I went in with no expectations and really enjoyed this one.

Maddileh is an interesting character that it takes a while to really get a feel for. The other characters are more immediately knowable but at the same time have surprising depths. The story feels simple but at the same time much bigger than the page time allows.

I love the chapters that are devoted to previous dragon encounters because they 1) give it that academic flavor that I love and 2) allow the world to feel much more fleshed out than it is. It feels like a gritty epic that is somehow packed into a short novella.

And the twist! It took me by complete surprise, went places I definitely was not expecting, and left me a little bit shocked and a lot pleased. I look forward to reading the author's next book and hope it continues Maddileh's adventures.

If you're a dragon fan then definitely check this one out.

The audiobook was well done and enhanced the story. I enjoyed the voices chosen for the characters and the way the narrator performed the story.

*Thanks to Macmillan Audio for providing an early copy for review.

I had to sit with this for a while. Although this book was quite short it packed in a lot. I see great potential for this to become a fantastic series. I’m intrigued to see where this story goes.

The narrator that they chose for this book shined at bringing this short, but beautifully done, novel to life. The accents were all different and it was an truly immersive. If you're looking for an audiobook that sucks you into a story, this one is it! One of the best new audiobooks I've listened to in 2024.

The Fireborne Blade is both a fantasy story featuring two strong willed women, and a feminist manifesto. Blatantly calling out the ridiculousness of the hurdles often put in the way of women achieving the same as men the reader can’t help but agree that it’s extremely illogical. As seen in this standout quote:
“Its illegal to train girls in magic without a dispensation, yet to get that dispensation, a girl has to show an aptitude first—which means someone has to train her up at least a bit, which means that someone is already breaking the rules in order to follow the rules. That seems ridiculous to me.”

Welcome to the classic fantasy world Charlotte Bond has created. Arguably a mirror in some ways to our own. Even as I say this is a statement on society, it’s also an action packed, mildly gory (at times), fantasy story. At only 168 pages it’s very short and yet still manages to set-up a ton of dragon lore (via mini stories or journal entries by other knights), send our leading lady on a dragon quest, bring forth the hypocritical magic user rules, and shun women from being knights. In all a perfectly balanced story, and one that feels like a mini introduction to (what I hope is) a huge fantasy series to come!

This is perhaps not like the fantasy many of us ‘older folks’ (lol) are used to. It is entirely based on women fighting back; without reliance on any men. In some ways The Fireborne Blade could be a story about Eowyn trying to prove herself in Mjddle Earth to everyone around her. It’s a simple concept; yet complex in its question: how does society get to accepting female knights and mages? I really hope Bond is continuing this forward to show us how it might work (and some gory details along the way).

The lovely British narrator for the audiobook has the perfect sort of ‘medieval’ accent one might attribute to fantasy. Her voice sets a mood right away; yet her accent is mild enough to not pose any concerns about understanding her. I will definitely look for her as a narrator in the future.

I cannot wait for more stories from this fantasy world! Hopefully they feature our two ladies, and more intriguing dragons (who all have slightly different powers or magic) to be slayed (or not).

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

I LOVED this little novella, I am so impressed the author was able to fit such a tight and deep plot line into so little space. I would've read this were it 500 pages and still have begged for more. I cannot wait for the next installment! This has dragons, magic, deception, and ghosts?? Just fantastic

Maddileh the woman knight. On a quest to kill the White Lady dragon and retrieve the fireborne blade. Petros is a Mage that wants to find his sister, Saralene that was taken by the White Lady. Though all the obstacles then killing the White Lady Saralene was safe. Then Peteos crumbled Maddilehs world. Maddileh was a ghost that refused to know she was already dead. That the White Lady already killed her months before. He just needed her to get his sister so he can take all of her power.

In the end Saralene got the best of her brother. And in turn Maddileh was put into a festering body to keep fighting and to stand by Saralenes side.

I think I went into this with too high of expectations. I liked it; it was an overall interesting story with a good plot twist, but I found it somewhat underdeveloped. At times it felt like the story dragged, or was bogged down with unnecessary information, which for a novella wasn't great. I can see why others loved this, but something about it didn't work for me.

