This novella offers a compelling mix of political intrigue and familial angst set in a mythical world steeped in magic. The story explores themes of corruption, duty, and internal struggle, with both characters navigating their rise to power while maintaining a relationship with one another. Familial secrets, a spree of murders, estranged relationships, and the looming threat of war add layers of complexity to their journeys. The queer representation felt authentic and the threat of betrayal genuine. I’m excited to read how the story plays out.

As a prequel, it's understandable that Blade of Castrial would be a little shorter than a regular novel, though I do wish we had been able to spend a little more time getting to know the characters and delve into the relationship between the two main characters. On top of that, the ending did feel a little too abrupt for my liking. All in all, though, it was enough to keep me interested and I would like to read the first book in the series!

Blade of Castrial is such a cool book. So so good. I totally recommend everyone to read this book as fast as they can because it's really good and the characters are fantastic.

Blade of Castrial is the prequel to The Echelon series. If you love epic fantasy, queer characters in a queernormative society and political intrigues, you will love this book.

Really enjoyed this book . Cannot wait for next instalment.

A short and sweet ARC review just like the book. Thanks to NetGalley. I knew this was a short novella so I wasn’t expecting anything groundbreaking… but the bottom line is that I am interested in learning more about Lucian and Alaric’s lives and adventures. The first book in the Echelon series, Blade Broken, has an interesting blurb. I do find it odd/fascinating how we were given this novellen before the first book was released. But I am very much looking forward to the release of the first novel-length instalment in this series, because I am very keen to know more.

This was a very interesting read from the very start. It had even got to the point where I didn't want to put the book down. The characters within this book were very gripping and interesting. The challenges in which they had to take seemed to be very interesting. There was a lot of development which occured through the whole of this book. With the way that they manovered through the book, and especially with the ending of the book. I didn't want to put the book down and definitely want to find out what happened next.