You know how some books read as origin stories for villains, or maybe fairytale retellings, well I firmly believe that this story is the origin story for Excalibur. Yes, that Excalibur, from Arthurian legends. Maybe it is and I missed the memo, but here are three reasons why I think that:
1. The sword cannot be destroyed, it is the sword of all swords. And it is extremely powerful
2. The MC wanted to drop the sword into a deep body of water, halfway between two continents. Parallel: The Lady of the Lake type situation.
3. The MC literally creates a stone by magiking the sword into it. With it, she specifically states "Let only [the worthiest] person have the strength to pull the sword from this stone."
Okay, now that I have established how I think the story is an origin for Excalibur, let me talk about the story itself. I recently read the duology for Daughter of the Pirate King by this author and I loved it so much! I love the authors writing and her world building has me feeling like I am right there beside the characters, and this story is no different. It is a different story than Daughter, but it is so well written and believable too. I look forward to how the story continued (ends?) in the sequel, which might be a while for me since it is releasing as a hardcover and I have this as a paperback.
I was intrigued with the Secret Stealer blade from the beginning. I love anything magic, and stories with women wielding swords, and I wanted to know exactly how this sword worked and how it was going to overturn the MC's entire world. We only really see the blade in full action once in the story, but one characters reaction to using it was enough to show that this sword is too powerful and could easily fall into the wrong persons hands. A big, strong, mercenary wielded the blade and ended up vomiting afterword because the secrets of everyone was too much for him, so that should tell you something.
This story is an entire adventure too. The characters traverse the whole continent (almost), and it felt like every time they stopped in a town they'd quickly be ran out due to some unfortunate event. The sisters were even betrayed by their last living family members due to the magic running through the MCs veins. So they never truly felt safe, and it had me on the edge of my seat wondering how everything would end up resolving. I mean, even near the end when everything seemed like it was okay and the MC was finally calming down, something went wrong and destroyed all that peace for her.
And I won't spoil anything, but this book leaves on a pretty big cliffhanger, which I am a bit mad about. Not mad because it is bad, but mad because I do not have the sequel in my hands to continue this story.
Overall, I enjoyed this story as much as other books I have read by this author. The magic in this book felt unique, especially in the sense that magic wielders are rare, and I look forward to seeing them more in the sequel. The book leaves on quite a cliffhanger, so it cannot really be fully enjoyed as a standalone. There is a bit of romance in this book, but the main focus of the story is finding a solution to a sword (*cough* Excalibur *cough*) that was accidentally created to be too strong to break. The story is well writing with decent pacing, and I look forward to anything else this author may write.
Content warnings: panic attacks, extreme anxiety, harassment, misogyny, blood / gore, human & animal deaths, violence, vomit
1. The sword cannot be destroyed, it is the sword of all swords. And it is extremely powerful
2. The MC wanted to drop the sword into a deep body of water, halfway between two continents. Parallel: The Lady of the Lake type situation.
3. The MC literally creates a stone by magiking the sword into it. With it, she specifically states "Let only [the worthiest] person have the strength to pull the sword from this stone."
Okay, now that I have established how I think the story is an origin for Excalibur, let me talk about the story itself. I recently read the duology for Daughter of the Pirate King by this author and I loved it so much! I love the authors writing and her world building has me feeling like I am right there beside the characters, and this story is no different. It is a different story than Daughter, but it is so well written and believable too. I look forward to how the story continued (ends?) in the sequel, which might be a while for me since it is releasing as a hardcover and I have this as a paperback.
I was intrigued with the Secret Stealer blade from the beginning. I love anything magic, and stories with women wielding swords, and I wanted to know exactly how this sword worked and how it was going to overturn the MC's entire world. We only really see the blade in full action once in the story, but one characters reaction to using it was enough to show that this sword is too powerful and could easily fall into the wrong persons hands. A big, strong, mercenary wielded the blade and ended up vomiting afterword because the secrets of everyone was too much for him, so that should tell you something.
This story is an entire adventure too. The characters traverse the whole continent (almost), and it felt like every time they stopped in a town they'd quickly be ran out due to some unfortunate event. The sisters were even betrayed by their last living family members due to the magic running through the MCs veins. So they never truly felt safe, and it had me on the edge of my seat wondering how everything would end up resolving. I mean, even near the end when everything seemed like it was okay and the MC was finally calming down, something went wrong and destroyed all that peace for her.
And I won't spoil anything, but this book leaves on a pretty big cliffhanger, which I am a bit mad about. Not mad because it is bad, but mad because I do not have the sequel in my hands to continue this story.
Overall, I enjoyed this story as much as other books I have read by this author. The magic in this book felt unique, especially in the sense that magic wielders are rare, and I look forward to seeing them more in the sequel. The book leaves on quite a cliffhanger, so it cannot really be fully enjoyed as a standalone. There is a bit of romance in this book, but the main focus of the story is finding a solution to a sword (*cough* Excalibur *cough*) that was accidentally created to be too strong to break. The story is well writing with decent pacing, and I look forward to anything else this author may write.
Content warnings: panic attacks, extreme anxiety, harassment, misogyny, blood / gore, human & animal deaths, violence, vomit