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Nightblade Epic #1
Nightblade
Loren dreams of escaping her cruel parents and becoming a great thief: Nightblade, a warrior of darkness and a champion of the light. Following the fugitive sorcerer Xain out of her forest home, she wears a stolen noble's cloak of fine black cloth and carries a dagger the world has not seen in centuries—a blade that can turn enemies to allies when she least expects it.
Yet something keeps her from using that dagger to take a life.
Soon she crosses paths with the smuggler family of Yerrin, invoking their wrath by stealing their most precious treasure. Yerrin’s reach is long, and they will not stop until they silence Loren forever.
If she can survive, Loren may become the most infamous thief in the world. But if she fails, she will be only the first to burn in a war that threatens all the nine lands.
Yet something keeps her from using that dagger to take a life.
Soon she crosses paths with the smuggler family of Yerrin, invoking their wrath by stealing their most precious treasure. Yerrin’s reach is long, and they will not stop until they silence Loren forever.
If she can survive, Loren may become the most infamous thief in the world. But if she fails, she will be only the first to burn in a war that threatens all the nine lands.
249 pages, ebook
First published July 18, 2014
933 people are currently reading
4259 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 379 reviews
April 3, 2017
Strange things happen out there!
Story starts right from the action scene where a woman (aged 15, yes you read the word correct) is tired with her father making her work in woods and her mother's constant pressure to marry her off for money.
Not so happy life, you see.
While working with her axe, she sees a mysterious man in a blue coat and then, she's out and about to chase this man. She finds about him more and become friends with him but more tragedies await her.
What follows next as she unravels the mysteries around her, all of it becomes shocking and engrossing.
I adored the dialog exchange between each of the characters. The protagonist was a character that will reside in my memory for quite a while. Rich vocabulary and strong characterization gives this book a perfect shade of light.
The author binds you on the seat of a roller coaster since the beginning of Nightblade. I am forcing myself not to give out any spoilers for this one. Awesome plot, twists and turns the suspense it contained during the whole episode. His writing style can't be matched.
A sure check-out for fantasy readers.
I look forward to continuing this series.
August 26, 2017
Loren dreams of becoming a great thief known as the Nightblade. An honorable thief if such a thing is possible. Loren's dreams provide her comfort as her reality is far from enjoyable. Her parents are cruel people who physically beat her and verbally berate her. When her chance arrives, Loren flees her home with a wanted wizard named Xain. The constables who pursue Xain, begin to pursue Loren as well and trouble begins to follow her wherever she goes.
Nightblade is largely a PSA of the dangers of running away from home. No one will debate that Loren's home life is horrible due completely to her parents abuse, but Loren compounds her problems. When she encounters the wizard Xain, he tells her he's a wanted man. Despite that Loren can think of no better companion for the road than a wanted wizard. By all means run away from home, but don't head off with a fugitive from the law for goodness sakes. The first part of the book could easily have been called, Making Bad Worse: Loren's Story or How to Make Bad Decisions and Run for Your Life.
Loren continues to make mind boggling decisions as the story proceeds. I wish the girl was just dumb, but she shows her intelligence from time to time. Loren makes the wrong choice over and over again. Each poor choice leads to increasingly poor choices that multiplied the amount of people who wanted her dead.
Nightblade had some good parts. The most prominent part was the mystery surrounding Loren's blade. When Loren ran away from home she stole a blade her parents kept hidden away. The blade seemed far too fine for her parents to own and seemingly everyone who saw it had a notable reaction to it. Some of these reactions were quite intriguing and the mystery that shrouds the blade travels through the story.
Nightblade was a tale of poor choices and unfortunate consequences.
Nightblade is largely a PSA of the dangers of running away from home. No one will debate that Loren's home life is horrible due completely to her parents abuse, but Loren compounds her problems. When she encounters the wizard Xain, he tells her he's a wanted man. Despite that Loren can think of no better companion for the road than a wanted wizard. By all means run away from home, but don't head off with a fugitive from the law for goodness sakes. The first part of the book could easily have been called, Making Bad Worse: Loren's Story or How to Make Bad Decisions and Run for Your Life.
Loren continues to make mind boggling decisions as the story proceeds. I wish the girl was just dumb, but she shows her intelligence from time to time. Loren makes the wrong choice over and over again. Each poor choice leads to increasingly poor choices that multiplied the amount of people who wanted her dead.
Nightblade had some good parts. The most prominent part was the mystery surrounding Loren's blade. When Loren ran away from home she stole a blade her parents kept hidden away. The blade seemed far too fine for her parents to own and seemingly everyone who saw it had a notable reaction to it. Some of these reactions were quite intriguing and the mystery that shrouds the blade travels through the story.
Nightblade was a tale of poor choices and unfortunate consequences.
March 29, 2015
I just "finished" this book after having skimmed the last 100 pages very quickly. Some might say that I shouldn't have rated it, then, if I didn't really finish it - however, I didn't finish it because I didn't like it. It was because this story - as adventurous as it was - started not appealing to me at all after the first 200 pages. It's a great story if you are a young adult who maybe haven't read much fantasy, but I felt too old for this kind of story and it wasn't anything new to me; eventually, I decided not to continue with it.
I rate this 3 stars simply because, as I already said, it's a great story. It has adventure, thieves, an explorative protagonist and an enlarging group of characters. However, towards the last 100 pages the story became too predictable for my taste and I wasn't interested in continuing. When I skimmed the pages I realized that my predictions were right. BUT I hope that if you have any interest at all in this book, you will still pick it up because it's quite adventurous; it just wasn't for me...
I rate this 3 stars simply because, as I already said, it's a great story. It has adventure, thieves, an explorative protagonist and an enlarging group of characters. However, towards the last 100 pages the story became too predictable for my taste and I wasn't interested in continuing. When I skimmed the pages I realized that my predictions were right. BUT I hope that if you have any interest at all in this book, you will still pick it up because it's quite adventurous; it just wasn't for me...
November 20, 2018
There are great books, there are good books, there are average books, and then there are books so bad you’d rather be stuck reading a healthy diet of Twilight, L. Ron Hubbard, and EL James for the rest of your life to get away from the sheer mental scouring the author’s work seems to attempt to inflict upon your quickly damaging psyche.
Nightblade fits firmly into the latter category in its own tiny little circle ruling over all the other books who are doomed to wilt and burn there until time eventually and thankfully turns the last copy of that work to nothing but dust motes for whatever poor archeologist or alien happens upon its final resting place. If you didn’t pick it up yet, Nightblade is bad, and it should feel bad for existing.
One of the unique things about this review, beyond the amount of negative criticism that this will be given as there will probably never be a work that draws my ire quite like this, is the inclusion of emails from the author over the subject of his books. When I was studying for my degree in English we often looked at letters and notes from the writers to help understand their mental state and frame in creating their own works. We shall be doing the same from the newsletters and emails the author has sent anyone who signed up for a copy of his “best selling novel”. Simply to see the mentality needed to work through and publish quality fire kindling such as this.
I know this guy is trying to live the dream through Amazon self-publishing, and he’s published a lot more books than I have so I only have so much room to talk. But, from the second I opened the free ebook that was sent to me I knew this story had issues that I’m certain the editor of this book, if he had one since I made a drinking game of how often things were mixed up like the words by and buy, gave up halfway through reading and just tried to get it off their desk as quickly as possible.
An excerpt of the first sentence from the first page:
“LOREN LET HER AXE FALL, and the log split with the sound of a skull cracking open.” (Robinson, 10)
First and foremost, a metaphor is designed to help paint a picture or compare something the average person has no reference to something they do so they can help fill in the blanks. In a community of thirty to forty people who read excerpts of the book and/or read the book along with me as I struggled through this sloppy attempt at comparison, only one person knew what a skull sounded like as it was being cracked open. I understand that the beginnings of books are the hardest part to write since it has to set the tone and mood of the work to follow. I also will admit that every author has their moments when a sentence comes off as clunky or awkward. It’s going to happen no matter how many times you edit and polish your work. However, a terrible opening sentence can kill your work before it even has a chance to get going, and this shows in the carelessness of the metaphor chosen in the opening statements.
As I continued through the first chapter after attempting to let the writer have a chance to tell his story despite getting off to a bad start I realized just how quickly his work was beginning to range from drifting from mediocre to bad every paragraph.
“Mayhap distraction would work. “Father, Mother said I am to ready for the dance. If I do not, she will be angry.”
“And you think I will not be, if you persist in disobedience?” said her father. His voice had grown very like a snarl. “You think to prance about in a gown while I break my back doing your work?”
“She knew better than to deny it. “I do not want to go. Only Mother—”
“You chop,” he said. “And if you rest again before your fingers bleed, I will slice them open myself.” (Robinson, 12-13)
I sat there in minor awe at how the characters within the first two pages of the opening chapter could present themselves in a variety of ways. First, everyone in this world has a wooden, choppy, bad Shakespearean mimicry style of speaking. It feels as if Robinson skims fantasy books and took lessons from how to write dialogue from a buddy who was drunk and had never actually picked up a fantasy book in their life. Second, how I could see the checklist of cliched fantasy tropes being checked off one by one. I loved tvtropes.com as much as the next person, but I also grasped a while ago that characters are more than tropes that fit with a setting. Third, why is her father trying to cut her fingers open if he wants her to chop firewood? It’s extremely counterproductive and would lead to Loren never being able to finish her firewood as her father has so adamantly demanded time and time again.
By the time I had finished the first chapter I had received my first newsletter from the author who started to describe how to write good fantasy and what the key points of the genre are. To quote:
“What, do you think, makes great fantasy GREAT?
Some people will say the world building, or magic. (Or dragons, if you’re my friend Alex). I say it’s something else.
It’s the CHARACTERS.
Here’s one reason they call me a "bad fantasy fan": I don’t like the Wheel of Time series.
