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A review by amelianotthepilot
Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
A Six of Crows-esque gang on an impossible mission with a Korean vibe.
I thought this was a fun read! Not particularly great writing, it felt a little childish and the plot wasn’t all that unpredictable but I think this was the author’s first delve into adult fiction.
The cast of characters includes Royo the hired bodyguard tough man who’s secretly a softy with a tragic past, Aeri the nimble fingered and childish thief with a twisted backstory, Mikail the king’s spymaster with a tragic past, Euyn the exiled supposed to be dead prince with a tragic past, Sora the poison maiden with a tragic past, and Tiyung the rich noble. Are you catching a theme? All characters are extremely trope-y with their own tragic pasts and traumas coming together to form the ultimate unlikely heist team against all odds and perhaps come to like each other along the way.
Where this was definitely Six of Crows-esque with its cast of traumatized characters and heist against all odds it certainly wasn’t as good as it. I don’t like to compare books like this but it seems inevitable when that’s what this genre and vibes so clearly are mimicking. i didn’t feel as connected to these characters as Crows nor did I find the romances all that interesting. They were enemies to lovers or exes to lovers or bodyguard trope romances but it all seemed to obvious and set up from the start without the real angst or will they won’t they. They were clearly written as pairs from the start and so it wasn’t surprising at all when the characters eventually give in to their desires. I also found the plot a bit slow and the different POVs al seemed sort of similar. There wasn’t a lot of action and I felt the scenes weren’t as descriptive as I would’ve liked.
Overall I enjoyed it but it really felt like a setup/prequel for the main plot Book 2.
Note about content tags: None of the content tags in the front were particularly graphic in this as it was largely a YA novel in my opinion. Mentions of assault, genocide, murder, and sex but in my opinion no particularly graphic descriptions of any of the above.
Recommended by CariCakes
I thought this was a fun read! Not particularly great writing, it felt a little childish and the plot wasn’t all that unpredictable but I think this was the author’s first delve into adult fiction.
The cast of characters includes Royo the hired bodyguard tough man who’s secretly a softy with a tragic past, Aeri the nimble fingered and childish thief with a twisted backstory, Mikail the king’s spymaster with a tragic past, Euyn the exiled supposed to be dead prince with a tragic past, Sora the poison maiden with a tragic past, and Tiyung the rich noble. Are you catching a theme? All characters are extremely trope-y with their own tragic pasts and traumas coming together to form the ultimate unlikely heist team against all odds and perhaps come to like each other along the way.
Where this was definitely Six of Crows-esque with its cast of traumatized characters and heist against all odds it certainly wasn’t as good as it. I don’t like to compare books like this but it seems inevitable when that’s what this genre and vibes so clearly are mimicking. i didn’t feel as connected to these characters as Crows nor did I find the romances all that interesting. They were enemies to lovers or exes to lovers or bodyguard trope romances but it all seemed to obvious and set up from the start without the real angst or will they won’t they. They were clearly written as pairs from the start and so it wasn’t surprising at all when the characters eventually give in to their desires. I also found the plot a bit slow and the different POVs al seemed sort of similar. There wasn’t a lot of action and I felt the scenes weren’t as descriptive as I would’ve liked.
Overall I enjoyed it but it really felt like a setup/prequel for the main plot Book 2.
Note about content tags: None of the content tags in the front were particularly graphic in this as it was largely a YA novel in my opinion. Mentions of assault, genocide, murder, and sex but in my opinion no particularly graphic descriptions of any of the above.
Recommended by CariCakes