Five Broken Blades is not my typical genre, but the cover and title immediately sparked my interest. I enjoyed this story as an audiobook, which admittedly, at first was a bit hectic as it is from six different first person perspectives. But it isn't long before the reader is pulled into each character's back story, motivations, and secrets; making it easy to separate and root for your favourite characters. I had a soft spot for Aeri, who has led a troubling existence, with so much yet to lose. I love that there is solid LGBTQ2IA+ representation in this novel, with small bits of romance/love trickled in throughout. What I love most about this book is its ability to deliver twists and turns that I couldn't not predict no matter how hard I tried. The ending is truly epic, leaving you despondent and yearning for the second book! As I said, not my typical genre, but I will certainly be impatiently waiting for the next books in the series!

5 ⭐

This is a new favorite of mine!
LOVE LOVE LOVE

Five Broken Blades follows five different characters on a quest to assassinate the King. Each character has their own motives and skills: the royal spymaster with a plot, an exiled prince, a beautiful assassin, a noble set on his own mission, a strong man paid to follow and an unexpected thief. All of these characters have their own secrets and I am impressed that each character feels unique despite all the different POVs. The chapters are short but the action is there. If you want something that is a memorable story peppered with unique character building, this is for you!

Mai Corland is officially a new favorite and I am pacing waiting for the next one (and this one hasn't even released yet!!)

It was so easy to get fully sucked into this book - I finished the audiobook in less than a day. Speaking specifically to the audiobook, there are multiple fantastic narrators and you felt the characters.

🗡️ Multi POV - flawless execution
🗡️ Uncovering lies, twists and secrets
🗡️ Multiple romantic subplots (including queer rep!)
🗡️ Assassins flavored with Six of Crows vibes
🗡️ Korean inspired epic fantasy
🗡️ Twisty ending

Five Broken Blades releases 05/07/2024.
Thank you so much to NetGalley, Recorded Books & Red Tower Books for an ALC of Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland.

* I initially experienced this title through a physical arc and was honored to gain access to the audio arc here on netgalley. My review includes some lines that are repeated in my review of the print edition

In Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland A group of liars need to trust each other long enough to kill an immortal king and the strangest part is they just might have the skills to pull it off.

What I loved
* in this audio rendition I especially loved that each of the pov's was given their own voice making the story even more immersive
- excellent use of multi-first-person
- fast-paced to the point of breathlessness
- clear character motivations and believable character development
- wonderfully developed prose had me highlighting quotes left and right
- good foreshadowing without completely giving away twists too early
- found family trope

What didn’t work as well for me
* in the audio arc there is a place in the second chapter near the start where a line plays twice in a row. I suspect this is an editing error that will be addressed by the time we have access to the final version.

- the writing doesn’t seem to trust itself or its reader. A big example of this is the book explaining the reason it would be scandalous for the Prince and his lover to share a bath. At that point in the story, we have caught on that it is their class separation and not their sex that would raise an eyebrow.

- the pacing sped up just a smidge too much at the end. More falling action time would have helped here immensely


Who I recommend this title for

Fantasy readers who like a heist vibe with a bit of a traveling tale and just a dash of spice will be in for a great time with this story.
Leigh Bardugo fans in particular may enjoy this writing style.

* side note : major dnd campaign gone awry energy in some bits

This book is dangerous and fun. Heist book at its finest. I don't know how to explain it but if you like the show firefly you'll like this. The characters are all so different and I never had issue with narration jumping around. Only downer is in now have to wait for book two.

This story was so good! I listened to the audiobook and highly enjoyed most of the narration (so many narrators!)

These poor babies have no ability to trust anyone or anything. Every time something happens they question what they know and have seen because they are so used to betrayal.

They go through a lot in the short amount of time they travel together. It was interesting to watch them question or suspect each other in one moment and then save/protect them in the next.

The pacing of this was pretty good and really pushed the line at YA and NA - sometimes it read YA and then would sorta tip over the edge with more descriptive moments.