It’s one of the bestselling fantasy series ever. How can I dislike it and be a true fantasy fan?
Let’s back up...
Tolkien is the undeniable grandfather of fantasy. Every author since has been playing catch-up. But most of them miss the BIGGEST reasons why Tolkien was amazing...
(There are two. The first is most important.)
He wrote about the hobbits.
Rand from Wheel of Time is god-like in power. You’re not surprised when he comes up against incredibly powerful enemies. His actions are somehow "above" yours.
But Tolkien wrote about...hobbits.”
It was here that I realized that the author was not only extremely mediocre at best, but also was everything I hate in any kind of nerd, pretentious. The bigger problem following this is that he misses the mark on how Tolkien approaches his work and states it with such extreme confidence. Anyone who has read a character in Tolkien’s work realizes that dialogue and characterization all come off sounding and acting like a dry, witty, English professor.
But that’s not why you read Tolkien. You read Tolkien for his world that he lovingly crafted and shaped. Yet, as Mr. Robinson tried to lecture us “Rebels” he failed to even begin to broach the subject correctly. Despite this, the author feels confident to lecture us on what makes good fantasy despite not having a shred of an idea on exactly what made those fantasy series work.
Moving on, I’m going to streamline my review more from here on out because trying to review each individual chapter and emerge with my sanity would be like trying to argue with Cthulhu and expect to not go mad at the sight. As I struggled forward through every page with hour-long breaks after each chapter finished.
Within this point, I realized something that made me groan audibly. The main character Loren was a watered down, bargain bin, generic YA female heroine, attempted copy of Vin from Mistborn, and the author morphed her into a Mary Sue on top. This is a fourteen-year-old girl with the skills of someone who trained as a ranger, monk, and fighter for years. We see Loren able to outwit nearly any adult put in front of her, be inexplicably good at nearly everything she does including finding food in a forest or fighting off grown men with little harm done to her, plus she somehow outruns a bear and manages to have that bear fight the constables that have been chasing her. I don’t throw the term Mary Sue around lightly, but I can say with the utmost confidence that Loren is very much one.
I want to talk more about Loren, but I want to reference this section of another email the author sent to me trying to define Loren as or as not, “The One”:
“Let’s talk about the second "secret of great fantasy."
The Sword of Truth series. The Wheel of Time. Mistborn.
Good books. But they all missed this.
The heroes of those series (and many others) have one thing in common:
They’re The One.
Now, don’t get me wrong. It can be cathartic to read a book about The One. We’d all like to imagine that we’re The One.
What if someone appeared and said you were a galactic savior meant to rescue mankind? That ONLY YOU could save us?
You’d fight. Of course you would. You wouldn’t have much of a choice. And the outcome would be a foregone conclusion.
Because you’re The One.
I’ll tell you something right now...The One doesn’t exist in the real world.
Reading about The One can be satisfying at times. But I’d rather read about voluntary heroes. And I’d rather write about them, too.
Bilbo? Frodo?
Neither of them are The One.
They’re just the ones who are there.
Going back to Nightblade for a moment...
Loren is not special because she’s The One. She doesn’t have destiny or fate on her side. She chooses to do what’s right.
And I hope you’ve enjoyed her choices so far.”
First off, no, I have not enjoyed any of her choices in this book so far. They seem to be portrayed as “wise” when Loren is a borderline psychopath. She knocks out her crush’s old man and steals their things, she thinks about shooting the constables in the chest with her bow and arrow and only doesn’t do it out of some weird moral code she came up with on the fly, and she talks in the third person unironically. Second of all, the author never read Mistborn or he’d know the entire point of the book was that the main characters we thought were The One were never The One. Once again the author is showcasing his limited understanding of fantasy and how it works.
I should probably talk about the story. There was one. I think?
So, I should probably start bringing this to an end because there are only so many ways that I can state how bad something is. This book is atrocious, the prose is abhorrent, the story is non-existent, the characters shallow or poorly executed, and there is next to nothing redeemable about this book. I thank my lucky stars that I ended up getting this book for free due to a Facebook ad so that I didn’t have to actually ever buy this book. If the author continues to write I would recommend highly to go take several writing classes, read much more fantasy and really analyze the text to make sure he understands it, and actually go get an editor to properly edit this. I could fill another blog post up with the sheer amount of typos and misspellings that I found over the course of this novel.
Anyway, this book is bad and needs to be heavily edited, completely rewritten, or utterly abandoned. Whichever comes first.
Final Score: 0.5/10
I also want to do something special. Several of my friends read or attempted to read this book as well and sent me their thoughts over it.
I can’t read that book. I'd rather watch an empty microwave go around.
Well, those were certainly all words. It’s like reading Dragonlance if it had been written by a twelve-year-old that thinks 300 was historically accurate and Kevin Costner was the best Robin Hood.
Give him 10/10 for commitment.
We say that given a typewriter and enough time, a monkey can type all of Shakespeare's work. Sadly you will never be able to reach even that level.
It's like Chris-Chan got a thesaurus and started trying to re-write Game of Thrones.
I've read two pages of your stuff and had to quit for fear of burning my phone down. The physical copies of your books shouldn't even be used to start a BBQ for fear of tainting the food.
Never before have I seen such a convincing argument to repeal the first amendment.
(In regard to the first sentence of the book)
But the average person, would they actually know or just imagine. Probably the latter right? So why use that as a simile? The average person has no frame of context to a skull splitting, which defeats the point of it being a simile in the first place. I can get behind the point of contextual perspective, but it doesn’t read as though that was his aim, he was just being edgy.
In France we have lame, love-story books called arlequin. Iirc they are available in other countries. And this books sounds like it's going to look even worse.
This almost sounds like an NPC in Dark Souls If the writer and voice actor had a stroke right beforehand.
I’d rather watch a tau player’s shooting phase than force my eyes to read the 12 grit mental sandpaper that is this collection of words you call a ‘book’.
Never have I see such solid commitment to one’s own ignorance of the lack of quality or knowledge of their craft.
That book makes my brain cells commit suicide.
This dude seems like the type to openly talk about his novel, and loudly at that, while he types it up at Starbucks.
Uh.... did he read Mistborn? Vin ISN’T The One, that’s the whole point of the series!
If I wanted to read mediocre fantasy I’d go take a writing class at a local community college. At least they’re trying to improve their writing.
I seriously don’t get why he keeps talking like he’s already famous for his works, he hasn’t *done* anything yet.
It feels like he’s trying to mix Shakespearian dialog with witty repartee, and some pirate thrown in but fails on all fronts. This coming from the dude whose linguistic style definitely uses outdated words and turns of phrase.
I love that there are like, six other tales called Nightblade. Did you even do a Google search to see if you were being original dude?
She’s like a gas station discount sushi bar Vin. He’s trying to write “Totally Not Vin” after slamming her like an idiot, but failing at it.
To the alleged writer, my three-year-old son could write better, and he can't even write yet... I have seen amateurs better than him with less ego.
There is so much wrong and in so many ways that the world would run out of red paint if I were to correct it all.
You're incapable of writing well, let alone writing well-crafted characters or settings. Seriously, your work reads like a middle school student's English paper right after he read a fantasy novel for the first time; grasping at archaic sentence and dialog structure to make it seem as though they have a deeper understanding of artistic writing. This would all be forgivable if it wasn't for your unremitting arrogance, believing you alone know the "secrets" to create great fantasy. You put yourself above people like Sanderson or Jordan, and yet your work clearly shows you will never reach the heights of literary excellence that they have achieved. You haven't even met with success, and yet you feel the need to talk down upon actual authors who have created vast worlds that countless people have fallen in love with.
In summary; your characters are hollow, knock-offs of characters from countless other books, your story is about as inspired as vanilla ice cream and your understanding of language, both hoary and modern, are paltry at best.
Go take some writing courses, preferably from Sanderson at the university he teaches at, you could learn a great deal from a master such as him. Also, curb your ego, because no one who isn't a friend of yours is going to be able to stomach reading one of your books while dealing with your incessant, childish bravado.
Cheers!
Nightblade fits firmly into the latter category in its own tiny little circle ruling over all the other books who are doomed to wilt and burn there until time eventually and thankfully turns the last copy of that work to nothing but dust motes for whatever poor archeologist or alien happens upon its final resting place. If you didn’t pick it up yet, Nightblade is bad, and it should feel bad for existing.
One of the unique things about this review, beyond the amount of negative criticism that this will be given as there will probably never be a work that draws my ire quite like this, is the inclusion of emails from the author over the subject of his books. When I was studying for my degree in English we often looked at letters and notes from the writers to help understand their mental state and frame in creating their own works. We shall be doing the same from the newsletters and emails the author has sent anyone who signed up for a copy of his “best selling novel”. Simply to see the mentality needed to work through and publish quality fire kindling such as this.
I know this guy is trying to live the dream through Amazon self-publishing, and he’s published a lot more books than I have so I only have so much room to talk. But, from the second I opened the free ebook that was sent to me I knew this story had issues that I’m certain the editor of this book, if he had one since I made a drinking game of how often things were mixed up like the words by and buy, gave up halfway through reading and just tried to get it off their desk as quickly as possible.
An excerpt of the first sentence from the first page:
“LOREN LET HER AXE FALL, and the log split with the sound of a skull cracking open.” (Robinson, 10)
First and foremost, a metaphor is designed to help paint a picture or compare something the average person has no reference to something they do so they can help fill in the blanks. In a community of thirty to forty people who read excerpts of the book and/or read the book along with me as I struggled through this sloppy attempt at comparison, only one person knew what a skull sounded like as it was being cracked open. I understand that the beginnings of books are the hardest part to write since it has to set the tone and mood of the work to follow. I also will admit that every author has their moments when a sentence comes off as clunky or awkward. It’s going to happen no matter how many times you edit and polish your work. However, a terrible opening sentence can kill your work before it even has a chance to get going, and this shows in the carelessness of the metaphor chosen in the opening statements.
