and, of course, the heroine front and center also places it firmly in my wheel house for reading preferences! The plot synopsis also promised a lot of classic fantasy fun: knights, dragon-hunting, and dangerous adventures full of redemption and possibly romance! So, how did it all turn out?

Well, for the most part, well enough. I know that’s not a killer start to a review, but it also sums up my reading experience fairly well. There was nothing objectively wrong with this book, and, frankly, there was a lot to like during much of it. But while we’ve seen other books shine with a reduced page count (see “When Among Crows”), this one shows the other side of the equation, one where the overall impact and pacing of the book was hampered by its short length. But let’s start with the good stuff!

First of all, I really enjoyed the structure of this book and the way it introduced the dragons of this world. In between chapters, we had inserts from past knights’ experiences with dragons, dutifully recorded by the scribes of this world. These brief tales were often the most fun parts of the book, being hilarious and terrifying in their own right and neatly delivering a ton of world-building and lore regarding the dragons and their magic.

And as for the dragons, I appreciated the mix of the “classic” dragon archetype alongside some creative new takes on their magic. For the most part, these dragons are the sort readers are most familiar with: live in caves with hordes of treasure, come out every once in a while to terrorize the land, and, of course, the best foes for a knight looking to prove their worth! But, alongside these familiar elements, the inclusion of the magical dangers that occur when a dragon dies added the dash of something new that I needed.

I also liked our main character and the cast of side characters that surrounded her. But here is where things began to fall apart a bit for me. While I liked what we were given, I also was left wishing we had gotten a bit more of a character arch. I liked the broad sweeps that we had, but the story had to rush through so many things, especially towards the end, that I never felt like the emotional stakes were as high as I was wanting. And, as for the pacing, the last fourth of the book felt incredibly rushed. I thought the way everything was resolved was clever, but it almost happened so quickly that it was over before I had fully realized what was even happening!

Overall, this was a fun, fast read, but it never quite rose to the highs that I was hoping for! The incredible potential almost ended up working against it, as I was increasingly aware of the few numbers of pages I had left as I made my way through the book. That said, if you’re looking for a high fantasy novella that delivers all of the classic fantasy goods, this is one to check out!

Rating 7: Checks all of the right boxes, but a rushed conclusion dropped my reading experience down a bit.

Review will go live on The Library Ladies on May 15)

A dragon slayer short story novella that follows our Main Character Maddileh. We enter the novella following Sir Nathaniel and his story slaying the Dragon Glebe-Reaver. It goes really fast and we find that out that the breath of dragons can be toxic as well as the “sludge” that can come from them can be detrimental to humans.
After that we meet Maddileh. She is trying to gain her honor back basically. The king confiscated her Armour and she feels she needs to get the Fireborne Blade if she wants to gain her standing back. The second chapter opens with this information and her going into the demesne of a dragon to acquire it.
For some reason I did kind of picture her as Brianne of Tairth when I started reading this but overall I really liked Maddileh character. I really do wish that this was a full length novel and not novella size I think it would have been fantastic even longer, The pacing was great and I picked it up and blinked and it was over. I definitely will be checking out the next one in the series!

Dragons are at the center of this book as it seems that all the worldbuilding that could have happened was allocated to the dragons. For the length, there wasn't much more the author could have crammed in there. I liked the journal entries in every other chapter.

This is a great book for anyone wanting too read a dragon fantasy.

This tried to do a lot of things for a novella and I found the overall quality of the narrative suffered due to the pacing. The very last part started to get very interesting and I wish more time had spent fleshing out all the action packed into those few pages instead of the history book chapters and numerous flashbacks.

THE FIREBORNE BLADE - Charlotte Bond

Matar un dragón. Robar su tesoro. Acabar con su magia. Convertirse en una heroina. Parece fácil y obvio, pero es la única salida que le queda a Maddileh para "recuperar su honor" de caballero. Así que se adentra en la cueva de la legendaria dragona White Lady, para descubrir que hay una conspiración, de la que sólo es un peón. ¿Puede Maddileh salir de ella? ¿Puede recuperar su honor? Y oye, ya que estamos, ¿puede sobrevivir a matar a un dragón?

