Reviews with content warning for Murder - A Broken Blade

It isn’t a perfect book, but it is damn good nonetheless. I had been sold it as a “sapphic romantasy”, so I was really confused when the m/f romance started. The main character is bisexual, an alcoholic, and absolutely tormented and broken. The cast of characters was brilliant, and the undertones of discourse about colonisation were fantastic. I am off to read book two!

Content Warnings

ghostcowboylex's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

paula357's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

4.0

found it a bit difficult to get involved in the story and was very disappointed for it being labelled as lgbtq since it’s only very briefly mentioned (!!!!) that the main character is queer. honestly had higher expectations because of that label

Content Warnings

leevanescent's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

It took me so long to finish it, but finally, I DID!!
Not that it was bad, It was very good actually. If not for the way it felt too... booktok-ish. Like all the cliché tropes just had to exist in this one book:
-enemies to lovers? ✔️
-only one bed? ✔️
-who did this to u?✔️
-dancing with the 'enemy'?✔️
-Masquerade party?✔️
-strong, lone wolf FML?✔️

I mean, I'm not complaining, I did eat it up lol. I just felt it was too there, like, the story was built on it.
But it was still a good enough book for me to ignore the redlines, & ask for more.

I also didn't like the ending, since, wtf?? But for that, I just hope Keera is gonna be pissed with everyone for a very long time. This time, it was them who needed to earn her trust

Content Warnings

jl23's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I really enjoyed this book and have continued on in the series. The beginning of the book was relatively slow for me. I had a hard time really getting into it due to heavy world building which I still enjoyed.
About halfway through the book is where things really begin to pick up. There are some LGBTQ+ themes. It is a slow burn romantasy with strong plot lines. There are many lovable characters and it very much has found family vibes. I really enjoyed the character development.
If you are looking for something that is smut heavy this isn’t it. If you like strong stories with some spice this might fit the bill. This book is more timid in the spice department book two has more but still pretty tame. So if you aren’t comfortably with any now you know.
I feel like overall the cast is relatively diverse. There are themes of discrimination amongst races of fae, elf, halfling, and mortals.
The main character very much gives me Aelin from “Throne of Glass” vibes. She is strong but jaded and has certain level of self loathing that plays heavily into her character arc.
*spoilers below related to LGTBQ+ themes*

The main character is bi-sexual however, the end-game relationship is female-male. If reading about female-female love interest isn’t your thing (which is the case for me typically) I would still say give this a try. In book 1 there is mainly just mentions of her past relationship and there isn’t much detail. Book two goes into that story line a little more but I found it was relative and very well written. There was one scene that wasn’t for me personally but I just skimmed a couple pages. I’m happy there is diversity in these books and I know that some may not be as open to certain themes or may feel uncomfortable or maybe it just isn’t for you and that’s ok. I just wanted to put it out there for those who may not be interested in these themes or may be new to them.

Content Warnings

sasclostchild's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark sad tense

Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

So the first third of the book was very depressing, focusing on our protagonist living the American dream: doing a shitty job they don't like to barely live and to drown their sorrows in alcohol, all while harming a lot of people.

She then turns her life around by quitting alcohol (good for her) and siding with a rebellious group to eat the rich.

This is all accompanied by a very icky straight romance which is not icky because it's straight (although that is a sad part because i was hoping for a sapphic romance but that only exists in a short flashback) but because the dude forces himself on her all the time and the only chemistry they have is some weird interaction between their types of magic that acts as an aphrodisiac making them horny for each other.

She still somehow falls in horny because idk if you can call drug addled make outs love

Then the book also fails to close its main arc during the book but fuck I'm not buying the second book.
Still 2.25, because the unfinished story got kinda interesting in the second half

Content Warnings

More...