As I continued through the first chapter after attempting to let the writer have a chance to tell his story despite getting off to a bad start I realized just how quickly his work was beginning to range from drifting from mediocre to bad every paragraph.
“Mayhap distraction would work. “Father, Mother said I am to ready for the dance. If I do not, she will be angry.”
“And you think I will not be, if you persist in disobedience?” said her father. His voice had grown very like a snarl. “You think to prance about in a gown while I break my back doing your work?”
“She knew better than to deny it. “I do not want to go. Only Mother—”
“You chop,” he said. “And if you rest again before your fingers bleed, I will slice them open myself.” (Robinson, 12-13)
I sat there in minor awe at how the characters within the first two pages of the opening chapter could present themselves in a variety of ways. First, everyone in this world has a wooden, choppy, bad Shakespearean mimicry style of speaking. It feels as if Robinson skims fantasy books and took lessons from how to write dialogue from a buddy who was drunk and had never actually picked up a fantasy book in their life. Second, how I could see the checklist of cliched fantasy tropes being checked off one by one. I loved tvtropes.com as much as the next person, but I also grasped a while ago that characters are more than tropes that fit with a setting. Third, why is her father trying to cut her fingers open if he wants her to chop firewood? It’s extremely counterproductive and would lead to Loren never being able to finish her firewood as her father has so adamantly demanded time and time again.
By the time I had finished the first chapter I had received my first newsletter from the author who started to describe how to write good fantasy and what the key points of the genre are. To quote:
“What, do you think, makes great fantasy GREAT?
Some people will say the world building, or magic. (Or dragons, if you’re my friend Alex). I say it’s something else.
It’s the CHARACTERS.
Here’s one reason they call me a "bad fantasy fan": I don’t like the Wheel of Time series.
It’s one of the bestselling fantasy series ever. How can I dislike it and be a true fantasy fan?
Let’s back up...
Tolkien is the undeniable grandfather of fantasy. Every author since has been playing catch-up. But most of them miss the BIGGEST reasons why Tolkien was amazing...
(There are two. The first is most important.)
He wrote about the hobbits.
Rand from Wheel of Time is god-like in power. You’re not surprised when he comes up against incredibly powerful enemies. His actions are somehow "above" yours.
But Tolkien wrote about...hobbits.”
It was here that I realized that the author was not only extremely mediocre at best, but also was everything I hate in any kind of nerd, pretentious. The bigger problem following this is that he misses the mark on how Tolkien approaches his work and states it with such extreme confidence. Anyone who has read a character in Tolkien’s work realizes that dialogue and characterization all come off sounding and acting like a dry, witty, English professor.
But that’s not why you read Tolkien. You read Tolkien for his world that he lovingly crafted and shaped. Yet, as Mr. Robinson tried to lecture us “Rebels” he failed to even begin to broach the subject correctly. Despite this, the author feels confident to lecture us on what makes good fantasy despite not having a shred of an idea on exactly what made those fantasy series work.
Moving on, I’m going to streamline my review more from here on out because trying to review each individual chapter and emerge with my sanity would be like trying to argue with Cthulhu and expect to not go mad at the sight. As I struggled forward through every page with hour-long breaks after each chapter finished.
Within this point, I realized something that made me groan audibly. The main character Loren was a watered down, bargain bin, generic YA female heroine, attempted copy of Vin from Mistborn, and the author morphed her into a Mary Sue on top. This is a fourteen-year-old girl with the skills of someone who trained as a ranger, monk, and fighter for years. We see Loren able to outwit nearly any adult put in front of her, be inexplicably good at nearly everything she does including finding food in a forest or fighting off grown men with little harm done to her, plus she somehow outruns a bear and manages to have that bear fight the constables that have been chasing her. I don’t throw the term Mary Sue around lightly, but I can say with the utmost confidence that Loren is very much one.
I want to talk more about Loren, but I want to reference this section of another email the author sent to me trying to define Loren as or as not, “The One”:
“Let’s talk about the second "secret of great fantasy."
The Sword of Truth series. The Wheel of Time. Mistborn.
Good books. But they all missed this.
The heroes of those series (and many others) have one thing in common:
They’re The One.
Now, don’t get me wrong. It can be cathartic to read a book about The One. We’d all like to imagine that we’re The One.
What if someone appeared and said you were a galactic savior meant to rescue mankind? That ONLY YOU could save us?
You’d fight. Of course you would. You wouldn’t have much of a choice. And the outcome would be a foregone conclusion.
Because you’re The One.
I’ll tell you something right now...The One doesn’t exist in the real world.
Reading about The One can be satisfying at times. But I’d rather read about voluntary heroes. And I’d rather write about them, too.
Bilbo? Frodo?
Neither of them are The One.
They’re just the ones who are there.
Going back to Nightblade for a moment...
Loren is not special because she’s The One. She doesn’t have destiny or fate on her side. She chooses to do what’s right.
And I hope you’ve enjoyed her choices so far.”
First off, no, I have not enjoyed any of her choices in this book so far. They seem to be portrayed as “wise” when Loren is a borderline psychopath. She knocks out her crush’s old man and steals their things, she thinks about shooting the constables in the chest with her bow and arrow and only doesn’t do it out of some weird moral code she came up with on the fly, and she talks in the third person unironically. Second of all, the author never read Mistborn or he’d know the entire point of the book was that the main characters we thought were The One were never The One. Once again the author is showcasing his limited understanding of fantasy and how it works.
I should probably talk about the story. There was one. I think?
So, I should probably start bringing this to an end because there are only so many ways that I can state how bad something is. This book is atrocious, the prose is abhorrent, the story is non-existent, the characters shallow or poorly executed, and there is next to nothing redeemable about this book. I thank my lucky stars that I ended up getting this book for free due to a Facebook ad so that I didn’t have to actually ever buy this book. If the author continues to write I would recommend highly to go take several writing classes, read much more fantasy and really analyze the text to make sure he understands it, and actually go get an editor to properly edit this. I could fill another blog post up with the sheer amount of typos and misspellings that I found over the course of this novel.
Anyway, this book is bad and needs to be heavily edited, completely rewritten, or utterly abandoned. Whichever comes first.
Final Score: 0.5/10
I also want to do something special. Several of my friends read or attempted to read this book as well and sent me their thoughts over it.
I can’t read that book. I'd rather watch an empty microwave go around.
Well, those were certainly all words. It’s like reading Dragonlance if it had been written by a twelve-year-old that thinks 300 was historically accurate and Kevin Costner was the best Robin Hood.
Give him 10/10 for commitment.
We say that given a typewriter and enough time, a monkey can type all of Shakespeare's work. Sadly you will never be able to reach even that level.
It's like Chris-Chan got a thesaurus and started trying to re-write Game of Thrones.
I've read two pages of your stuff and had to quit for fear of burning my phone down. The physical copies of your books shouldn't even be used to start a BBQ for fear of tainting the food.
Never before have I seen such a convincing argument to repeal the first amendment.
(In regard to the first sentence of the book)
But the average person, would they actually know or just imagine. Probably the latter right? So why use that as a simile? The average person has no frame of context to a skull splitting, which defeats the point of it being a simile in the first place. I can get behind the point of contextual perspective, but it doesn’t read as though that was his aim, he was just being edgy.
In France we have lame, love-story books called arlequin. Iirc they are available in other countries. And this books sounds like it's going to look even worse.
This almost sounds like an NPC in Dark Souls If the writer and voice actor had a stroke right beforehand.
I’d rather watch a tau player’s shooting phase than force my eyes to read the 12 grit mental sandpaper that is this collection of words you call a ‘book’.
Never have I see such solid commitment to one’s own ignorance of the lack of quality or knowledge of their craft.
That book makes my brain cells commit suicide.
This dude seems like the type to openly talk about his novel, and loudly at that, while he types it up at Starbucks.
Uh.... did he read Mistborn? Vin ISN’T The One, that’s the whole point of the series!
If I wanted to read mediocre fantasy I’d go take a writing class at a local community college. At least they’re trying to improve their writing.
I seriously don’t get why he keeps talking like he’s already famous for his works, he hasn’t *done* anything yet.
It feels like he’s trying to mix Shakespearian dialog with witty repartee, and some pirate thrown in but fails on all fronts. This coming from the dude whose linguistic style definitely uses outdated words and turns of phrase.
I love that there are like, six other tales called Nightblade. Did you even do a Google search to see if you were being original dude?
She’s like a gas station discount sushi bar Vin. He’s trying to write “Totally Not Vin” after slamming her like an idiot, but failing at it.
To the alleged writer, my three-year-old son could write better, and he can't even write yet... I have seen amateurs better than him with less ego.
There is so much wrong and in so many ways that the world would run out of red paint if I were to correct it all.
You're incapable of writing well, let alone writing well-crafted characters or settings. Seriously, your work reads like a middle school student's English paper right after he read a fantasy novel for the first time; grasping at archaic sentence and dialog structure to make it seem as though they have a deeper understanding of artistic writing. This would all be forgivable if it wasn't for your unremitting arrogance, believing you alone know the "secrets" to create great fantasy. You put yourself above people like Sanderson or Jordan, and yet your work clearly shows you will never reach the heights of literary excellence that they have achieved. You haven't even met with success, and yet you feel the need to talk down upon actual authors who have created vast worlds that countless people have fallen in love with.
In summary; your characters are hollow, knock-offs of characters from countless other books, your story is about as inspired as vanilla ice cream and your understanding of language, both hoary and modern, are paltry at best.
Go take some writing courses, preferably from Sanderson at the university he teaches at, you could learn a great deal from a master such as him. Also, curb your ego, because no one who isn't a friend of yours is going to be able to stomach reading one of your books while dealing with your incessant, childish bravado.
