A review by rinku
Sisters of the Sword - Wie zwei Schneiden einer Klinge, by Tricia Levenseller

adventurous medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

 Blade of Secrets was such a disappointment for me. I was so excited to read about a main character with social anxiety, but this was almost all that was there to the story. Especially the fantasy aspects and the storytelling itself felt quite flat. 

The general concept of the story was so intriguing: social anxious Ziva is able to forge magical weapons and makes good money selling them. One day, a woman called Kymera makes a commission for a sword that becomes more powerful than any sword Ziva has crafted before. She then overhears what plans Kymera has with the sword and flees with her sister and other travel companions from her. Sadly, that’s about it what is happening in the story besides an insta-lovey romance. The characters seem to have no other goal than fleeing which was bit boring. The book got better after the first half, but it was just not enough for me. There was also one of my least favorite plot twists towards the end when
Spoilerit’s revealed that random characters are related to each other. At least, this didn’t make Petrik a traitor
. 

My biggest critique with the book is probably the flat and boring world building. At the beginning, I even thought that the story would take place in our regular world because the world building was so simple. This is also caused by the writing style that barely describes something and if it does, th descriptions are often clunky. There’s also too much telling, especially when it comes to the behaviour of characters; one of them is called arrogant but is barely shown as being it. 

Like I’ve said, it was very nice to have an MC with social anxiety. Ziva’s struggles because of it were well depicted in my opinion. Sadly, some things about her character were stereotypical, like the fact that she has a dead mom and that she’s not like other girls. 

I generally liked the rest of the cast but especially the male characters were so cliché. Of course, the love interest is arrogant, flirty and muscular. Another problem I had with the characters was that they and their conflict were sometimes just annoying; for example, Ziva and her sister always argue about such childish things. One thing I liked though was the causal queerness of the story in some parts. 

Blade of Secrets is another book that proves that a good idea doesn’t mean a good execution. I’ll maybe read the second book if my library gets it but otherwise, this series is sadly nothing for me. 

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