Charlotte Bond nos trae esta "novelette" o novela corta, acerca de caballería, dragones y saber quién eres en un mundo lleno de traiciones. Sorpresivamente corta, pero por suerte habrá segunda parte.

¿Y qué opino de ella?

✅ A tope con el tratamiento que se da a la caverna del Dragón donde la magia no es necesariamente buena para los humanos.

✅ Relación sáfica muy bien tramada, muy dulce, pero también llena de giros de guión que hacen plantearse si durará mucho.

⚠️ Maddileh es la única personaje que es lo que dice que es. Los demás, desde el minuto cero, son otra cosa.

❌ Es una trama muy... lineal, dentro de la cueva de la Dragona. Quizás el único pero.

Espero con ganas la segunda parte. Muy mucho.

Valoración: 4 Smaugs 🐉🐉🐉🐉

This book felt like it wasn’t a complete story for some reason. It was fairly short in length and I didn’t have enough time to begin to get attached to the characters. The plot was definitely interesting but the execution fell short for me.

Thanks so much to Tor for letting me read the digital arc of THE FIREBORNE BLADE! This review is entirely my own thoughts and opinions based on the early copy I recieved.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚

The Fireborne Blade is a tale of lost honor and what a knight would do to regain her honor. After being publicly disgraced by her mentor, there is only one thing that Maddileh can do to restore her honor—by slaying the legendary White Lady dragon and retrieving the Fireborne Blade from its den.

*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚

My Thoughts:

This was a rather quick, yet fun novella to read. I appreciated the tales of other knights and their dragon slayings interspersed through out the story. Despite the short nature of this book, its full of sapphic love, schemes and secrets, and one heck of a plot twist that I sure as heck did not see coming. I will admit that at first, I did not understand the need to switch chapters between the past and stories of other dragon slaying knights, to the current events, but once the plot twist showed up, everything clicked into place—which really made this a very cleverly done and well executed novella.

Absolutely will recommend.

5/5

A slighted knight's quest to slay a dragon reveals more beneath the surface as fate, magic, and deception intertwine to create a truly one-of-a-kind knight's tale. Blending first-hand accounts of previous dragon quests and Knight Maddileh's way forward to claim the fabled Fireborne Blade, Charlotte Bond drives a propulsive and twisty fable as one woman journeys to secure her honor and her place in the kingdom among fellow knights. The Fireborne Blade feels equally classic while breaking forth into something entirely new with its explorations into gender and sexuality within the knight's quest. With some strands left unresolved, there is undoubtedly more to uncover in the next installment. Five fiery stars!

This was a good book, with great commentary on the ways in which women are dismissed or deemed unimportant, but I think the shortness of the book made the plot slightly truncated and the resolution of the conflict very convenient in a way that wasn’t ultimately that satisfying because we hadn’t spent very much time with the conflict of the story.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for an arc copy!

I don't really know what to think about this. It was entertaining, with some fun twists, but there was also some parts that felt really rushed 🤷🏻‍♀️
Probably would have been more my thing with 100 more pages.
Well written though.

The Fireborne Blade is.a very to-the-point dragon fantasy that follows Maddileh as she is on a quest to obtain the Fireborne Blade and regain her honor as a knight. I was surprised at how short this story was, and honestly would have enjoyed more character buildup and it to be a full-sized novel! I liked it, and it could be a good palate cleanser read in between longer fantasy series...

No, no, no, ABSOLUTELY NOT.

Hard fail. The only reason I actually pushed through and finished this was that it was so short I figured I might as well. But maybe I shouldn’t have, because the twist-reveal-and-ending was actually a really cool idea…executed so poorly. And I find that more annoying than a book that is just bad and boring with no interesting ideas in it.

THIS COULD HAVE BEEN SO GREAT.

BUT IT ISN’T.

It starts well, with a transcript of an interview between a knight and the mage council; the knight is giving an accounting of how he slayed his most recent dragon. It quickly becomes clear that dragons in this world emanate strange and dangerous magic that makes traversing their lairs very dangerous – those a dragon kills become ‘dragon ghosts’ who unintentionally guard their killer, and if you get past them and succeed at killing the dragoon, well…dragon corpses are even more terribly dangerous, and there’s no way to predict what kind of dangerous before the dragon is dead.