Cheers!
May 12, 2016
The author of this book firmly believes that "real people make the best characters." I know this because he keeps emailing me to tell me so. [I received this book at no cost via a Facebook promotion.] Loren is a teenage girl, and a quite naive and frustrating one at that. If that's what the author means by "real people," then I suppose he's doing what he believes in, but I am having trouble relating to the characters, understanding their motives and actions and decisions. Loren painfully throws her trust at people who gleefully betray her again and again and pushes aside those who'd like to help her?
The book feels like a lengthy prologue, or half of a novel; no mysteries are solved and very little real plot movement occurs. Perhaps it is just meant to be a teaser for more. I'll give the next book a chance, because this seems to be headed interesting places, but if we don't get some relief from the neverending mysteriousness soon, I'm done.
The book feels like a lengthy prologue, or half of a novel; no mysteries are solved and very little real plot movement occurs. Perhaps it is just meant to be a teaser for more. I'll give the next book a chance, because this seems to be headed interesting places, but if we don't get some relief from the neverending mysteriousness soon, I'm done.
January 19, 2016
Actual rating 1.5 stars.
... And my first read of 2016 is a DNF. I hope that it isn't the trend-setter because if it is, my year will be quite awful. I don't particularly like DNF-ing books but I am not actually fan of books where I've read almost half of the story (170 pages in this particular case) and don't really care for any of the story, for any of the characters and don't give a damn about this fantasy world either.
My thoughts on this book continue HERE.
PS! If you're interested in this book despite the fact that I didn't like it, you should be able to grab your copy of this book free on Kindle. If I remember correctly, it should be temporarily free till January 6th, 2016.
... And my first read of 2016 is a DNF. I hope that it isn't the trend-setter because if it is, my year will be quite awful. I don't particularly like DNF-ing books but I am not actually fan of books where I've read almost half of the story (170 pages in this particular case) and don't really care for any of the story, for any of the characters and don't give a damn about this fantasy world either.
My thoughts on this book continue HERE.
PS! If you're interested in this book despite the fact that I didn't like it, you should be able to grab your copy of this book free on Kindle. If I remember correctly, it should be temporarily free till January 6th, 2016.
May 20, 2016
I made it 7 chapters in (48 pages) and decided to call it quits.
(Also available on Tumblr if that's your preference. )
Now, the story of how I found this book is honestly the more interesting bit. I found an ad on facebook that claimed this book, this marvel of literature, was better than Mistborn: The Final Empire. Bold claims indeed. I clicked this ad and was redirected to his website. I signed up for his newsletter and this scion of Shakespeare has the audacity to send me such gems of advice: "Rand from the Wheel of Time is god-like in power. You're not surprised when he comes up against incredibly powerful enemies. His actions are somehow "above" yours. But Tolkien wrote about...hobbits."
He goes on and on about how the "Big Damn Hero" is killing the genre and sucks Tolkien off. (I mean, Tolkien is great and we wouldn't be here without him, but he goes overboard.) He slams Mistborn and Wheel of Time. I have never been so offended for another person as I am when I read his critiques. What did Robert Jordan ever do to him?
His writing makes him completely unworthy of making these claims. The main character is so contrived. Her parents are assholes with no reason and we have no idea what the world is like. There was a wizard, which helps a little in that regard.
I mean, the dialogue is grammatically correct... Shakespearian. If he wanted to go with a "pre-classical" tale there are definitely other ways of doing that while still being serious. Wheel of Time sounds like you're reading it off an ancient scroll and it does it well.
I can believe her father is abusive. His problem is the number one problem for all writers (I myself am an amateur): SHOW DON'T TELL. Her father's dialogue consisted of him figuratively yelling "I'M AN ABUSIVE PIECE OF SHIT; FEEL SORRY FOR THE MAIN CHARACTER." It doesn't work. He willingly falls into the trap of every YA author as well: the romantic subplot. Right off the bat the only source of internal conflict is her love for... some boy I already forgot the name of. Brad or something. For somebody that "doesn't like" typical fantasy tropes, it appears he cannot escape them, and indeed, gladly writes them with little to know awareness of how obvious it is.
If you're thinking about getting this, even on kindle unlimited, save your efforts. Hell, read fanfiction. "Toss the dice" like Matrim Cauthon and you'll likely find something better than this garbage.
(Also available on Tumblr if that's your preference. )
Now, the story of how I found this book is honestly the more interesting bit. I found an ad on facebook that claimed this book, this marvel of literature, was better than Mistborn: The Final Empire. Bold claims indeed. I clicked this ad and was redirected to his website. I signed up for his newsletter and this scion of Shakespeare has the audacity to send me such gems of advice: "Rand from the Wheel of Time is god-like in power. You're not surprised when he comes up against incredibly powerful enemies. His actions are somehow "above" yours. But Tolkien wrote about...hobbits."
He goes on and on about how the "Big Damn Hero" is killing the genre and sucks Tolkien off. (I mean, Tolkien is great and we wouldn't be here without him, but he goes overboard.) He slams Mistborn and Wheel of Time. I have never been so offended for another person as I am when I read his critiques. What did Robert Jordan ever do to him?
His writing makes him completely unworthy of making these claims. The main character is so contrived. Her parents are assholes with no reason and we have no idea what the world is like. There was a wizard, which helps a little in that regard.
I mean, the dialogue is grammatically correct... Shakespearian. If he wanted to go with a "pre-classical" tale there are definitely other ways of doing that while still being serious. Wheel of Time sounds like you're reading it off an ancient scroll and it does it well.
I can believe her father is abusive. His problem is the number one problem for all writers (I myself am an amateur): SHOW DON'T TELL. Her father's dialogue consisted of him figuratively yelling "I'M AN ABUSIVE PIECE OF SHIT; FEEL SORRY FOR THE MAIN CHARACTER." It doesn't work. He willingly falls into the trap of every YA author as well: the romantic subplot. Right off the bat the only source of internal conflict is her love for... some boy I already forgot the name of. Brad or something. For somebody that "doesn't like" typical fantasy tropes, it appears he cannot escape them, and indeed, gladly writes them with little to know awareness of how obvious it is.
If you're thinking about getting this, even on kindle unlimited, save your efforts. Hell, read fanfiction. "Toss the dice" like Matrim Cauthon and you'll likely find something better than this garbage.
January 3, 2016
Book so loaded with adjectives it's tough to read.
First sentence, "Loren let her axe fall, and the log split with the sound of a skull cracking open." Seriously bad. Wood cutters generally don't know what skulls sound like.
Next sentence, "She heaved a sigh and hoisted the axe to her shoulder." Heaved a sigh? Next sentence, "She surveyed the pile of logs awaiting the kiss of her axe." Kiss?
Malice dripped, frail smile, quick wave, stomping off, scarce remember... One sentence, "Her reveries held great cities, strange mountains ... swift rivers chasing endless miles."
I was puking before the first page was done. Advice to author, slow down and don't go for constant colorful language, you're not doing yourself a favor. Any of the above would be fine occasionally, but practically every sentence has them.
Unfortunately for me I kept reading. I wanted a "nightblade" heroine story.
These may be spoilers, but you could find this out if you read the sample on Amazon. She has a seriously abusive dad. We find that out page one, so no big spoiler here. In chapter one, some guy in a blue coat runs by. She gives chase, but he "vanishes" yet she's able to follow him. Doesn't make sense. She's also the best wrestler, fastest runner and best scout of her area, at fifteen years of age. She must live with cripples that can't support themselves.
The guy in blue is being followed, he knows this, is looking for pursuit, yet doesn't see her following until she slips up. So not likely. She's chopping wood, suddenly there's no chopping anymore, but he doesn't get suspicious. He'd likely avoid anyone making loud noises who could point him out to his pursuers. She'd never have seen him in the first place.
Catching up to him, she convinces him that he'll starve to death without her, she needs some stuff returns to dear old dad. Steals from him, he's a schmuck. It's ok. Then...
She lies and steals from her best friend. At which point I stopped reading.
First sentence, "Loren let her axe fall, and the log split with the sound of a skull cracking open." Seriously bad. Wood cutters generally don't know what skulls sound like.
Next sentence, "She heaved a sigh and hoisted the axe to her shoulder." Heaved a sigh? Next sentence, "She surveyed the pile of logs awaiting the kiss of her axe." Kiss?
Malice dripped, frail smile, quick wave, stomping off, scarce remember... One sentence, "Her reveries held great cities, strange mountains ... swift rivers chasing endless miles."
I was puking before the first page was done. Advice to author, slow down and don't go for constant colorful language, you're not doing yourself a favor. Any of the above would be fine occasionally, but practically every sentence has them.
Unfortunately for me I kept reading. I wanted a "nightblade" heroine story.
These may be spoilers, but you could find this out if you read the sample on Amazon. She has a seriously abusive dad. We find that out page one, so no big spoiler here. In chapter one, some guy in a blue coat runs by. She gives chase, but he "vanishes" yet she's able to follow him. Doesn't make sense. She's also the best wrestler, fastest runner and best scout of her area, at fifteen years of age. She must live with cripples that can't support themselves.
The guy in blue is being followed, he knows this, is looking for pursuit, yet doesn't see her following until she slips up. So not likely. She's chopping wood, suddenly there's no chopping anymore, but he doesn't get suspicious. He'd likely avoid anyone making loud noises who could point him out to his pursuers. She'd never have seen him in the first place.
Catching up to him, she convinces him that he'll starve to death without her, she needs some stuff returns to dear old dad. Steals from him, he's a schmuck. It's ok. Then...
She lies and steals from her best friend. At which point I stopped reading.
