*Disclaimer*
Everyone is different and likes and dislikes different things. Reading is no exception. One person’s all-time favorite might seem too bland or too high stakes for another. That being said, the opinions of our judges in this contest are just that, opinions. Just because we let a book go, doesn’t mean it isn’t good. It could be your next favorite, who knows?
Now that we are in the finals, we are going to be doing full reviews for each book. The books are being reviewed in no particular order, not in order of their star rating. We are just reviewing them as we finish reading them.
If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you can learn more about the contest here.
Today we are reviewing The Mortal Blade, which was the Booknest.EU’s pick for this year’s Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off. You can read their review here. And you can see the finalist spreadsheet here.
A city ruled by Gods, a mortal champion, a misfit girl and a disobedient dragon.
Stolen from his home, Corthie Holdfast has arrived in the City of the Eternal Siege as a new Champion.
He must fight alongside the Blades, whose lives are dedicated to the defence of the City against the hordes of monstrous Greenhides; or die at the hands of the Gods who rule.
Maddie Jackdaw, a young Blade, faces her last chance. Thrown out of every unit defending the City, either she takes on a new role, or she will be sent to the Rats, a company of misfits given the perilous tasks beyond the Great Walls.
Her new role, if she takes it, will bring her face to face with her deepest fears, for beneath the walls, in a secret and hidden lair, lies a dragon, imprisoned and waiting.
Our Thoughts
In the last city in the world, gods and their children rule and fight an eternal war against an unending hoard of monstrous Greenhides. The mortals who populate the city live in partitioned districts sectioned by blood and rank. The upper crust reside in luxury and command the armies of lower born that defend the wall keeping the enemy at bay.
Corthie Holdfast is none of these things. He is an outsider brought to their world as a Champion. But his differences don’t end there. He has powers that help him fight, powers that no mortal on this world has ever possessed. Powers that threaten the order that has reigned for thousands of years. He also has no interest in maintaining the status quo and is happy letting everyone in the kingdom know what he thinks, including the gods that brought him there.
Maddie Jackdaw has been thrown out of one military unit after another. She hates the way the city and the military are run and can’t stand following orders from people who make stupid decisions. But her family name has thus far kept her from the very front lines, where the other soldiers defending the wall take bets on how many will make it back alive each night. Her last hope is working in a unit of two. Making it in this unit is her last chance, but it is likely more dangerous than facing the Greenhides head on.
Daniel Aurelian is the last of his family name, the most important family in the city. His family, especially his mother, expect him to marry well and have many children to carry on the family bloodline. As a noble he has been to military academe and is also expected to lead troops and keep the good name of Aurelian on the lips of every other important family in the city. But Daniel’s dreams are different. He dreams of running away or being born into poorer circumstances, of being free. Anything but have the weight of his thousand-year-old family name and history resting on his shoulders.
Lady Aila has a similar problem but one far more complex. She is a demigod, the daughter of a god. But not any god, a god on the losing side of a long past civil war. Aila now works for her demigod cousin, the governor of her district and daughter of one of the winners. Her cousin has her doing things she finds despicable during the day, like sending petty criminals to the wall and certain death, or blaming innocents for crimes to satiate the wrath of gang lords. At night Aila tries her best to balance the scales and help those in need, using her powers to change her appearance to disrupt crime rings and give the people of the poorer districts hope.
In her nightly escapades Aila discovers a deeper plot. One that could destroy the city, one that will bring all the players lives together. But will it be for better or worse? And who will be the one to set the pieces in motion?
Overall, our judges loved this book. It is high fantasy at its highest. Magic powers, gods, monsters, and best of all dragons! The world is unique not only in its magic, but also in its cosmology, seasons, and overall setup of the world. The city itself was interesting to navigate and felt real. The characters moving through it and interacting with its various locations like it actually was thousands of years old.
The characters that inhabit the world come from all walks of life and itch to break free from the different ties that bind them. Our judges found them fun to read and interesting to watch as they fought their own battles and got closer and closer to crossing paths with each other. Most enjoyed the writing, though a couple thought it could have been more descriptive, especially in regard to the characters themselves.
