tiktok made me buy yet another novel

A Broken Blade – Melissa Blair 

Fantasy, fiction. 

Rating 10/10

Keera is the most dangerous assassin and spy who is known as the King’s Blade in all of Faeland.  Keera isn’t perfect and knows it. She makes do with what she can to survive despite the consequences of her actions that led to innocents dying at her hands. The king asks her to find this Shadow who is causing havoc in the kingdom. When she confronts who the Shadow is, she finds the truth of what is going on. Keera decides to switch sides and makes an effort to save lives rather than take them away. She works with the Shadow to take down the Crown and ensure that no more innocent blood is shed. 

I heard about how the author did a clue hunt with this novel and was wanting to get the novel. I had no money at the time and I was anticipating reading it. I’m so grateful to have found a copy and I read it. I purposely left out a lot of details because the book is pretty hefty. Keera goes through some real pain and trauma as well as trying to find herself in this reality that she is placed under. I appreciate a good book about characters with flaws such as alcoholism and trauma because it makes the character have dimension and someone can relate to the character. Keera isn’t some damsel in distress but she is a warrior woman who knows she isn’t perfect but strives to try to better herself. This novel really has a lot of allegories of racism and inner healing portrayed through Keera and the world she is in the real world. Blair had a lot of insight into indigenous culture and colonialism. Especially colonialism and how it impacted indigenous cultures. I felt that the characters all felt real and the way Blair wrote them made me feel that they are real. These people go through real things and are faced with adversaries. This book made me feel so much and I absolutely enjoyed reading this. I want to see more of Blair’s writing because she is such a talented young new author with a passion that is deeply embedded in this literary work.