September 6, 2017
Loren dreams of a life of adventure....fighting the wicked and helping the downtrodden as the brave Nightblade. She finally escapes her abusive parents by running into the forest after a fugitive wizard. The wizard disappears, and the young girl joins a merchant caravan,determined to form her own destiny. The merchants have secrets and nefarious plans though. When she crosses them, Loren finds herself alone in a large city, pursued and in danger. Will she survive to become Nightblade?
I have mixed feelings about this book.
On the one hand, the action starts immediately and the story is interesting. I like the characters for the most part. The book kept my attention until the end because I wanted to know what happened. Loren is a bit childish -- but she IS a child. So that's perfectly understandable. She's never been away from home before....and she's suddenly on her own in some very dangerous situations. I think she did pretty well for herself.
But..... (there's always a "but'' isn't there lol) on the other hand, the writing style was a bit of an issue for me. Most of the dialogue is written using unnecessarily formal, stilted language, even when the characters speaking are uneducated. People -- not even fantasy characters -- speak like that in conversation. It became a bit annoying. There isn't much world building either. Lots of action -- enjoyable characters -- and the basics of the story are enjoyable. But some important details about the fantasy world are just missing and never really explained at all.
So, middle of the road rating for me. Interesting story. Writing style just not my cup of tea.
I have mixed feelings about this book.
On the one hand, the action starts immediately and the story is interesting. I like the characters for the most part. The book kept my attention until the end because I wanted to know what happened. Loren is a bit childish -- but she IS a child. So that's perfectly understandable. She's never been away from home before....and she's suddenly on her own in some very dangerous situations. I think she did pretty well for herself.
But..... (there's always a "but'' isn't there lol) on the other hand, the writing style was a bit of an issue for me. Most of the dialogue is written using unnecessarily formal, stilted language, even when the characters speaking are uneducated. People -- not even fantasy characters -- speak like that in conversation. It became a bit annoying. There isn't much world building either. Lots of action -- enjoyable characters -- and the basics of the story are enjoyable. But some important details about the fantasy world are just missing and never really explained at all.
So, middle of the road rating for me. Interesting story. Writing style just not my cup of tea.
December 17, 2021
The author of this book actually had the nerve to send out an email newsletter claiming he was better than Robert Jordan.
November 27, 2015
Blending the coming-of-age tropes of the classic quest with a more realistically imperfect world, Robinson creates an immediately accessible fantasy while avoiding a sense of pastiche or staleness.
This book collects parts 1-8 of the Nightblade serial. Loren has lived her entire life in a small village in Selvan Forest. Viewed as merely source of free labour by her father, a good dowry in waiting by her mother, and a target for abuse by both, her only escape are her fantasies of becoming the most famous thief in the world. A chance encounter with Xain, a fugitive wizard, leads to a snap decision to leave everything she knows behind.
While Robinson makes no secret that this is the first volume of an ongoing series, these eight parts form a complete arc between significant events. As such, while the end of part eight does not resolve everything, most readers will feel satisfied by a meaningful progression rather than left hanging. That said, the ending is a strong hook into the next volume preventing this book from truly standing alone.
The joins between parts are smooth, so – while a reader who has read more than one of the parts might guess them in advance – the book does not flow like eight separate chunks of a story. Indeed, the previous release as a serial has produced a book with more frequent hooks than average, making it – if anything – a more intense read than many fantasy works of similar length.
Taken at the highest level, this is the classic fantasy tale of a farm hand heading of in search of adventure, complete with the conflict between plain honest peasant-craft and complex political civilisation, noble thieves, and mysterious forces. However, Robinson does not limit himself to the safe discomforts and conflicts of the chosen one trope: the child abuse threaded through the narrative is realistic rather than fairytale; and the violence by many is casual rather than only the evil of the clearly bad or justified defence of the clearly good.
Despite the gritty realism of life as a youth in a feudal world, the plot also contains plenty of lighter moments where Loren’s mix of cunning and naïvety conflict with expectations.
Loren herself is equally a mix of classic fantasy and gritty realism. Her expectations of life are straight out of a fable: stealing from the deserving, having trusted companions, slipping unseen from shadow to shadow. However, the abuse she has suffered in childhood also manifests in a very plausible ambivalence to threats: she either capitulates without attempting opposition or refuses to accept weakness. Shifting along these two axes from scene to scene, she displays archetypal yet complex reactions, making her a sympathetic if occasionally irritating character.
The supporting cast also show this mix of the immediately recognisable and the nuanced. Decent humane guards break the law not to avoid injustice but due to specific corruption. Motherly crime lords genuinely care for the cheeky ruffians who steal for them, but also possess decidedly unsavoury habits.
Although Robinson’s particular version of teenage hero discovering a more complex world is closer to young adult than epic fantasy, it has the complexity to engage readers with greater experience of fantasy and life in general.
Overall, I enjoyed this book greatly. I recommend it to readers looking for light, fast-paced fantasy played straight.
I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for a fair review.
This book collects parts 1-8 of the Nightblade serial. Loren has lived her entire life in a small village in Selvan Forest. Viewed as merely source of free labour by her father, a good dowry in waiting by her mother, and a target for abuse by both, her only escape are her fantasies of becoming the most famous thief in the world. A chance encounter with Xain, a fugitive wizard, leads to a snap decision to leave everything she knows behind.
While Robinson makes no secret that this is the first volume of an ongoing series, these eight parts form a complete arc between significant events. As such, while the end of part eight does not resolve everything, most readers will feel satisfied by a meaningful progression rather than left hanging. That said, the ending is a strong hook into the next volume preventing this book from truly standing alone.
The joins between parts are smooth, so – while a reader who has read more than one of the parts might guess them in advance – the book does not flow like eight separate chunks of a story. Indeed, the previous release as a serial has produced a book with more frequent hooks than average, making it – if anything – a more intense read than many fantasy works of similar length.
Taken at the highest level, this is the classic fantasy tale of a farm hand heading of in search of adventure, complete with the conflict between plain honest peasant-craft and complex political civilisation, noble thieves, and mysterious forces. However, Robinson does not limit himself to the safe discomforts and conflicts of the chosen one trope: the child abuse threaded through the narrative is realistic rather than fairytale; and the violence by many is casual rather than only the evil of the clearly bad or justified defence of the clearly good.
Despite the gritty realism of life as a youth in a feudal world, the plot also contains plenty of lighter moments where Loren’s mix of cunning and naïvety conflict with expectations.
Loren herself is equally a mix of classic fantasy and gritty realism. Her expectations of life are straight out of a fable: stealing from the deserving, having trusted companions, slipping unseen from shadow to shadow. However, the abuse she has suffered in childhood also manifests in a very plausible ambivalence to threats: she either capitulates without attempting opposition or refuses to accept weakness. Shifting along these two axes from scene to scene, she displays archetypal yet complex reactions, making her a sympathetic if occasionally irritating character.
The supporting cast also show this mix of the immediately recognisable and the nuanced. Decent humane guards break the law not to avoid injustice but due to specific corruption. Motherly crime lords genuinely care for the cheeky ruffians who steal for them, but also possess decidedly unsavoury habits.
Although Robinson’s particular version of teenage hero discovering a more complex world is closer to young adult than epic fantasy, it has the complexity to engage readers with greater experience of fantasy and life in general.
Overall, I enjoyed this book greatly. I recommend it to readers looking for light, fast-paced fantasy played straight.
I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for a fair review.
August 24, 2016
The ad that got me to read this book put it on par with Mistborn. The book itself did not.
I'll start by saying that I found the prose a little above average. Some nice descriptions in there. Although I felt like everyone—be they uneducated urchin, uneducated backwoodser, or educated merchant—all spoke with the parlance of a late 16th century scholar.
But I had a very big complaint with this book. I very nearly stopped multiple times, which I never do (as evidenced by the fact that I did indeed finish it). The reason was because the plot was a string of stupidity. I don't mean that the author is stupid; there were some clever things that happened. I mean that the protagonist's main drive was groundless, stubborn stupidity, and that's always painful to read.
I could connect and sympathize with Loren for the first maybe 20-30% of the book. Bad home life, decides to run away. But that knife was the dumbest thing ever. She had to have this knife for no reason other than she liked it. And let's be honest, the only reason she needed to have the knife is because the plot called for it. The last half of the book was just her making stupid decisions because she wanted the knife. Let's deconstruct why she wanted the knife: because she wants to be a theif called Nightblade. But that's not a reason at all because she can get a new one without risking her life multiple times.
Let's face it, the only reason she needed that knife is because But she had no motive for that. Only the plot did.
Outside of that, there was a character named Annis, which I couldn't help but pronounce Anus every time. And an etymological niggle: almost all the characters have names reminiscent of English ones. Loren (Lauren), Annis (Annie), Gregor (Gregor), Jordel (Jordan), and so forth. And then there's Xain. I guess it could be similar to Zane, but there are no other names in the book like it. I don't think that it hints at foreign linguistic influences, but rather the author's desire to give a "cool" name to a wizard.
Anyway, I'd like to know what is, but not enough to read the second book.
I'll start by saying that I found the prose a little above average. Some nice descriptions in there. Although I felt like everyone—be they uneducated urchin, uneducated backwoodser, or educated merchant—all spoke with the parlance of a late 16th century scholar.
But I had a very big complaint with this book. I very nearly stopped multiple times, which I never do (as evidenced by the fact that I did indeed finish it). The reason was because the plot was a string of stupidity. I don't mean that the author is stupid; there were some clever things that happened. I mean that the protagonist's main drive was groundless, stubborn stupidity, and that's always painful to read.
I could connect and sympathize with Loren for the first maybe 20-30% of the book. Bad home life, decides to run away. But that knife was the dumbest thing ever. She had to have this knife for no reason other than she liked it. And let's be honest, the only reason she needed to have the knife is because the plot called for it. The last half of the book was just her making stupid decisions because she wanted the knife. Let's deconstruct why she wanted the knife: because she wants to be a theif called Nightblade. But that's not a reason at all because she can get a new one without risking her life multiple times.