I did predict the ending though which was fun. It’s like solving the game early.

4 ⭐️// 1 🌶️ (for some suggestive/fade to black moments)

This is a multiple pov audiobook and I think the narrators did a good job with the plot and characters. There were times when listening when I got the characters confused but overall I think the narrators did well and elevated the book. I would give the audiobook a 4-star rating because of its production value and enjoyability.

This was an interesting enough fantasy book, it has romance in it but I don't really think it's romance heavy. Five Broken Blades is an epic fantasy with multiple povs that follows warriors, assassins, thieves, and women who poison as they all work towards the goal of assassinating the king. After a slow beginning, I got into it especially as the characters got fleshed out. None of the romance in this was memorable to me but I think it stands on its own as just a fantasy. I liked the diversity in the worldbuilding, action, and queer rep and I'm interested to see where the book goes from here. I think the main issue I had with this was the multiple povs and none of them stuck out to me. The ending has me hooked though and I really enjoyed how it ended and the cliffhanger. If you like action, intrigue, some romance with a group of killers/assassins working and traveling with each other then you should read this.
Thank you to the publisher for this arc for an honest review, if you read this i would recommend the audiobook version.

This book BLEW ME AWAY. When I first read the blurb I thought to myself this book is going to fit so perfectly with the type of fantasy I enjoy. I read this thing in less than a day. I started it before I went to bed last night and finished it the following afternoon. It is so easy to get so absorbed in this book.

I cannot say that I have a favorite character because each one brought something so unique and gave me something to love. This book is a Korean epic fantasy that gave off a whole lot of Six of Crows vibes. The twist at the end was absolutely perfect and I am so excited for the next book. I don't know how many books are in the series but SIGN ME UP!

I'm here for the long haul and Mai Corland just made it to my favorite authors list. You can really tell that she put so much soul into this book. If you are gonna blow up any Red Tower Title PLEASE LET IT BE THIS ONE.

I didn't notice two discrepancies in the audio, they will be in the publishers notes. But this was just absolutely amazing.

Thank you to @NetGalley @RedTowerBooks @Entangled_Publishing @RecordedBooks @MaiCorland for my fabulous, gifted ARC of Five Broken Blades

WOW doesn’t even begin to cover it. This book absolutely lived up to the hype. My only beef is that I am not literally DYING for Book 2!

I do have a question for Mai or other early readers, though.

FORGIVE ME IF I COMPLETELY MISSED IT, BUT WHO ARE THE FIVE BLADES?

There are 6 MCs/POVs & I can come up with arguments for each Aeri, Royo, Euyn & Tiyung as the one not included in the five. My final guess is that Tiyung is not one of the 5 Blades.

This story is told from 6 POVs & all of these MCs come together for one common goal – Kill King Joon of Yusan – and they all have their own personal reasons for wanting to make this happen.

Sora: a beautiful poison maiden who wants to earn freedom for herself & her sister from the ruthless Count Seok who indentured them both.

Tiyung: the son of Count Seok who is ordered by his father to accompany Sora.

Mikail: King Joon’s Royal Spymaster

Euyn: King Joon’s half-brother & former prince – thought to be dead

Royo: a scarred brute of a man hired to protect Aeri

Aeri: a quirky, whisp of a young girl who was enlisted by Mikail

Character development was FANTASTIC. I am invested in every single one of the characters & their backstories. Looking forward to learning even more in Book 2.

This was the fasted 500+ page book I’ve ever read (and will be rereading). Any fantasy fan NEEDS to grab this book ASAP. After finishing the ARC, I immediately put in my preorder for the gorgeous, limited edition with sprayed edges!

Multi-POV, LGBTQIA+ Representation, Closed Door Romance, Folklore, Diversity, Enemies-to-Lovers

Animal death is mentioned a few times. This is a HUGE trigger for me, but nothing was detailed enough that it triggered me in this book. So, if this is a trigger for you, I believe you should be ok.

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