Overall if you are a lover of fantasy, dragons, overwhelming odds, and great characters you need to read this book and the rest of the books in the series! (One of our judges liked it so much, they already did! All nineteen of them!)
Jennie
I loved this book. But as I’m writing this, I realized I pretty much said everything I wanted to say in the Our Thoughts section. It was good, and you should read it. XD
Julia
One of my favorite SPFBO reads this year. Not perfect, but really quick to read, good fun, and the audio version is also really well narrated.
What I loved most is the sheer amount of magic, gods, demigods, creatures, and just plain fantasy in there. From monsters to dragons—that is one aspect that made me fall in love with fantasy in the first place! A lot of worldbuilding that didn’t feel boring, gave the whole city a lot of depth, and made it feel real. I was walking through those streets and hearing the drunken soldiers tell their tales. Even though we only see one city in book one, I loved that there was a whole other world hinted at for later books.
Some of the characters could have been worked out a bit better, some moments seemed a bit shallow, but overall I did like (most) of the main characters and was happy to follow along. I liked how they were so very different (even if it made them a bit stereotypical at times).
Daniel is the son of a well standing noble family, who doesn’t like his position, but has to do what it takes to keep his place (and thereby his family’s position) in society. He struggles with morals vs duty vs the easy way out. While he wasn’t necessarily likable, I did think him relatable.
Corthie is the happy go lucky hero. The good guy who just goes along with everything and seems to think he is invincible. He loves to drink, tell tales and has a rather loud mouth, but because of his battle prowess he largely gets away with it.
Maddie is a lowly soldier but comes from a well-respected soldier family. Because she can never keep her mouth shut, or follow orders she doesn’t agree with, she has been booted from pretty much every military station there is—and is now at her last chance placement. Caring for a secretly enslaved dragon.
Aila, a demigod, who likes humans a lot more than she probably should. She was my favorite character right from the start! Even though she is rather overpowered, that is quickly explained by her not being a mere mortal. I found the differences between puny humans and gods/demigods well handled.
And then of course the two dragons! One who is a great match for our hero, and one who is a grumpy old lady, who enjoys eating the people she doesn’t like. Or accidentally breaking them. Puny humans, you know.
All in all, I really enjoyed this tale full of magic and fantasy, and will definitely continue the series!
Kartik
I loved this book so much I ended up reading all the books that have been written in this series (19 so far). The Mortal Blade has multiple strengths: it is easy to read, has great pacing, a lot of wonderful characters and fantastic worldbuilding. I really liked how the characters changed their behaviour as circumstances demanded and weren’t stereotypical personalities.
Kerry
Here we have a huge walled city run by a hierarchy of god’s and their demigod offspring. The city is split into sections and each section is run by a demigod. This leads to plenty of political machinations going on in the city and everything is made worse by having hordes of monsters attacking the outer walls.
We have four main characters: Corthie, a mortal brought to the city to fight the monsters. We are not told how he ended up in the city and there are hints he comes from another world entirely. Aila, a demigod who can change her appearance, she doesn’t enjoy the politics of the gods and prefers the company of mortals, even helping in their rebellion. Maggie, a Blade who has trouble with authority and can’t help herself telling people what she thinks. She gets one last chance and in doing so discovers the city’s largest secret. Daniel, a member of the nobility whose parents buy him a position in the military. One of his first assignments ends in the deaths of civilians. Touted as a hero by the nobility but hated by the general population.
A civil war is brewing, and we watch it unfold through the eyes of these four characters; often one character’s arc intertwines with another. I never became invested in any of the characters (though I did enjoy Maggie’s belligerence and sass). There is not a lot of worldbuilding as this book is set in one city only, other worlds may open up as the series continues. Plot was good, though there were some roll your eye moments. I have a few questions regarding plot points so I will be reading the others in the series at some point in time.
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Our judges are Amber Freeman, Jennie Ivins, Julia Kitvaria Sarene, Kartik Narayanan, Kerry Smith, and Lynn K. If you’d like to learn more about us, including our likes and dislikes, you can read about them here.
Any queries should be directed at me, Jennie Ivins, via DM on Facebook and Twitter.
Julia Kitvaria Sarene