Let's face it, the only reason she needed that knife is because But she had no motive for that. Only the plot did.
Outside of that, there was a character named Annis, which I couldn't help but pronounce Anus every time. And an etymological niggle: almost all the characters have names reminiscent of English ones. Loren (Lauren), Annis (Annie), Gregor (Gregor), Jordel (Jordan), and so forth. And then there's Xain. I guess it could be similar to Zane, but there are no other names in the book like it. I don't think that it hints at foreign linguistic influences, but rather the author's desire to give a "cool" name to a wizard.
Anyway, I'd like to know what is, but not enough to read the second book.
December 17, 2020
I first downloaded this book from a free promotion having seen nothing more than the cover and title so I had no idea what to expect from it. When I first started I had my doubts about it but once Loren left home things definitely took a turn for the better. The author shows some real talent in world building and the characters are interesting especially the young females who are strong, brave, determined, cunning, and resilient.
February 12, 2017
I was perusing Facebook one day and one of the adds that pop up offered this as a free book. I thought it looked interesting/good so I nabbed it up. I do this...somewhat regularly, but because I have so many books to read I have read many of the ones I got for free. Then I got an email from the author that said if I read the book to reply to the email because he had some presents for me. I was intrigued. I had never received an email quite like that before and it was enough to encourage me to read the book :)
Overall I quite enjoyed this book. Starts you in a small village with a girl named Loren who has an abusive father. So she gets the heck out of dodge. Good for her. And then the story continues from there. meeting people and drama ensues. Not a massive plot, just the story of a girl and the interesting people she meets along the way.
I had a hard time at first with some of the language the author chose to use. Mayhap. Whence. Well met. Aught. These are almost archaic words or sayings that just aren't used anymore. And while I was bothered at first it became normal soon enough. That's my one big complaint.
Overall I would give this somewhere between 3.5-4. This is one of the hardest books that I've had to review. Just not sure where to put it. I am looking forward to reading the sequel as there was no real ending and I am curious of what happens to the characters. I'm glad I read this book, and I'm glad Garrett Robinson wrote that email which encouraged me to read it faster than I normally would have. If you decide to read this, friends, I will be super curious to see your thoughts on this one.
Overall I quite enjoyed this book. Starts you in a small village with a girl named Loren who has an abusive father. So she gets the heck out of dodge. Good for her. And then the story continues from there. meeting people and drama ensues. Not a massive plot, just the story of a girl and the interesting people she meets along the way.
I had a hard time at first with some of the language the author chose to use. Mayhap. Whence. Well met. Aught. These are almost archaic words or sayings that just aren't used anymore. And while I was bothered at first it became normal soon enough. That's my one big complaint.
Overall I would give this somewhere between 3.5-4. This is one of the hardest books that I've had to review. Just not sure where to put it. I am looking forward to reading the sequel as there was no real ending and I am curious of what happens to the characters. I'm glad I read this book, and I'm glad Garrett Robinson wrote that email which encouraged me to read it faster than I normally would have. If you decide to read this, friends, I will be super curious to see your thoughts on this one.
March 29, 2019
Though a little back story heavy, here we have an interesting story and complex characters that feel real.
After recent experiences this year, I'm a bit more open to books narrated by the author than I used to be.
In fairness, Garrett Robinson is a skilled narrator. He has a solid assortment of character voices and good use of tempo changes and vocal inflections.
Unfortunately, there was an ongoing slip near the end that prevented this from being a solid 4🌟 performance.
Around 75% or so into the book, the main character's voice changes. Would have been no problem if there had been descriptions in the text suggesting she was altering her voice. Unfortunately, there was not.
Now, we do have an interesting world that, while unrealistically conservative in some ways, feels authentically medieval in others.
The main character, Loren, starts out as this country bumpkin of a girl with big dreams that have been shot down all her life.
Of course, she soon discovers the "real world" isn't all she thought it would be and I love the play on her expectations versus reality as she comes into all this.
There's very little of the world's magic system in this book, but what is there is really interesting. As is the shadowy "underworld" (my word, not the author's) organization that seems to have their hands into everything.
There is a wide cast of characters (considering the length of the book, at least), and even the ones who are shallow or only present for a short bit feel like real people with their own lives and reasons for all the things they do. With possibly one or two exceptions, no one really feels like a prop just to suit the needs of the plot.
The ending, while some aspects do feel a little too convenient, was well put together and satisfying. And I feel like the way things conveniently come together is actually a feature of the magic system rather than a flaw in the writing.
There are a couple of twists that were a little too obvious, and the complete lack of contractions (even among the common folk) does come off as a little stilted. But all in all I really enjoyed the story and I'm looking forward to the next one being released in audio.
After recent experiences this year, I'm a bit more open to books narrated by the author than I used to be.
In fairness, Garrett Robinson is a skilled narrator. He has a solid assortment of character voices and good use of tempo changes and vocal inflections.
Unfortunately, there was an ongoing slip near the end that prevented this from being a solid 4🌟 performance.
Around 75% or so into the book, the main character's voice changes. Would have been no problem if there had been descriptions in the text suggesting she was altering her voice. Unfortunately, there was not.
Now, we do have an interesting world that, while unrealistically conservative in some ways, feels authentically medieval in others.
The main character, Loren, starts out as this country bumpkin of a girl with big dreams that have been shot down all her life.
Of course, she soon discovers the "real world" isn't all she thought it would be and I love the play on her expectations versus reality as she comes into all this.
There's very little of the world's magic system in this book, but what is there is really interesting. As is the shadowy "underworld" (my word, not the author's) organization that seems to have their hands into everything.
There is a wide cast of characters (considering the length of the book, at least), and even the ones who are shallow or only present for a short bit feel like real people with their own lives and reasons for all the things they do. With possibly one or two exceptions, no one really feels like a prop just to suit the needs of the plot.
The ending, while some aspects do feel a little too convenient, was well put together and satisfying. And I feel like the way things conveniently come together is actually a feature of the magic system rather than a flaw in the writing.
There are a couple of twists that were a little too obvious, and the complete lack of contractions (even among the common folk) does come off as a little stilted. But all in all I really enjoyed the story and I'm looking forward to the next one being released in audio.
December 5, 2017
I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Though this book reads like a New Adult Fantasy, I shelved it as YA for the heroine's age and also because it's "safe" enough.
I'm a little twisted on how I feel about this book. The plot seemed interesting enough - a young girl of fifteen runs away from an abusive household with dreams of becoming a noble thief. While, in pursuit of her dreams, she becomes a target for many people. Nothing too unique about the plot but it fascinated me enough to give it a read.
At first, I notice how differently this book was written. While it's not entirely bad, the dialogue and descriptions tend to be overdone in certain areas.
While I did enjoy Loren, I wondered why she would commit so many mistakes especially as one who is on the run from abusive parents. It didn't make sense to me that wouldn't be more cautious and less trustworthy of the people she rode with. But I'll let that slide considering the girl was on the road alone. She's also a brilliant and quick thinker when it comes to getting out of sticky situations. Another character I enjoyed is Gem. Xain, Annis, and Jordel didn't feel real enough for me as they walked in and out of scenes. Not much time to know anything about them.
While Damaris and Auntie, on the other hand, had very vague motives as to why they behaved the way they did, I still found them interesting and wanted to more about their own backstory! Nightblade has a lot of promises to becoming an action packed and magical series that I look forward to knowing more about.
For more bookish adventures, follow my blog at Camillea Reads and on IG: @biblio.khaleesi
Though this book reads like a New Adult Fantasy, I shelved it as YA for the heroine's age and also because it's "safe" enough.
I'm a little twisted on how I feel about this book. The plot seemed interesting enough - a young girl of fifteen runs away from an abusive household with dreams of becoming a noble thief. While, in pursuit of her dreams, she becomes a target for many people. Nothing too unique about the plot but it fascinated me enough to give it a read.
At first, I notice how differently this book was written. While it's not entirely bad, the dialogue and descriptions tend to be overdone in certain areas.
While I did enjoy Loren, I wondered why she would commit so many mistakes especially as one who is on the run from abusive parents. It didn't make sense to me that wouldn't be more cautious and less trustworthy of the people she rode with. But I'll let that slide considering the girl was on the road alone. She's also a brilliant and quick thinker when it comes to getting out of sticky situations. Another character I enjoyed is Gem. Xain, Annis, and Jordel didn't feel real enough for me as they walked in and out of scenes. Not much time to know anything about them.
While Damaris and Auntie, on the other hand, had very vague motives as to why they behaved the way they did, I still found them interesting and wanted to more about their own backstory! Nightblade has a lot of promises to becoming an action packed and magical series that I look forward to knowing more about.
For more bookish adventures, follow my blog at Camillea Reads and on IG: @biblio.khaleesi
August 23, 2018
Nightblade plays with a birth of the legend concept and gives it an amusing twist. I would recommend the book if you like adventures, mysteries, variety, and a nice story. The protagonist and supporting characters are living and believable, with their flaws and challenges; the villains have distinguishable personalities and don't sound like they're the same person. It was great to see the book not just focus on adult and young adult characters of different colors and genders. There are children, they have strong personalities, and they are vital for the story. This multiple-level inclusivity is what makes the world breathing and real in a fantastic setting. The characters are not anything special but they are relatable and you want to root for them. Speaking of which, I love how the main character's fantasies are clashing with reality and how it affects her choices. There's space to grow, and I can't wait to see her development in other books.
February 19, 2016
This was okay. 3 stars. I felt that this book was written by a new author, someone who hasn't wrote a book prior. The story line was pretty good, however the title does not fit. The book is called nightblade, yet the girl didn't even become nightblade. I think the whole book should've been compressed into about 12 chapters and have the second book become the first book.