Not what I was expecting and a bit unconventional, this was an interesting novella. I wish it had been a little more engaging.

What it had going for it was a plethora of original dragonlore ideas – stuff I’ve never seen done quite like this. So while it was an absolute standout in concept, it fell short for me in execution and pacing.

The story bounced back and forth between past events and the current happenings with the MC. The bounce happened so often that it effectively stole all momentum from the tale, and as a result I found myself struggling to pay attention. Some of the flashback scenes ultimately ended up enhancing the overall arc of the story, but not all. From a creative standpoint, I like the woven storyline and thought it was a great way to integrate all of the components, but overall, as I said, I wish it had been a little more engaging.

The MC was a bit stereotypical and I feel like I’ve read her profile countless times before. She seemed more like a vessel of perpetuating the plot rather than a character with a lot of depth and dynamics. However my biggest issue was her behavior. This novella read like a literary fiction (starring dragons) and was seemingly trying to present a few themes throughout. The MC said and did things that harmed the message plumping the narrative and also appeared inconsistent with character. It felt like she was trying to be too many things in conflict with each other. And not in an interesting, oh, this character has a lot of duality way, but more in an I’m not sure she’s fully developed kind of way.

For such a short story, I was hoping it would have more of a momentum, better character connection, and a more consistent message. In lieu of all that, I’m at least grateful for an interesting style and plot structure and liked the fresh, gritty take on dragons -> a subject in which I am obsessed, so the uniqueness was appreciated.

I experienced this story on audio and the narrator, Helen McAlpine, was adept and pleasant to listen to. I’m not sure if it was just the arc version of the audio I received or just something about the way it was recorded, but it felt about .25 slower than average, so you’ll fly through it!

Recommendations: this is a creative novella that I found entertaining in concept and technique even though it failed to draw me in. Still worth a look if you’d like a fresh take on dragonlore.

Niki Hawkes - The Obsessive Bookseller

This was a bit of a slow start for me, but about 1/3 in it picked up. I don’t love it when books take that long to “get good” but I’m glad I stuck with it. This had dragons, awesome female leads, and was just really complex and cool. Of course, I do love fantasy though so this was right up my alley. The audiobook was easy to follow but did add to the slow feeling of the first bit.

This was a sorta traditional fantasy dragon tale but with no real world building. I had a hard time feeling engaged. While I appreciate a strong female lead I felt disconnected and uninvested. I think the story just needed more substance.

I finished this audiobook yesterday and I'm not sure what to make of it.
This is the classic fantasy tale of a knight's quest but with a strong woman leading and some unusual twists.

The story was good and very well told, surprisingly packed for a novella. I liked how the narrator was able to give very distinct vibes to each characters.
Not a lot of time is dedicated to world building but the world still feels fleshed out.

I have only compliments about this book but still I wasn't very engaged and it somehow felt bland. I can't single out something that left a strong impression.
So 3.5 rounded up to 4 because I might be the problem here.

The Fireborne Blade is an epic fantasy novella which features sword-wielding knights and their squires, mages, dangerous dragons and the magic that lingers in their caves even while they sleep.

It follows the typical "knights adventuring to fight the menacing dragon" tale but with a more feminist view as the story follows a female knight seeking a legendary blade to regain her honor and a highborn servant girl working with an old mage to secretly try and learn magic without being found out and punished by the misogynistic (and entirely male) mage society.

I found the plot twists were unexpected and exciting. I also liked the dual timeline and extra povs from other knights regaling their experiences with dragons and the magic (and ghosts) that haunt their caves. Most of all, I loved the fmc knight's personality. She kind of reminded me of Gideon from Gideon The Ninth but with a more mature voice. The mysteriousness of other characters being suspicious to her and not knowing how the plot was going to unravel until it does was also quite enjoyable to read.

I think this story was the perfect length, it being a short novella, but part of me wished it were longer so that more lore about the world (and the dragons) could be included.

This is fine. The structure is interesting and the end took me by surprise, but I'm not sure novella was the correct choice here.

