Fantasy
From Goodreads:
Kara is
a mercenary – a Diamond warrior, the best of the best, and a member of the
notorious Majat Guild. When her tenure as protector to Prince Kythar comes to
an end, custom dictates he accompany her back to her Guild to negotiate her
continued protection.
But when
they arrive they discover that the Prince’s sworn enemy, the Kaddim, have
already paid the Guild to engage her services – to capture and hand over
Kythar, himself.
A warrior brought up to respect
both duty and honour, what happens when her sworn duty proves dishonorable?
Blades of the Old Empire was not
exactly what I expected. While
Kara and Prince Kythar are major characters they are not the only ones who drive
the story. It is the first book in
a new series so there was a lot more that had to go into the book.
World Building: This is a complex world and almost each
scene has elements that add to the world.
There were time when I felt lost but by the end I felt I had a pretty
good handle on the world.
Back Story: I have some questions about the back
story. I kept feeling like I was
missing something. There were
times when it felt like this was book two. The characters would talk about things that had happened in
the past and it sounded like I should know about those things. However when I went to check this is
book one.
Plot: Like the world building the plot is very complex. There are several distinct groups of
people in this world. There is the
past trying to come into the present. Added to that are the main characters who
do not stay together. The plot unfolds
as the past, the present and the characters are worked into the story. Since
this is book one in the series there are also numerous hooks for future stories
worked into the plot. Look for some things to be resolved but a lot left up in
the air.
Characters: Each of the main characters have their
own story stream. The formatting
does indicated when you switch from one character to another but several times
I had to go back because I had not made the switch. There is some character development but this is very much an
action driven story.
Writing: Each scene is very well written. Action and dialog keep the story moving at a fast clip. The fight scenes were especially well
written making it easy to see what was happening.
Enjoyment Level: I found it difficult to get into the
book at first. There was a lot I
did not understand but once I got past the first few chapters I was
hooked. Now I want to see what
happens in the next book.
Angry Robot published Blades of the Old Empire by Anna Kashina in 2014.
I received an ARC of Blades of the Old
Empire from Netgalley.
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