October 27, 2016
An enjoyable adventure romp following a Forester girl escaping from an abusive childhood and starting her journey into becoming a Lady thief. A bit predicable, and meant for a younger audience than I am, but a fun little read. My biggest issue is I had trouble believing the MC very fast paced character progression, and would have like a bit more emphasis on having her grow at a steady rate.
March 27, 2016
The stilted, old fashioned, formal language in this one took some getting used to. There's nothing extraordinary or different, nothing to surprise, but I liked it well enough. The main character grew on me. I would be interested in reading another of the series.
August 20, 2017
I love watching Garrett Robinson on his youtube channel and when he reached out to his community for a review, I asked to read his book. I was completely hyped to read his books after I saw that he was streaming his writing on youtube as well.
I asked for the first book and soon enough it arrived and since then I read nightblade twice.
From the first chapter I just kept reading, forgetting what time it was (1 am) and I was deep in the story. The author did a wonderful job with the world building and the characters. You can't help yourself but want to know more of this world and see how the characters are growing and the adventures they are facing.
Nightblade is about a girl, Loren, who runs away from her parents, especially from her abusive father, just after she meets a young man who was running from the law. Their adventure turned into a fight to survive. I love the author's imagery and how everything came to life in the book, I mostly loved the dialog between the characters, it felt as you are right there next to them eavesdropping on them.
Everything felt as a true adventure :)
Loren is a very relatable character, she has big dreams while trying to escape her abusive parents. The author made sure to build the world and the main character in such a real way. It felt so real, every fear and every success felt as real as in real life.
Loren will not marry for money and when she meets Xain her dreams and wishes comes to reality and she sees a way out of her current life. I will not spoil the rest of the story for you but I will say that when she took her first step out of her village, things became more complicated and very quickly Loren finds herself in bad situations.
My favorite character I must say is the young mystic boy and Loren, they are both well thought of and I felt very connected to them both.
By the end of the book, I wanted more... To know more about the characters and to see if she finally found what Loren was looking for. I love fantasy book (it's my main genre) and this book didn't fell short of my expectations. I am so happy that I got the chance to read this book and know of this series.
Can we take a moment to look at that gorgeous cover... I love the cover so much.
Nightblade is a great read and if you love young adult fantasy/epic fantasy, this book is for you. I can't wait to read the next books in this series.
Read more at: Coffee n' Notes
I asked for the first book and soon enough it arrived and since then I read nightblade twice.
From the first chapter I just kept reading, forgetting what time it was (1 am) and I was deep in the story. The author did a wonderful job with the world building and the characters. You can't help yourself but want to know more of this world and see how the characters are growing and the adventures they are facing.
Nightblade is about a girl, Loren, who runs away from her parents, especially from her abusive father, just after she meets a young man who was running from the law. Their adventure turned into a fight to survive. I love the author's imagery and how everything came to life in the book, I mostly loved the dialog between the characters, it felt as you are right there next to them eavesdropping on them.
Everything felt as a true adventure :)
Loren is a very relatable character, she has big dreams while trying to escape her abusive parents. The author made sure to build the world and the main character in such a real way. It felt so real, every fear and every success felt as real as in real life.
Loren will not marry for money and when she meets Xain her dreams and wishes comes to reality and she sees a way out of her current life. I will not spoil the rest of the story for you but I will say that when she took her first step out of her village, things became more complicated and very quickly Loren finds herself in bad situations.
My favorite character I must say is the young mystic boy and Loren, they are both well thought of and I felt very connected to them both.
By the end of the book, I wanted more... To know more about the characters and to see if she finally found what Loren was looking for. I love fantasy book (it's my main genre) and this book didn't fell short of my expectations. I am so happy that I got the chance to read this book and know of this series.
Can we take a moment to look at that gorgeous cover... I love the cover so much.
Nightblade is a great read and if you love young adult fantasy/epic fantasy, this book is for you. I can't wait to read the next books in this series.
Read more at: Coffee n' Notes
October 2, 2016
From the first 500 words, I knew I wouldn't like this book. I wanted to, really. More or less to prove to myself that I need to start delving into a book before making a decision so quickly. Unfortunately, my first reaction held true and I stalled out midway.
This book does a lot of things "right," but not very well. Let's examine the first bit, where readers pick up a book and decide if they want to take the plunge.
In the first chapter we:
Are hit over the head with backstory.
Are overloaded with her feelings toward other characters.
Are given a good heap of overt self-awareness.
A coincidence on top of a coincidence: a meeting with her father, her mother referred to in dialogue, Chet seen in the distance, and then a "random" blue cloaked figure in the forest. (Geez, how quickly did someone want to finish this book)
Have so much tension pushed on us in page one that it seems forced...
And maybe that is my issue with this book.
It reads as a first draft to me, where someone "wrote a book by numbers" and made sure to check off all the "right" things a novel needs. Except, they aren't done well, and they aren't satisfying in any way.
I mean, c'mon, there are typos on the second page.
This book does a lot of things "right," but not very well. Let's examine the first bit, where readers pick up a book and decide if they want to take the plunge.
In the first chapter we:
Are hit over the head with backstory.
Are overloaded with her feelings toward other characters.
Are given a good heap of overt self-awareness.
A coincidence on top of a coincidence: a meeting with her father, her mother referred to in dialogue, Chet seen in the distance, and then a "random" blue cloaked figure in the forest. (Geez, how quickly did someone want to finish this book)
Have so much tension pushed on us in page one that it seems forced...
And maybe that is my issue with this book.
It reads as a first draft to me, where someone "wrote a book by numbers" and made sure to check off all the "right" things a novel needs. Except, they aren't done well, and they aren't satisfying in any way.
I mean, c'mon, there are typos on the second page.
May 4, 2016
Meh. The concept is mildly interesting, but overdone. The rewriting is clichéd and forced, with archaic language randomly thrown in.
There are many inconsistencies. One page has Loren reading a sign, and the next said she never learned to read. Characters are varied, but everyone talks with the with the same awkwardly wordy dialogue, from a 10 year old street urchin to a middle aged high class merchant.
I probably would've enjoyed it when I was 12, alongside Piers Anthony and the Dragonlance books... but there is no excuse for bad writing regardless of the audience's age.
There are many inconsistencies. One page has Loren reading a sign, and the next said she never learned to read. Characters are varied, but everyone talks with the with the same awkwardly wordy dialogue, from a 10 year old street urchin to a middle aged high class merchant.
I probably would've enjoyed it when I was 12, alongside Piers Anthony and the Dragonlance books... but there is no excuse for bad writing regardless of the audience's age.
October 14, 2015
It had a really good beginning but I was disappointed when it suddenly ended after only a few chapters and wanted me to purchase book 2 and 3 for the end of the story.
Read
November 5, 2017DNF. I just couldn't handle Loren's self righteousness.
November 20, 2017
I made it about half way through and gave up. I couldn't stand the protagonist.
August 16, 2025
There's not much to say about this one. Nightblade is a fantasy story much in the same way the two heels of a loaf of bread and a slice of bologna make a sandwich: picture the bare minimum of a medieval magical setting, and you'll find it here and little else. You don't need to read much farther than the introduction of the story's resident mage, Xain, a brooding hooded figure with a penchant for throwing fireballs, to discover this book's world, characters, and magic system are all but indistinguishable from the next fantasy book out there.
Take Loren, our protagonist on the run after leaving an abusive home dreaming of becoming Nightblade, a thief who robs the rich and gives to the poor while refusing to ever end another's life. Loren isn't the chosen one, but she is the archetypal farm boy blessed with plot armor all the same. She's just as clueless about the world around her, and in fact knows nothing about burglary or pickpocketing despite her wish to be a thief—she is a blank slate of a character whose starting abilities mirror the farm boy's in every way and who orbits other important characters not because she herself is skilled or wise but because the plot demands it. Why, exactly, so many of Underrealm's denizens give Loren the time of day is beyond the reader. Even coming from a troubled background, Loren is difficult to sympathize or relate to because, like the farm boy, she is unrealistically capable and, like Mary Sue, garners much undeserved respect from close to everyone she meets.
This is because of Loren's dagger, a souvenir from her parents that can make, for an unrevealed reason, even an armed agent of Underrealm's king second guess himself. As a MacGuffin it is particularly frustrating, most of all because Loren's ethics prevent it from ever seeing use. She hardly does more than carve game with it. Instead of drawing blood, it serves as the central object of her dream of becoming Nightblade—to the point that the second half of the novel revolves around recovering the blade after Loren loses it to the antagonist. Loren reads as childlishly stupid here, and although she succeeds, virtually all of the story's conflict stems from Loren making one bad decision after another because of her fantasy. And the dagger? It is simply the worst plot device I've read in a while. We learn little about it, and therefore unsurprisingly we care little about it as well.
It's worth warning that Nightblade's faux Early Modern English dialogue is torturous. Every criticism leveled at long-winded and clunky fantasy dialogue applies here in spades. This is a creative decision that, while well-intentioned, works against the novel by being so overwhelmingly awkward. Characters speak more like robots with perfect enunciation than they do as real living, breathing people. And again unoriginality rears its head when characters use 'thou' and 'ye'—sparsely, but still just as creatively bankrupt as you might expect.
The one strength Nightblade has is in its pacing: this is a story that knows where it wants to go and doesn't lose itself in bloated exposition. There is little downtime to slow the narrative to a crawl, although that is a curse as well as a blessing because Underrealm is so weakly developed. Everything we learn about this universe in the first book could be summarized in a brief paragraph. There are mages who can cast fireballs or lightning bolts. There is a king. There are nine lands. There is a walled city called Cabrus. There are inns.
There are better fantasy stories to read.