Helen McAlpine does a good job narrating, with enough variation between character voices that I could stay on track. That said, this was pretty one note for a book with so much action.

Another ARC I'm late reviewing. Better late than never though! This book was, interesting. I liked the way Maddileh was portrayed. We need more lady knights because something about her being Master and Sir are just perfection and I need a hundred more lady knights posthaste. She was also a bisexual lady knight. Or at least that was the vibes I was picking up. Since she said she liked the knight guy and the mage girl. Regardless. Queer. The overall atmosphere and visuals were also spot on and so cool to read about. The ghosts were so creepy and scary. However, this book suffered from being too short and not providing enough context/exposition before the main plot. I felt like I spent half the time of this already very short story trying to figure out what was going on. So I think next time the book should be twice as long and all of it's problems will be solved. Honestly that was my only gripe. But it was such a problem for me that it took the story from a 4 to a 3 unfortunately. I think the story was just lacking some overall meat but the skeleton is there so all it needs is some fleshing out and it will be perfect. I'll be keeping an eye out for Charlotte Bond's next work to see if time makes this writer even better than she already is.

Thank you to the publisher for providing this audioARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

4.5/5

While this book started out slow, I am glad that I stuck with it! This is a story of a knight who is a woman, but that is not common in this time. She is trying to find the fabled Fireborne Blade and defeat a dragon to establish herself in this patriarchal world. In the end, I loved the world building, the shocking plot twist, and narrator of the story.
To me, a novella's biggest struggle is always building up the world enough that the reader can really feel a part of that world. With flashing to different journals and notes from other dragon slayers, I felt that the world was given plenty of context to truly enjoy the story.
In addition, I never expected that plot twist, and it made me immediately go back and listen to the start of the book to see what I missed. That was so well done, and definitely brought the book up in rating for me.
Finally, the narrator did a fantastic job bringing different voices to the characters. I listened to the whole book without stopping, and I truly enjoyed how the characters were shown.
I will say this book was difficult to get into at first, but for me the payoff was worth it! Also, it's a quick read, so it's worth at least trying to see if you like it!

🔮 Novella
🪄 Unique dragon magic
🔮 Prophecy
🪄 Female knight

I had no clue a story so short could make for such a fun ride!! This was such a compelling journey from start to finish. The pacing was excellent, the world building gave just enough to pull you in, and the characters leapt off the page. I hope this sets the trend for similar fantasies, books that are short and sweet and filled end-to-end with non-stop action and excitement.

I’ve been reading a lot of fantasy and books with magic lately, and this one didn’t disappoint!

Maddileh is a knight, and the world she lives in is not kind to women who stray from their assigned roles. In order to redeem her honor, she must face the White Lady, an ancient, legendary dragon, and steal the Fireborne Blade without perishing and adding to the ghosts who haunt the dragon’s lair.

The magic system in this book was very interesting, and it’s been a while since I read a story where the dragons are considered the enemy. I have to admit it was a bit of a shock for one to die so early in the story when my mind is still on Fourth Wing. I may have been internally crying at every dragon death 😅 It’s funny how we get attached to fictional creatures as much as fictional characters!

There were multiple timelines as well as excerpts from some kind of textbook on dragonkind with recordings of knights’ experiences. While this was helpful in world building and learning how the dragon magic worked, at times I had trouble figuring out where I was in the story. It might have been easier if I had been reading the book physically rather than listening to the audiobook, though.

The ending took me by complete surprise, and I absolutely loved the twist! Endings can make up for a lot in my book, and this one was perfect.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for providing this audiobook for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy.

I quite enjoyed this story. It has an interesting story about women making their places in a world that feels live in.

Rating: 4/5

This was a very quick and entertaining read/listen. There isn't anything too complicated here but the characters are easy to like and the story is well thought out and fun.
Helen McAlpine did a great job of narrating and was super easy to listen to.

Thank you netgalley and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. This story was a quick and enjoyable read. I enjoyed following the female perspective as a disgraced knight who needed to reclaim her honor.