I loved this !! I loved the full cast of narrators for all 6 pov’s!! This group of people are all so different and you literally have no idea who to trust. I loved it all the way up until the end… this was definitely ended on a cliff hanger…I can’t wait until the next one comes out to see what happens!!

A fun team up style heist fantasy with plenty if action. It was a little heavy on the romance gor me but I can see it'll be exactly what a romance first reader will enjoy.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

I read a review that said this book is just about ‘a bunch of grown people being horny for each other.’ It is. And I loved it. It’s a fantastic fantasy with great romance, exciting characters, and an entertaining plot. It’s fantastic.

In a vast empire, a ragtag group from all walks of life - from a prince, to an assassin, to a hired guard - are all brought together to try to kill the immortal emperor.
The world is inspired by Korea which I enjoyed reading because it's not a setting you see often.,
The audiobook version is well done, with a different narrator for each of the POV characters which I liked since it always helps me tell people apart when there are lots of characters. My only issue is that you don't have the map to reference which makes some of the locations hard to keep track of.

THAT ENDING THOUGH 👀

Thank you to Red Tower for the fun box and #gifted copy and RB Media for the alc! All thoughts are my own.

I just finished my read of Five Roken Blades yesterday and I'm more than ready for book two. Following five POVs on this shared adventure full of intrigue made for an epic read. I definitely have my favorites and can't help but hope for more double crossing and relationship building in Four Ruined Realms. 🙏
Highly recommend a tandem read for this one. With five POVs and five narrators (Donald Chang, Greg Chun, Zion Jang, Sophie Oda, Jaine Ye, and Roger Yeh), I enjoyed the experience and immersion through different voices carrying the intrigue and pacing.

This was a really fun fantasy heist story! I enjoyed the multiple POV’s. The only problem was that each narrator tended to pronounce important items differently, such as main character names and places. Because of this it was a little hard to really follow along since there are a LOT of side characters. And Mikhail’s narrator was American while Eoun’s narrator made him British, which feels like a giant oversight on the producer’s part.

A team of five has been assembled to kill the king. Along with their protectors or partners, each of the five has a very special set of skills. Some choose to join the mission, while others are forced to, in an ode to Oceans Eleven this dystopian book has love, revenge, danger and intrigue, and it just happened to be left on a cliffhanger, which makes you wonder when will the story continue?

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This book has been hyped on social.media, especially with the painted edge edition, which is gorgeous!

I enjoyed the story overall. A couple of the narrators had Audible breathing between sentences, which was distracting from the text. The pacing was a bit slow in places, but the end of the novel drew me in and made me want the sequel immediately to see what happens next to our band of misfits, especially now that they know they were betrayed!

This has everything you are looking for in a fantasy read! Multiple perspectives, unreliable narrators & assassins! Each character was developed fully and I loved how in the audiobooks each character had a distinct narrator. This made listening and distinguishing each characters perspective easy while listening.

I loved how each character had their secrets & the ending had me guessing the whole way!

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!

This was super different and interesting. The audiobook did make it a bit difficult to keep up with names and locations for the first 1/3 of the book, but eventually it got easier as the story went on. There also was a few moments where the pacing dragged.

That being said, this was definitely an Ocean's 11 style fantasy. I was expecting a bit more magic and fantasy elements, but I still really enjoyed it. All of the characters are complex and morally gray, which is really fun. There were a good amount of plot twists, though some I definitely saw coming and was a bit bummed they weren't more dynamic.

Overall I really liked this and am eager to see where the story goes.

Holy smokes! I loved this is in an understatement. The audio was incredible and I felt so immersed into the characters and story. Especially Royo. Talk about swoon! This story kept me on my toes and through so many curveballs that I never expected.I cannot wait for book 2. I cannot stop thinking of this and recommending it!

A group of five misfit “blades” consisting of the most skilled thieves, killers, and liars from across the land band together to destroy King Joon of Yusan. Each with very different reasons for their participation in the thoroughly planned treason.

At first I had a little bit of trouble keeping track of all of the many alternating POVs during the necessary backstory. A friend recommended the audiobook given it has all different narrators for each POV, making it easier to keep track and that helped immensely! I thoroughly enjoyed the high octane adventures and action these five had after they met and I got so attached to each and their individual stories and motivations. I can’t believe I got through FIFTEEN hours of audio in a matter of days. And OMG. THAT CLIFFHANGER! I NEED BOOK TWO IMMEDIATELY!!!