Take Loren, our protagonist on the run after leaving an abusive home dreaming of becoming Nightblade, a thief who robs the rich and gives to the poor while refusing to ever end another's life. Loren isn't the chosen one, but she is the archetypal farm boy blessed with plot armor all the same. She's just as clueless about the world around her, and in fact knows nothing about burglary or pickpocketing despite her wish to be a thief—she is a blank slate of a character whose starting abilities mirror the farm boy's in every way and who orbits other important characters not because she herself is skilled or wise but because the plot demands it. Why, exactly, so many of Underrealm's denizens give Loren the time of day is beyond the reader. Even coming from a troubled background, Loren is difficult to sympathize or relate to because, like the farm boy, she is unrealistically capable and, like Mary Sue, garners much undeserved respect from close to everyone she meets.
This is because of Loren's dagger, a souvenir from her parents that can make, for an unrevealed reason, even an armed agent of Underrealm's king second guess himself. As a MacGuffin it is particularly frustrating, most of all because Loren's ethics prevent it from ever seeing use. She hardly does more than carve game with it. Instead of drawing blood, it serves as the central object of her dream of becoming Nightblade—to the point that the second half of the novel revolves around recovering the blade after Loren loses it to the antagonist. Loren reads as childlishly stupid here, and although she succeeds, virtually all of the story's conflict stems from Loren making one bad decision after another because of her fantasy. And the dagger? It is simply the worst plot device I've read in a while. We learn little about it, and therefore unsurprisingly we care little about it as well.
It's worth warning that Nightblade's faux Early Modern English dialogue is torturous. Every criticism leveled at long-winded and clunky fantasy dialogue applies here in spades. This is a creative decision that, while well-intentioned, works against the novel by being so overwhelmingly awkward. Characters speak more like robots with perfect enunciation than they do as real living, breathing people. And again unoriginality rears its head when characters use 'thou' and 'ye'—sparsely, but still just as creatively bankrupt as you might expect.
The one strength Nightblade has is in its pacing: this is a story that knows where it wants to go and doesn't lose itself in bloated exposition. There is little downtime to slow the narrative to a crawl, although that is a curse as well as a blessing because Underrealm is so weakly developed. Everything we learn about this universe in the first book could be summarized in a brief paragraph. There are mages who can cast fireballs or lightning bolts. There is a king. There are nine lands. There is a walled city called Cabrus. There are inns.
There are better fantasy stories to read.
July 26, 2024
I read this book about 5/6 years ago. I don't remember much, but I desperately wanted to re read it, especially since so many new books were added to the overall series.
"No cell may hold Nightblade."
Before the mysterious Nightblade, there was the scared little girl, Loren. She came so far in such a short amount of time. She adapts quickly to her surroundings. While her upbringing wasn't the best and her parents abusive, she took every lesson and turned it into a weapon. From the moment she met Xain and escaped her life, all she's done is learn, adapt, and overcome. She has been abandoned, kicked, almost killed multiple times, and abandoned again. Yet she still fights on. The stories of Bracken have sustained her through it all.
There were a lot of characters introduced. All who added to Loren's character or taught her a lesson or became a friend. Annis, the daughter of the devious merchant, is probably one of my favorites. She has a cynical view of things for one so young. I hope she continues to be a friend to Loren after everything they've been through together.
All the characters introduced, Gem is quote a character. He's scrappy, funny, and now firmly team Loren! I don't think Loren knows what to do when it comes to him. There was a lot of drama and trouble that Gem helped Loren out of. And much trouble they got into together.
"Deep within, we are all like sunbeam and moonlight. Sometimes, we are drawn to others like ourselves, those who bear a similar purpose. That to which we belong, we attract."
So much mystery between this mysterious mystic, Jordel, and what he knows about Loren and the dagger she carries. I don't remember what happens in the next few books, but I love the mystery at the end of book 1.
As much as I love all the characters, even the "evil" ones, I have to mention the amazing writing. Descriptive without bogging down the story. Weaving plots on top of plots without making it too hard to follow. I have a feeling that some of the tidbits dropped in this book will come into play over the course of the series.
"No cell may hold Nightblade."
Before the mysterious Nightblade, there was the scared little girl, Loren. She came so far in such a short amount of time. She adapts quickly to her surroundings. While her upbringing wasn't the best and her parents abusive, she took every lesson and turned it into a weapon. From the moment she met Xain and escaped her life, all she's done is learn, adapt, and overcome. She has been abandoned, kicked, almost killed multiple times, and abandoned again. Yet she still fights on. The stories of Bracken have sustained her through it all.
There were a lot of characters introduced. All who added to Loren's character or taught her a lesson or became a friend. Annis, the daughter of the devious merchant, is probably one of my favorites. She has a cynical view of things for one so young. I hope she continues to be a friend to Loren after everything they've been through together.
All the characters introduced, Gem is quote a character. He's scrappy, funny, and now firmly team Loren! I don't think Loren knows what to do when it comes to him. There was a lot of drama and trouble that Gem helped Loren out of. And much trouble they got into together.
"Deep within, we are all like sunbeam and moonlight. Sometimes, we are drawn to others like ourselves, those who bear a similar purpose. That to which we belong, we attract."
So much mystery between this mysterious mystic, Jordel, and what he knows about Loren and the dagger she carries. I don't remember what happens in the next few books, but I love the mystery at the end of book 1.
As much as I love all the characters, even the "evil" ones, I have to mention the amazing writing. Descriptive without bogging down the story. Weaving plots on top of plots without making it too hard to follow. I have a feeling that some of the tidbits dropped in this book will come into play over the course of the series.
October 4, 2022
My biggest problem with this book was that I just didn't care. I did not care for the characters or the story and had no interest in finding out what happened next. I think the biggest issue this book has is that there is no clear goal or directive. I mean, it is clear that Loren wants to get away from her family, but there is nothing beyond that, so once she escapes the book just feels like one random event happening after the other. By the time I'd reached page 175 I still had no idea what the story was building towards, and by the time I'd reached what I guess was supposed to be the climax I had no clue whether this was supposed to be the climax of the story or not. I can't tell you exactly why, but for some reason, that thing pretty much every story has where the events feel natural and you can feel the story building towards an eventual climax... that was missing completely in this book.
It felt like the author was trying incredibly hard to keep the story interesting and engaging by throwing obstacle after obstacle on the main character's path, but this only succeeded in making the story incredibly exhausting. To sum up the plot, it was basically just: "there's a danger! okay danger solved. Wait! There's another danger! Okay, solved again. But wait! Another setback! Something bad happened again!" etc., etc. That's it. That was the plot. There was no moment of calm, no moment where we could enjoy some rest and safety. It was really frustrating and exhausting. I'm kind of glad it is over.
Also, the language was a little pretentious and kind of cringy. It was really clear the author was trying to go for a cool medieval vibe with its language, but it just made the characters sound silly and unrelatable.
Still though, it wasn't the worst book I've ever read... but it wasn't that great either.
It felt like the author was trying incredibly hard to keep the story interesting and engaging by throwing obstacle after obstacle on the main character's path, but this only succeeded in making the story incredibly exhausting. To sum up the plot, it was basically just: "there's a danger! okay danger solved. Wait! There's another danger! Okay, solved again. But wait! Another setback! Something bad happened again!" etc., etc. That's it. That was the plot. There was no moment of calm, no moment where we could enjoy some rest and safety. It was really frustrating and exhausting. I'm kind of glad it is over.
Also, the language was a little pretentious and kind of cringy. It was really clear the author was trying to go for a cool medieval vibe with its language, but it just made the characters sound silly and unrelatable.
Still though, it wasn't the worst book I've ever read... but it wasn't that great either.
July 19, 2019
2.5 stars
This should have been a novella. It was way too long for what it was. I'm interested in the world as a whole and so I will continue to read this series.
Loren escapes from her abusive home life and ventures into the world, finding that it's full of dangers she could have never pictured from within her forest. In her company is a strange dagger that holds symbolism to sway those loyal to the "masters".
Beyond that, nothing else is revealed about this dagger or who this mystical group is. It's clear they have sway in certain matters, even in the most unlikely of places.
Most of this story finds itself in a small town. At first with Loren trying to escape it and then the other half trying to recover her stolen dagger. She starts to make a name for herself as a master thief named Nightblade. Another way to look at this book is an origin story. This is how the whispers of her start.
Near the end of the book Loren began to grate on my nerves though. She was so childish. Gem, a pick pocket, is the only character I grew to like. He broke the stereotype of street children being...not stupid but not smart either. He's younger than Loren but he felt older. He spoke clearly, without the broken speech authors tend to give their street kids. It was a refreshing change.
I'm pretty indifferent about this book but I want to keep reading. Less curious about Loren but I want to know about the world. This is a large series that branches off. It could become good. We'll see.
This should have been a novella. It was way too long for what it was. I'm interested in the world as a whole and so I will continue to read this series.
Loren escapes from her abusive home life and ventures into the world, finding that it's full of dangers she could have never pictured from within her forest. In her company is a strange dagger that holds symbolism to sway those loyal to the "masters".
Beyond that, nothing else is revealed about this dagger or who this mystical group is. It's clear they have sway in certain matters, even in the most unlikely of places.
Most of this story finds itself in a small town. At first with Loren trying to escape it and then the other half trying to recover her stolen dagger. She starts to make a name for herself as a master thief named Nightblade. Another way to look at this book is an origin story. This is how the whispers of her start.
Near the end of the book Loren began to grate on my nerves though. She was so childish. Gem, a pick pocket, is the only character I grew to like. He broke the stereotype of street children being...not stupid but not smart either. He's younger than Loren but he felt older. He spoke clearly, without the broken speech authors tend to give their street kids. It was a refreshing change.
I'm pretty indifferent about this book but I want to keep reading. Less curious about Loren but I want to know about the world. This is a large series that branches off. It could become good. We'll see.
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