This is all reasonably interesting. What’s more interesting is that the mages reveal that this particular knight is a lying scumbag, and it did not go down the way he said it did.

But forget all that, because that has no bearing at all on the actual story, which is very, very TiredTM.

Nothing about Maddileh distinguishes her from The Woman Who Wants To Be A Knight template. We have seen this exact same character THOUSANDS of times before, facing exactly the same challenges in exactly the same setting; a quasi-Medieval patriarchy where women can’t be knights or mages. We do not know how Maddileh managed to become a knight despite that, especially since her mother doesn’t approve; it may have something to do with the king liking her a lot, but we have no idea why he does and we don’t see their relationship at all. We do not know how Maddileh earned her epithet, the Knight of the Stairs – there’s one blink-and-you’ll-miss-it reference to her possibly defending her younger brothers from monsters by guarding a staircase, but we don’t get the story behind or around that. We do not see what Maddileh’s life as a knight is actually like: where does she live, who pays for her horses and tourney fees and (presumably expensive if they must reflect her rank) clothes, does she have the respect or friendship of any knights or do they all hate her, does she spend her time riding around the kingdom helping the needy or is she strictly a ‘dancing attendance upon the king’ type of knight?

We don’t get any of that, because she’s just a cardboard cut-out, a prop – and not a good one. For crying out loud, she has exactly one personality trait – she doesn’t like or trust magic.

THAT IS LITERALLY IT.

We get two timelines, more or less; the present, where Maddileh and her deeply suspicious squire are in the dragon’s lair, hunting the Blade; and another starting six months before, showing us – kinda – how Maddileh got the knowledge and tools she needed to potentially survive taking on this particular dragon. In between, we also get excerpts from an in-universe book on dragons and their history. That was fairly interesting, but neither timeline of the actual story was.

The squire has his own agenda, and frankly, it is garbage. Besides the reveal being info-dumped on us (like very nearly EVERYTHING ELSE IN THIS STUPID BOOK) it made very little sense, and almost all of it hinged on information the reader had no way of knowing beforehand – the worst kind of reveal. (Do not get me started on the fucking BOWL.)

And then – the twist. No spoilers, but it was legitimately a really cool reveal, albeit again, pure info-dump. But then came the second twist, the bigger, much more important one, and –

Look: it was rushed. It happened way too fast to be as impactful as it should have been. There was zero explanation as to how it worked, what exactly they did. And it was written in plain, blunt language that drained it of any possible mystique, any sense of awe. Capped off with a Very FeministTM oration that was clearly supposed to fill me with Girl Power vibes, but fell flat on its face because a) I didn’t care enough about the characters to care and b) I was still trying to understand wtf just happened and what the ramifications of it were supposed to be.

(At this point it will probably not surprise you when I say that my questions were not answered.)

Also, I’m calling bs on that blurb, because there is no amount of mental gymnastics you can perform that would justify describing Fireborne Blade as ‘a sapphic romance’. Even the Puritans wouldn’t see anything to object about in the ‘relationship’ (a term I use extremely loosely) between Maddileh and the woman who is not, even if I squint and turn the book upside-down, her love interest. The freaking Westboro Baptists wouldn’t bat an eye at handing this book to their kids (unless they have issues with women knights or dragons or anything else that isn’t queerness). There is maybe a moment – another one of those blink-and-you’ll-miss-its – where Maddileh has a reaction to being touched by a pretty girl. But it’s so brief and so vague that I could argue in a court of law that Maddileh instead had a moment of anxiety, or wariness, or FREAKING GAS, and every person in that jury box would agree with me!

What romance? What are you talking about? They don’t have any kind of relationship, never mind a romance!

Gods, I hope whatever idiots wrote the blurb edit it before release day.

This story desperately needed to be a full novel: every aspect of it, except maybe the dragons themselves, is underdeveloped and has no room to breathe. The breakneck pace of a novella did Fireborne Blade absolutely no favours; it needed more pages so it could slow down and immerse us in the world, give us time to connect to the characters – give the characters space to have actual personalities! In its current form, what is original and interesting comes too late (in the form of the plot twists) or in too-small doses (the info on the dragons) to be worth bothering with. There’s nothing in the characters, world, or plot to hold a reader’s attention, and the prose is too weak and basic to make up for that lack.

Definitely one to skip!