My rating: 4.5/5 ⭐️

Thank you so much to Mai, Recorded Books, and NetGalley for the advance audiobook!

Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland was a letdown for me. The story, set in a sexist world, felt repetitive and poorly written. The constant sexism wasn't well-integrated into the world-building and felt gratuitous. Characters often repeated the same points, making the writing feel juvenile and clunky. The romance was heavily based on instant attraction, with every chapter fixated on how characters felt about each other rather than advancing the plot.

On the positive side, the backstories of the characters showed promise and could have been more engaging if they had been developed further. The narration by a full cast was a highlight, with each narrator bringing their character to life effectively. Despite my struggles with the writing, the audiobook might work as background listening due to its repetitive nature. Overall, the execution fell short, but there's potential for improvement in future works by the author.

Thank you to Recorded Books and NetGalley for the ALC! This one took awhile for me to get into, mainly because of the multiple POVs, but once the story got going and all characters were established (then ultimately united in one location) things picked up. I loved the action - loved the concept and story. I didn’t see that *twist* coming at all! I’m very much looking forward to book two and I hope the physical copy is just as gorgeous as this one. The sprayed edges are amazing! Definitely recommend this if you’re looking for Throne of Glass series vibes, but all the characters are liars 😅.

The narration on this audiobook is fantastic! The story centers around 5 criminals/assassins who are creating an alliance to assassinate the current king. The narration had multiple people, which added a nice element to the listening experience.

The story itself moved quickly, with lots of action to keep me listening. I loved the brutal violence and fights with men and creatures alike. There were also good twists (every criminal has a secret, right?), and a cliffhanger ending that sets up nicely for a second book.

Fantasy is not my favorite genre and can be hard for me to get into, but I highly recommend this on audiobook!

Five people, each with their own special skills or connections, form an unlikely alliance to assassinate the king. This book gave very “heist” like vibes.
It wasn’t until almost the end where I was able to figure out what was going on. I liked the story, it had a lot of moving parts.
Overall enjoyable and I’m interested to find out what happens with the group next.
I liked the different voices for the audiobook. It was well paced and everyone was reading at the same speed. No narrator was overly faster than the other, which was much appreciated.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Five Broken Blades
by Mai Corland
Narrated by Donald Chang, Greg Chun, Zion Jang, Sophie Oda, Jaine Ye, Roger Yeh
Thank you to NetGalley and RBMedia for the early listen!
I was approved for this audiobook about a day before release day. Once I started listening I could not stop reading so had to buy the ebook the next day. Also bought the special edition book and all I can say it is beautiful!
Loved the story loved the narrators. Narrators did an amazing job with the giving the characters a voice. With that and the author's writing I had no problem being pulled into this book! Great character development and loved the world building within the story. It was easy to follow for me and highly recommend! Looking forward to the next book in this series!

Greetings from outlier island! This book is getting great reviews, so I’ll start by acknowledging that my thoughts are definitely in the minority.

While I enjoyed the solid premise and detailed world building, I felt that the plot and pacing suffered from too much focus on the journey, with a lot of pondering and pining happening along the way. I understand that this is only Book 1 in a planned trilogy, but I wish more had happened in this first installment. Instead, it felt like one big waiting game defined by telling vs. showing due to the multiple first-person POVs.

Speaking of those multiple POVs…despite the book being called FIVE Broken Blades there are, in fact, SIX main characters. It felt like this was done to round out the group and give each individual a romantic interest. But some of the romances, mainly the “instalove” ones, didn’t strike me as genuine and further detracted from the overall plot.

I had mixed feelings about how the multiple POVs were presented, too. While each character is distinct and fully realized, they had a tendency to over explain their circumstances. Delivering multiple perspectives can be a good way to develop characters and their surroundings. But in this case, it came across as repetitive.

Overall, I do think this trilogy has promise! If the next installments are tighter, with more action propelling the plot forward, then I think this epic tale could have a strong ending.

How can you not trust a single soul and yet love every single character? I'm not entirely sure but this fantasy is carried and driven by the characters and packs quite the punch! Normally, I'm a one or two POV kinda gal but Mai Corland has somehow mastered this alternating dimension of SIX with ease and delivered this story on a freaking silver platter.

If you're looking for a read that will leave you on the edge of your seat and is filled with betrayal, secrets, lies, drama, and so much more- this is what you need in your life. Seriously, Red Tower is delivering these reads that are highly addictive.